Wildcats cruise to easy victory

Kansas State coach Deb Patterson had few complaints following the No. 17 Wildcats’ 94-69 victory over Nebraska on Wednesday.

Five of her starters scored in double figures, and her team shot 59 percent from the field for the game.

“This is a beautiful box score aside from the turnovers,” Patterson said. “When we play our best, it’s because we’re distributing the ball, playing with a great deal of discipline and moving the ball into a lot of hands. When that’s happening, we’re pretty good on the offensive end.”

Kansas State (19-6, 10-4 Big 12) took control of the game with a 26-4 first-half-ending run, then stemmed a second-half Nebraska surge to take the victory.

The Wildcats trailed 19-17 after Nebraska’s Jina Johansen hit a jumper with 9:39 remaining. But Nebraska (16-10, 8-6) made just two more baskets the rest of the half.

Kansas State took a 31-19 lead on Laurie Koehn’s three-pointer with 3:39 left that ended a 14-0 run..

No. 14 Texas Tech 83, Oklahoma 70

Norman, Okla. — Just by following coach Marsha Sharp’s orders, LaToya Davis methodically helped Texas Tech keep its chances of a Big 12 title alive.

Davis scored 16 of her 20 points in the second half, and Erin Grant added a season-high 21 as Texas Tech beat Oklahoma.

Davis scored six points during a 16-4 surge to start the second half and put Tech in control.

She hit a pair of free throws to start a string of eight straight points for the Lady Raiders (20-5, 11-3) and finished the decisive spurt with a putback of Cisti Greenwalt’s miss to make it 59-41.

Beginning with that offensive rebound, Davis scored the Lady Raiders’ next 12 points, helping Texas Tech cruise to the league victory on the road.

No. 13 Texas 83, Colorado 40

Austin, Texas — It took 11 seconds to get a hint of the type of night Colorado was about to have against Texas.

The Buffaloes won the opening tip, then turned the ball over on a three-second violation under the basket.

Given the ball, the Longhorns’ Jamie Carey hit a short jumper on the other end — and the rout was on.

Heather Schreiber scored 17 points, Carey added 16, and the Longhorns forced 20 first-half turnovers to run away.

No. 21 Iowa State 76, Missouri 70

Columbia, Mo. — Iowa State held off a pesky Tiger squad to improve to 20-5 on the season.

Erin O’Neill led the Cyclones with 20 points.

Texas A&M 75, Oklahoma State 61

College Station, Texas — Texas A&M jumped out to a 21-point halftime lead and never looked back against Oklahoma State.