KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rori Harmon scored 20 points on Sunday afternoon. Aaliyah Moore added 12.

Harmon is a freshman on Texas' women's basketball team. As is Moore. Together, they represent part of the Big 12's future, but since their efforts came in the Big 12 championship game, they also constitute the conference's present.

Harmon produced another memorable postseason performance and Moore provided No. 7 Texas with a boost off the bench in the 67-58 win over No. 4 Baylor. With the victory, Texas secured its first Big 12 championship since the 2003 Final Four season.

"I know we definitely deserve it," Harmon said. "You play as hard as we do, you have to come out with a win."

At the beginning of Sunday's showdown, two notable whistles went against Texas as sophomore DeYona Gaston was twice called for fouling NaLyssa Smith. Texas coach Vic Schaefer was forced to pull Gaston, who was coming off a 13-point, 10-rebound performance against Iowa State, just four minutes and 14 seconds into the game.

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Schaefer asked freshmen Latasha Lattimore and Moore to spell Gaston and defend Smith. Lattimore and Moore had combined to play just 17 minutes over UT's first two games at the tournament. Lattimore held her own during a short stint against Smith. Then Moore got her shot.

Moore, in 11 minutes, scored 10 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting. She also drew the second of Smith's three first-half fouls. That infraction forced Baylor to bench the Big 12's player of the year for nearly three minutes. She later returned, but was pulled again after she was called for an offensive foul on Harmon with 4:18 left in the half.

"I just kept telling myself, 'Be ready,' and be fearless out there," Moore said. "At the end of the day, just be fearless. I have a tattoo of it — fearless — right here. I live by that every day."

Added senior Joanne Allen-Taylor: "Aaliyah stepped up big time. We needed her and she showed up."

With Smith on the bench and limited to five points, Texas built a 39-28 lead by halftime. Seven Longhorns scored before the intermission.

Texas (26-6) led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, but Baylor (27-6) pulled within seven four times in the fourth period — the last of which was Smith's put-back of a teammate's miss with 23 seconds left. The Longhorns put the game away by making four free throws in the final minute.

In addition to her 20 points, Harmon contributed five assists and five rebounds. A first-team snub on the all-conference team during the regular season, Harmon was named the Big 12 tournament's most outstanding player.

Over three games in Kansas City, Harmon averaged 22 points and 4.3 assists. Against No. 10 Iowa State on Saturday, Harmon scored a career-high 30 points. The point guard did not commit a turnover in either the semifinals or championship game.

"I was really just playing for my teammates, I wasn't really worried about awards," Harmon said. "We just wanted to get the big championship win and we did."

Allen-Taylor scored 14 points. Shay Holle grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Sunday's win exorcised nearly two decades worth of demons for the Texas basketball team. Since beating Texas Tech for the conference championship in 2003, Texas had gone 0-4 in Big 12 title games. And the Longhorns had lost 27 of their last 28 meetings with Baylor, which has won 11 conference titles since the last time Texas was crowned.

"You don't win on paper, just so you know. You don't win on who's supposed to win or who's won however many they've won in a row," Schaefer said. "That doesn't really matter. What matters is today, what matters is what's inside of these kids' breastplate."

Later on Sunday night, Texas will find out how much its championship is worth. Starting at 7 p.m., the qualifiers and pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced.

Texas had long ago positioned itself for hosting rights in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. An unanswered question is now what seed Texas will receive.

Of UT's 26 wins, 11 qualify as Q1 conquests. The Longhorns entered Sunday with the eighth-best NET ranking. A Q3-caliber loss at home to Texas Tech on Jan. 5 is the biggest blemish on the Texas resume.

"Why not?" Schaefer said when asked if Texas should be one of the four No. 1 seeds. "If they were gonna make (Baylor) a one, why not us? We just beat a two (Iowa State) ... and now we just beat a one. Why not?"

Tip-ins: Texas center Lauren Ebo joined Harmon on the all-tournament team. ... Smith led Baylor with 21 points and 10 rebounds. ... Texas has won 11 straight games.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas beats Baylor for first Big 12 basketball title since 2003