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The first round of Big 12 women’s basketball player featured a buzzer-beater, a Top 25 upset and several blowouts. But it wasn’t boring.

By the time the first eight games of the slate ended eight teams were undefeated in league play and four of them were still undefeated for the season. As the women’s season heads into the holiday break, here are four thoughts on the openers.

Texas Tech is For Real This Time

Last week I wrote about the rules for making the NCAA Tournament. Win 10 or more games in non-conference, win 10 or more games in conference and have 20 or more wins before the Big 12 Tournament. Most of the time, you’re dancing.

Each of the last three years Texas Tech has completed the first leg but didn’t come close to completing the second leg and missed the NCAA Tournament. In fact, the Lady Raiders haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2013.

I made the point that Tech going undefeated in non-conference made a bit of a difference. Every undefeated team in non-conference in the Big 12 in the last eight full seasons got to the postseason — but not always the NCAA. Getting to March Madness means not fumbling conference play.

Tech was presented with a golden opportunity to flip the script on Sunday. The Lady Raiders were at Baylor, playing a team they hadn’t beaten in their last 31 tries and a program that has been the league’s standard-bearer for some time. Texas Tech didn’t let it slip.

Texas Tech beats No. 15 Baylor on the road 61-60!

The Bears had won 31 games in a row against the Lady Raiders.

Texas Tech remains undefeated (14-0) and will certainly be ranked this coming week for the first time since 2011-12 season.

What a weekend of Texas Tech hoops!… pic.twitter.com/HPnM0kkzqa

— Justin Margolius (@JustinMargolius) December 21, 2025

Yes, Tech was ranked on Monday, No. 21 in the country. Baylor was looking up at Tech at No. 22.

Now, the Lady Raiders head into the break 14-0. When they come back, they’ll face a favorable schedule for most of January — home against UCF, home against Arizona, at West Virginia, at Cincinnati, home against Houston, home against Kansas State, at BYU and at Utah before back-to-back games against ranked Iowa State and TCU, both at home.

Krista Gerlich returned to her alma mater to reset the standard she led as a point guard for Marsha Sharp’s 1993 national championship game. She may finally have the team to get the program back to the NCAA Tournament. It should be a fun winter in Lubbock.

K-State Needs a Break

That was how head coach Jeff Mittie put it after Kansas State’s 22-point loss to TCU on Saturday, a game I covered. Inconsistency has been the story of the Wildcats’ 7-7 season so far and Mittie would agree with that assessment.

He also agreed the team needs a break. The holiday will give that to him and his team.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to the break, because we need more practice time,” Mittie said. “But I’m looking forward to the break before that practice. When you have a non-conference like us, I’m going to take a couple days, just like the players are.”

On paper K-State’s non-con looked rough before the season and it was. The Wildcats played five power conference teams, two ranked teams and scheduled mid-majors that were tricky. For every good win like SMU and Ole Miss there were iffy losses like Green Bay. Kansas State played 10 games in November and played three games in 10 days before the break.

This is a talented team. Mittle brought in one of the best recruiting classes in the conference. The transfers can give the program a real boost. But, when set against the last four years with Ayoka Lee, Serena Sundell, Gabby Gregory and the Glenn sisters, it’s not comparable. Mittie knows that. So did his opposing coach on Saturday, TCU’s Mark Campbell.

“Yeah, that’s college athletics,” Campbell said. “I mean, I think you would say the same thing about our roster — there’s just such a high turnover in college athletics right now, you have to rebuild it.”

Watching Kansas State in person I came away with this thought — this is a team I wouldn’t want to play in February and March. I think the Wildcats will have it figured out by then. It just may be too late for the NCAA Tournament.

Forks Up

There was some criticism lobbed Arizona State’s way after parting ways with women’s coach Natasha Adair after just three seasons. The replacement came from across town — Grand Canyon’s Molly Miller. Can’t argue with the results so far.

ASU is 14-0 under first year head coach Molly Miller, and one win shy of the best winning streak in school history.@MollyMiller33 has won her last 44 non-NCAA Tournament games going back to last season when she was coaching at GCU. pic.twitter.com/kjznrgiK6c

— Rachel Galligan (@RachGall) December 22, 2025

Arizona State handled Colorado, 79-63, in their Big 12 opener. Miller wants opponents to feel like they’ve gone to “the dentist” after playing ASU — her words from Big 12 media days. The Sun Devils balance out their scoring, turn up the pressure and wear teams out. Gabby Elliott, a sixth-year college player, leads the team with 16.3 points per game, her career best average.

Arizona State is not ranked but received seven points in Monday’s poll. Miller acknowledged the schedule was crafted a certain way. It was loaded with mid-majors to start — Santa Clara and UNLV were the toughest games — with high-majors and quality opponents to ramp up for Big 12 action. ASU beat Penn State, Oregon State and Gonzaga before the Colorado game.

Arizona State is unlikely to get a ranked team until Jan. 11 when it heads to TCU. With Utah, BYU and UCF dead ahead, it’s possible the Sun Devils could be 17-0 — and unranked — before that game. That could be ASU’s chance to prove it belongs in the poll. For now, ASU heads into the break one of 12 undefeated teams in the country and in control of its NCAA Tournament destiny. ASU’s last appearance was in 2019.

Chasing the Hare

I had to go back to my phone and my interview in October with Iowa State head coach Bill Fennellly after that last-second shot by Kenzie Hare to lift the Cyclones to a win over Kansas on Sunday. The conversation was about Hare.

She only played 10 games last year due to injury.  Bur Fennelly underscored her importance to the rotation this season.

“She’s a guard that can shoot the three,” Fennelly said. “She gives us another on-ball defender. We need to be able to space the floor with Audi (Crooks) and to do that you have to be able to shoot the three.”

That was the biggest shot of her Iowa State career, which started last season. She’s only averaging 6.7 points per game. But, she’s firing 51.1% from the 3-point line. She has 27 field goals this season and 24 of them are 3-pointers.

She’s a reason why Crooks is having the season she’s having. Plus, because Hare has been so efficient, she can make teams pay with limited chances.