Daily Briefing — March 12, 2022: Albany, Montana State win conference tournaments

W Roundup

Free agency

• Anneli Maley: Signed a training-camp deal with Chicago.

Visit our offseason trackers page to see all the other free agent moves and how they affect team’s caps, other front-office changes, and more — in neat, colorful fashion!

Watch List, Saturday, March 12

(All times in Eastern)

Must-watch

None

Good games

#4 Baylor v. #21 Oklahoma, 1 p.m., ESPN+ — Big 12 semifinal

#7 Texas v. #10 Iowa State, 3:30 p.m., ESPN+ — Big 12 semifinal

#24 Princeton v. Columbia, 5 p.m., ESPNEWS/ESPN+

Also watchable

Jackson State v. Alabama State, 2 p.m., ESPN+ — SWAC championship

Howard v. Norfolk State, 4 p.m., ESPN+ — MEAC championship

SFA v. Grand Canyon, 5 p.m., ESPN+ — WAC championship

Charlotte v. Louisiana Tech, 5:30 p.m., CBSSN — C-USA championship

#23 FGCU v. Jacksonville State, 7 p.m., ESPN+ — ASUN championship

Hawai’i v. UC Irvine, 8 p.m., ESPN+ — Big West championship

Friday, March 11 recap

(All rankings below reflect tournament seeding)

Big 12 tournament, quarterfinals

#1 Baylor beat #9 Oklahoma State, 76-36. The Bears won the first quarter 23-0. Big NaLyssa Smith led with 15 points on 5-for-15 from the field (0-1 3pt.) and 5-for-6 from the line and 10 rebounds for a double-double, plus two steals and two blocks and no turnovers in 28 minutes; center Queen Egbo had a 15-point, 13-rebound double-double on 6-for-12 FG with two steals and five blocks.

The Cowgirls’ season is over.

#2 Iowa State beat #7 West Virginia, 66-60. Point guard Emily Ryan led with 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting (1-3 3pt.), five rebounds, six assists, and four steals against five turnovers while playing all 40; wing Ashley Joens and combo guard Lexi Donarski combined for 27 points on 8-for-32 from the field and 6-for-16 from three, 21 rebounds, five assists, four steals, and six turnovers without either sitting.

The Mountaineers’ season is over.

#3 Texas beat #6 Kansas State, 72-65. The Wildcats outshot the Longhorns by 12.0%, but had 10 fewer attempts from the field and six fewer from the line. Center Lauren Ebo led Texas with a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double on 5-for-7 from the field and 7-for-8 from the line with four offensive boards; point guard Rori Harmon and backup off-ball guard Aaliyah Matharu combined for 31 points (Harmon 5-14 FG, Matharu 5-6 3pt.), eight rebounds, and six assists, with Harmon adding two steals and four turnovers.

The Wildcats should get an at-large bid on Sunday.

#4 Oklahoma beat #5 Kansas, 80-68. Wing Madi Williams came close to a triple-double in only 30 minutes, finishing with 19 points (6-19 FG, 3-9 3pt., 4-8 FT), 11 rebounds, and seven assists, against three turnovers; combo guard Taylor Robertson had 19 points on 6-for-11 from the field and 3-for-7 from three, seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals against two turnovers.

The Jayhawks will still go dancing.

Ivy League tournament, semifinals

#1 Princeton beat #4 Harvard, 72-67. The Crimson drew within one point with about 30 seconds remaining. Ivy League Player of the Year wing Abby Meyers led the Tigers with 22 points on 9-for-18 from the field and 4-for-10 from three, seven rebounds, and two steals without a turnover; big Ellie Mitchell notched a double-double with 11 points (5-6 FG) and 16 rebounds (five offensive), plus three steals against two turnovers.

#2 Columbia beat #3 Yale, 67-38.

MAC tournament, semifinals

#2 Buffalo beat #3 Akron, 82-43.

#5 Ball State beat #1 Toledo, 71-66. 

MVC tournament, quarterfinals

#1 Southern Illinois best #8 Indiana State, 77-61.

#2 Missouri State beat #7 Drake, 63-49.

#3 Northern Iowa beat #6 Valparaiso, 63-39.

#4 Illinois State beat #5 Loyola-Chicago, 68-52.

Big Sky tournament, championship

#2 Montana State beat #4 Northern Arizona, 75-64, redeeming the 2020 tournament the then-No. 1 Bobcats never got to play. Montana State led by 15 with 12.5 minutes left, but the Lumberjacks then scored 17-straight points to force a Bobcat timeout. Montana State led within a couple minutes after that break.

16 automatic qualifiers down!

America East tournament, championship

#2 Albany beat #1 Maine, 56-47, leading wire-to-wire for the Great Danes’ first conference-tournament title since winning seven-straight between 2012 and 2017. Combo guard Morgan Haney led with 20 points on 6-for-14 shooting (4-5 3pt., 4-6 FT) and three rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench.

17 automatic qualifiers down!

MEAC tournament, semifinals

#2 Norfolk State beat #3 Morgan State, 53-51. The game was tied with 0.9 seconds left, when this happened:

C-USA tournament, semifinals

#1-West* Louisiana Tech beat #1-East* Middle Tennessee State, 80-72. The Raiders had a 96.2% win expectancy with an 11-point lead and less than nine minutes to go, allowed nine-straight Bulldog points, and a few minutes later allowed a 12-0 run to end MTSU’s season.

*C-USA does this thing where they seed teams only according to their rank with the conference’s East and West division, and then alternates which seeds are in which side of the bracket.