The Texas Longhorns did, briefly, rallying from a 12-point halftime hole.
But the Cowgirls pulled free from the insanity that had done in the tournament's other top seeds — and threatened to sink them — fending off the Longhorns to win 75-72 and advance to the championship game Saturday night.
OSU, now 25-6, will make its first title-game appearance as a member of the Big 12. The Cowgirls will face Texas A&M, which beat Iowa State 65-53 in the other semifinal.
Andrea Riley and Danielle Green each scored 23 points to lead OSU.
An upset theme ruled the opening two days of the event, with No. 1 Kansas State, No. 2 Baylor and No. 5 Oklahoma each ousted in their opening games.
OSU, the No. 3 seed, played no part in the trend in its first game Wednesday, routing Kansas. But after leading by as many as 16 in the first half against Texas, things started to unravel.
The Cowgirls' lead unraveled steadily through the early going of the second half and went ahead on a 3-pointer by Kat Nash less than seven minutes into the period.
The Longhorns still led as late as the 1:37 mark, 72-71, but didn't score again.
Andrea Riley banked in a running shot from the lane to put OSU on top 73-71 with 1:22 left. A key moment came in the final seconds, when OSU's Shaunte Smith drew a charge on Carla Cortijo under her own basket, then sank two foul shots with 8.4 seconds to go.
Cortijo's 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the back of the rim.
Not sour either. It's obvious that Budke is a terrific coach. The players are good and playing hard. It doesn't kill me to say that OSU is a better team than OU at this point. It's been proven on the court. Besides, watching your 2 arch rivals go at it is entertaining. You know something in orange isn't going to like what happens.
Not so sure that was an actual punch to the face. It may have been more of a shove. At any rate, that was not good, however, there was a whole lot of pushing and shoving going on, on both sides of the ball. There were several no calls that went Texas' way as well. Sounds like a little case of sour grapes there.
Congrats. Looks like your team is going to win the tournament. Somebody needs to get a handle on Riley's emotions. She should have been kicked out of the game with 14:42 left for she punched the Texas playler in the face. The referee's cost Texas the game with that no call.
Way to go Cowgirls. It sure makes a difference having Kurt Budke, a proven winner, as head coach. In just a short period, he has turned the Cowgirls into an exciting powerhouse of a team.
Can't wait to see them in the national tournament.
Cowgirls show they're for real; Now, can they win it... 03/14/2008 KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kurt Budke keeps hearing people doubt his team. He needs to stop listening. Each victory leaves less and less doubt about the Oklahoma...
OSU women's basketball notebook 03/14/2008 Tempers flare As Texas mounted its second-half comeback, emotions ran high between Oklahoma State and the Longhorns. A couple of minor squabbles flared up,...
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Can't wait to see them in the national tournament.