Two mild upsets and two strong games in last night's finish to Big XII reg-season play:

1. Oklahoma State just barely held on after taking a huge early lead against Baylor. Speedy guard Andrea Riley scored 27 (though she needed 22 shots to do it).

OK State's Cordero looked good near the end: "We're going to buy [her] some green contacts," coach Budke said. "Her best games come against Baylor. I don't know why."

The outcome was Baylor's first home loss this year, and means that K-State, and not Baylor, take the conference crown.

2. In the one we saw, the Aggies ran right over the Sooners on Senior Night in College Station. A&M had great ball movement: OU just didn't.

A&M's quick-and-tall Gant scored 21 (on her birthday), while OU's big-and-strong Courtney Paris, constantly frustrated by swarming Aggies, needed almost the whole night to pick up her gazillionth 89th straight double-double.

Texas A&M are far more interested in another streak: they'll head to the Big XII tourney having won six in a row. Coach Blair had praise along with warnings: "I wasn't pleased with how the game ended," he said. "But we had a 20- to 25-point lead. We were excited. We're ready to go to Kansas City."

Some of you may have noticed that Kansas State has won a BCS conference title outright, and yet are not ranked very high. Losses to Colorado and Creighton will do that-- as will a conference schedule that includes Nebraska, Mizzou and the Jayhawks twice, OU (a loss), Oklahoma State (K-State beat 'em), and Baylor (a loss) once apiece. Can we say that the Big XII's southern half is really good this year?

CORRECTION: beating Nebraska twice is, in fact, an accomplishment: this year's Huskers are better than I thought, and themselves defeated the Aggies six weeks ago. Thanks to Husker radio guy Matt Coatney for the heads-up.

Fun fact: Nebraska and K-State are the only teams to have defeated UTEP all year.