KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — As the buzzer sounded on the Big 12 Tournament championship game, Jordan Harrison ran and leaped into the waiting arms of her West Virginia teammates, who squeezed her so hard it looked as if it hurt.
It was just about the only time anyone corralled Harrison on Sunday.
The senior guard scored 20 points while wreaking havoc on defense, and Sydney Shaw added 17 points of her own, helping the No. 15 Mountaineers avenge a pair of regular-season losses to No. 10 TCU with a 62-53 victory in the title game.
“Just seeing the ball going through the hole is all I needed to get ready and get going,” said Harrison, the tournament MVP. “I mean, I just knew I needed to get started, get hot for our team to have a chance to win.”
The Big 12 tourney title is the second for No. 2 seed West Virginia and its first since the 2016-17 season.
“I don't know if we put all four quarters together but we're getting closer and closer,” Mountaineers coach Mark Kellogg said. “Our kids were dialed in to this game plan. They execute. But they competed. They get out and they get after you, and they're just relentless, and Jordan sets the tone with her defensive ability.”
West Virginia had built a 56-43 lead with 90 seconds left before TCU ran off seven straight points to provide some hope. But Harrison, a senior from Oklahoma City, calmly made two free throws with 33.4 seconds remaining to help put the game away.
“We knew the things that were on the line,” Harrison said. “Most importantly, we wanted to stay in the present.”
Olivia Miles, the league player of the year, scored 17 points for No. 1 seed TCU (29-5), even though she played most of the way in foul trouble. Marta Suarez added 16 points but was just 6 of 19 from the field and fouled out in the final minute.
“They played an awesome game today,” Horned Frogs coach Mark Campbell said. “They did a heck of a job defensively, and they just outplayed us. Credit them. We've had great battles with them the last couple of years and today they were the better team.”
TCU handed the Mountaineers two of their six regular-season losses, both in defensive slugfests: 51-50 on Jan. 14 and 59-50 just over a month later. And their meeting for the conference championship had the same feel as the first two in the trilogy.
Whichever team broke 50 first would win.
The Mountaineers took a 26-23 lead into halftime, relying on their full-court pressure to take TCU out of its offensive rhythm. At one point, the pesky Harrison turned a turnover by Suarez into a coast-to-coast layup, and on the next possession, Shaw created another turnover that Taylor Bigby converted into another easy layup.
“When you beat a team twice, man, they were hungry,” Campbell said.
Miles provided the only consistent offense for TCU in the first half. But she picked up her third foul with 2:54 left and took a seat next to Campbell on the bench, and West Virginia scored seven unanswered leading into the break to take control.
Then, Miles picked up foul No. 4 just 39 seconds into the second half.
“You know, dumb stuff happens,” she said, “and I'm upset at myself that I put myself in that position.”
The transfer from Notre Dame played most of the way, but she wasn't nearly as aggressive, and her supporting cast struggled to pick up the offensive slack. West Virginia relentlessly pressured the Horned Frogs on the defensive end, and Kellogg's team turned enough of that defense into offense to begin pulling away.
“It felt great. It felt like a dream a little bit,” Harrison said. “I was just super happy. Super excited. Very excited about it. But I'm just proud of my team, and proud that we got this opportunity.”
Up next
The Mountaineers may have locked up a No. 4 seed for the NCAA Tournament and will hit the road for their first-round matchup.
The Horned Frogs are likely to host first- and second-round March Madness games on campus, just like they did last season. If they advance, they could play in one of the two regionals at Dickies Arena near their campus in Fort Worth, Texas.
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