OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The No. 4-seeded West Virginia University women's basketball team will start play in the 2019 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday with a Noon ET tipoff against No. 5 seed Kansas State at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
 
Ron Thulin and Brenda VanLengen will have the call on FOX Sports Networks. The game will air live locally on AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh's alternate channel (available on DIRECTV and DISH Network) and will air on the main channel on a tape delay following the conclusion of Saturday's Pittsburgh Pirates' game. Dan Zangrilli and Ayana Dunning will have the radio call for the Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College. Fans can catch the game on Jack-FM 100.9 as well as various affiliates across the state, the TuneIn Radio app and WVUsports.com.
 
West Virginia (20-9, 11-7) enters its seventh Big 12 Championship since joining the league in 2012-13. The Mountaineers bring an 8-5 mark the tournament with one tournament title under their belt. The team upset Oklahoma, Texas and Baylor to claim the 2017 Big 12 Championship. It marks the program's first time as a No. 4 seed.
 
The Mountaineers and the Wildcats meet for the third time this season and 16th time overall on Saturday, with WVU leading the all-time series 11-4. The two split the season series, with each picking up a win at home. It is just the second time the two have squared off as part of the Big 12 Championship as they previously met in the quarterfinals on March 3, 2016, with West Virginia earning the 74-65 win.
 
"I think our team realizes they need to win this game," coach Mike Carey said. "And Kansas State needs to win this game, also. That's why I think both teams are going to play extremely hard. It comes down to execution and hitting some shots."
 
The two met in Manhattan, Kansas, less than two weeks ago as West Virginia suffered a 90-79 setback at the hands of K-State. Redshirt junior guard Tynice Martin tied her season high with a team-best 27 points, hitting five 3-pointers in the game while senior guard/forward Naomi Davenport had 19 points and became the program's 36th 1,000-point scorer. Freshman forward Kari Niblack also finished in double figures, netting 10 points on the night as WVU shot 37.7 percent from the field with eight 3-pointers, hitting 19-of-26 at the free-throw line.
 
West Virginia is coming off a tough 63-57 loss to No. 1 Baylor at home on Monday. Davenport collected her 13th career double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Martin had 18 points and three steals, while Niblack had 13 points and a pair of blocks. West Virginia finished the regular season with a 2-5 record against top-25 teams, though two of those losses were by less than 10 points.

Kansas State enters this year's Big 12 Championship with a 20-10 overall mark and 11-7 record in Big 12 play, seeded at No. 5. The Wildcats, on a five-game win streak, enter the matchup averaging 64.7 points and 34.9 rebounds per game and shooting 41.3 percent from the field, 30.2 percent on 3-pointers and 71.3 percent at the free-throw line.
 
Peyton Williams leads the scoring at 15.8 points per game and is also the team's leading rebounder at 9.9 boards per contest, while Kayla Goth also averages in double figures at 12.9 points per game and boasts a team-best 203 assists for an average of 6.8 per game. Kali Jones leads the team with 39 blocks.
 
The winner of Saturday's contest will advance to the semifinal game set for 3 p.m. Sunday at Chesapeake Energy Arena.