Confetti checklist: Baylor, Rice, Quinnipiac and Maryland all clinch conference titles

Rice, Quinnipiac, and Maryland have also clinched at least a share of their conference titles.

We are just days away from the start of March and the madness it brings to the world of women’s basketball. But before any tournaments begin, many teams are clinching regular-season titles in their respective conferences.

Here are those teams as of February 26th:

Big 12: Baylor (outright)

As our own Hayes Gardner reported last week, the battle in the Big 12 now moves to who finishes in second place after No. 1 Baylor clinched its ninth-straight conference title. It’s the 10th overall conference title for Baylor, which currently has the longest winning streak in the nation (18 games). After the victory Thursday, head coach Kim Mulkey and star senior Kalani Brown emphasized the importance of not getting too complacent despite the title.

“We’ve got to get over the hump,” Brown said, referring to the NCAA tournament. “Getting stopped there three years in a row, it drives you crazy, because you’re so close to the Final Four. That’s all Coach wants, that’s all I want and that’s all I want my teammates to experience.”

The top-ranked Lady Bears became the outright Big 12 champions after beating Iowa State on the road over the weekend. They will look to defend their postseason conference title as the top seed at the Big 12 Tournament, March 8-11 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

MAAC: Quinnipiac (outright)

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference crown belongs to the Quinnipiac Bobcats, who clinched their fifth consecutive regular-season title last Thursday with a win over Rider University in Edison, N.J. Down 27-11 after the first quarter, QU slowly fought back to keep their historic conference win streak alive. The Bobcats are two games away from their second undefeated regular season in a row; they haven’t lost a MAAC conference game (including postseason) in more than two years, last losing to Fairfield (Ct.) on February 2, 2017.

Quinnipiac’s squad is holding its own outside of the conference, too; its current 16-game win streak is tied for the second longest in the country with No. 24 and C-USA champion Rice, and two games behind No. 1 Baylor.

“We’ve built a winning culture here,” said QU head coach Tricia Fabrri after the title-clinching victory. “Each class leaves (the program) a little better than they found it.”

The Bobcats will look to add a third straight postseason conference title to their acclaims at the MAAC Tournament, March 7-10 at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y.

Conference USA: Rice (outright)

It has been a historic season for women’s college basketball in Texas, and not just for the Lady Bears in Waco.

The Rice University Owls in Houston landed on the AP Top 25 for the first time in program history on February 18th. Five days later, they clinched their first-ever Conference USA regular-season title with a win at North Texas.

“Winning a regular season conference championship is a special accomplishment. The discipline it takes to be your best night in and night out has been the focus of our team since the season began, and we have really grown throughout this process,” said Rice head coach Tina Langley after the win. “I am so proud of these young women and this staff for pouring their heart into this season, and I’m excited to see what else lies ahead for this group.”

The Owls, who are now ranked No. 24 in the country, have now also won 16 straight games, tied for the second-longest streak in the country with the aforementioned Quinnipiac Bobcats. Rice will look to add a postseason title victory to its remarkable season at the C-USA Tournament, March 13-16 at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas.

Big Ten: Maryland (share)

The Maryland Terrapins joined the Big Ten conference in July 2014. Their women’s basketball team has won at least a share of the regular-season conference title in four of the five years since then, including in 2019 after a win at Purdue Monday night.

This is the 10th conference title overall for the Terps under head coach Brenda Frese, who eclipsed 500 wins earlier this year. She and her Maryland team can clinch the Big Ten regular-season crown outright this weekend with a win over Illinois. No matter what happens, however, the Terps are also likely to be one of the top seeds in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, March 6-10 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

While the newest faces in the Big Ten have made the competition get stronger, Maryland has all but cemented its place as the team to beat in the conference.

And, as coach Frese and her team did on Monday, that is surely something to celebrate.

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