Missouri falls in opening round of Big 12 tourney

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Texas women's coach Jody Conradt picked up her 900th career win as the Longhorns routed Missouri 70-57 Tuesday night in the first round of the Big 12 Conference women's tournament.

Freshman Earnesia Williams -- playing in her home state of Oklahoma -- scored 17 points to lead seventh-seeded Texas (18-13) into a quarterfinal contest Wednesday against second-seeded and 11th-ranked Oklahoma, a team with which the Longhorns split a pair of regular-season games.

Conradt is 900-306 in 38 seasons -- four at Sam Houston State, three at Texas-Arlington and 31 at Texas. Among NCAA Division I coaches she trails only Pat Summitt of Tennessee, who has 941 wins entering the NCAA tournament.

Texas entered the Big 12 tournament having lost six of its previous seven games, but the Longhorns looked sharp from the opening tip, shooting a season-best 60.5 percent from the field in the first half.

The Longhorns led 14-5 less than five minutes in, extended their lead to double digits by the 13:38 mark and held a 23-point advantage at 38-15 seven minutes before halftime.

Texas led 46-27 at the half and Missouri (17-13) -- despite a brief rally to open the second half -- came no closer than 10 the rest of the way. The Tigers had lost 79-77 in overtime to Texas during the regular season and are 1-14 all-time against the Longhorns.

With her team down by 16 with 12:32 left, Missouri coach Cindy Stein received a technical foul. The Tigers pulled within 63-51 on a 3-pointer Alyssa Hollins with 8:01 left, but never seriously threatened Texas' grip on the game.

EeTisha Riddle led Missouri with 20 points and added eight rebounds, but no other player for the Tigers reached double figures in scoring. Carlynn Savant had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers, who committed 22 turnovers.

Texas center Tiffany Jackson had 12 points and 14 rebounds. Brittainey Raven and Erneisha Bailey added 13 points each for the Longhorns. Bailey also had five of Texas' 14 steals.