Add a wild finish to the method of Kansas State’s March madness.
Tess Heal’s free throw with 1.3 seconds remaining gave the Wildcats a 74-73 victory over Oklahoma State in Friday’s Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinals at T-Mobile Center.
Heal was at the line because a reaching foul had been called on the Cowgirls’ Stailee Heard, 70 feet from the basket, after teammate Haleigh Timmer buried a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining. That shot, for a moment, had seemed to assure the game would be headed to overtime.
Heal made the first free throw, missed the second and 12th-seeded Kansas State had another improbable tournament triumph, this one over fourth-seeded Oklahoma State.
The Wildcats are the first 12-seed to make it all the way to the semifinals in the history of the Big 12 women’s tournament.
Kansas State trailed by nine points early in the third quarter, and the Wildcats were down 65-61 with 4:41 remaining before they ripped off a 9-0 run to take a 70-65 lead.
Jordan Speiser appeared to have clinched the game by bouncing in a 3-pointer with 15.7 seconds remaining. That give K-State a 73-68 lead, and Speiser, from nearby Warrenton, Missouri, finished with a career-best 21 points.
But Oklahoma State sank a pair of free throws and a jump ball was called on an inbound pass, the possession arrow pointing to OSU. That set up Timmer’s shot and the contest’s final dramatics.
A day earlier, K-State scored the final 21 points to defeat fifth-seeded Texas Tech in Round 2. In their tourney opener, the Wildcats made an event-record 17 three-pointers in beating Cincinnati.
Against Oklahoma State, they found another way to prevail. Kansas State has now won three conference tournament games for the first time since 1997.
The Wildcats will meet TCU or BYU in Saturday’s semifinals in Kansas City.
Related Stories from Kansas City Star
Blair Kerkhoff
The Kansas City Star
Blair Kerkhoff has covered sports for The Kansas City Star since 1989. He was elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.
