WACO, Texas - Held below 80 points for the first time this season, the 13th-ranked Baylor Bears had to rely on their stifling defense on a night when "we just couldn't throw it in the ocean from 3."
Written by Jerry Hill | Baylor Bear Insider
Baylor (7-0) scored 23 points off Oregon's 20 turnovers, dominated the boards against a frontline that went 6-8, 6-7, 6-3 at times and held the Ducks (4-3) to one point in the last four-plus minutes to remain unbeaten with a convincing 71-51 victory Sunday afternoon before a Ferrell Center crowd of 4,340.
"Tonight, we proved that when we're not making shots, we can get stops," said Baylor coach Nicki Collen, whose team matched its best start in four years. "I really thought tonight was about our defense, our defensive game plan. . . . I thought Jada Walker was incredible on Chance Gray all night, making her life miserable. That was the difference in the game."
This was a rematch of a classic 2019 national semifinal that Baylor won, 72-67, en route to its third national championship. There were no holdovers from that game playing on Sunday, but it's safe to say the Ducks don't have another Sabrina Ionescu or Satou Sabally still hanging around.
No, but they do have 6-8 junior center Phillipina Kyei, the tallest player in program history. She recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds, but only blocked one shot and had eight of Oregon's 20 turnovers.
"I thought we blocked our own shot," Collen said. "At one point, midway through the fourth quarter, I said, 'You guys know how many blocks Kyei has?' And I said, 'She has zero.' Sometimes, her sheer size makes you double-clutch, makes you throw it up there a little quicker. And I thought at times, we didn't do a good enough job of playing inside out.
"You saw her impact when (Darianna Littlepage-Buggs) threw it over the backboard. You've just got to smile, which she did. I'm proud of her to keep playing, because I thought she played well all night."
After six different players led the Bears in scoring through the first six games, Littlepage-Buggs was the scoring leader for the second-straight game, finishing with 18 points and six boards.
"I definitely plan on getting better and better," said Littlepage-Buggs, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds in Thursday's 85-61 road win at SMU. "Nothing special to my game that I'm going to change. Just do me, and it'll all come."
Aijha Blackwell had her first double-double of the season and 35th of her career with 10 points, 12 rebounds and five steals, while Dre'Una Edwards had 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
After opening the season with six-straight games of 80-plus points, Baylor scored its fewest points and also had its lowest shooting percentage (39.4), hitting 28-of-71 overall and just 6-of-24 from 3-point range.
"I just thought the next 3 was going to go, Jada's 3 was going to go, Aijha's 3 was going to go, Sarah (Andrews') 3 was going to go," Collen said. "And I think if we make one of those, we get the momentum, we bust it open and get really comfortable in it. We had a double-figure lead most of the game, but it just didn't feel like it."
Oregon trailed by 13 at the break, 37-24. But even midway through the fourth, the Ducks closed to within 62-50 on back-to-back buckets by Kyei and a driving layup by Gray, who finished with 10 points, three rebounds, one assist and four turnovers.
But over the last 4:23 of the game, Oregon missed four shots, turned it over twice and scored its only point on a Kyei free throw with 22.4 seconds left. Baylor went on a 9-0 run in pushing the lead to as many as 21 on a free throw by 6-7 freshman Lety Vasconcelos.
"It was just getting in passing lanes - and don't be hesitant to go steal the ball. Get in the passing lanes and make sure you have the right out there, your offside hand," Blackwell said of her career-high five assists. "Just making sure you get there in the right time and just being aggressive on defense, honestly, and getting your hands on it."
Andrews hit three 3-pointers and finished with nine points, seven assists and six rebounds. Walker missed her first seven shots from the field and turned it over four times, but hit a 3-pointer for her first bucket and finished with seven points and three assists.
After an extended break for semester finals, Baylor will face Delaware State (0-6) at 11 a.m. Dec. 14 in the "Future Bears" game and the women's final game at the Ferrell Center.
The remainder of the December schedule has the Bears facing Miami on Dec. 16 in the Hall of Fame Series in San Antonio, Providence and South Florida in the West Palm Beach Classic and then opening Big 12 play against No. 10/11 Texas on Dec. 30 in Austin.