Another night, another nastily stingy performance by Baylor on the defensive end as the Lady Bears clamped down on No. 18 Texas.
Baylor entered the game with the Big 12 regular-season championship already in its back pocket, but there was no let up in the top-ranked Lady Bears as they pummeled the Longhorns, 64-35, on Monday night at the Ferrell Center.
Lady Bears center Kalani Brown posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while forward Lauren Cox had 13 points, nine rebounds and 6 blocks. Point guard Chloe Jackson scored 12 with six assists and shooting guard Juicy Landrum had 11 points, all in the second half.
But for all the strengths that this Lady Bears team displays on a regular basis, none makes a bigger impact on the bottom line of winning than their defensive effort.
“Three straight years we’ve led the country in field-goal-percentage defense and it doesn’t get talked about very much because, you know, I guess it’s ugly,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “People don’t want to talk about anything but the offensive end of the floor.”
The Lady Bears harassed Texas into 20-percent shooting from the field. Baylor blocked 10 shots and came away with seven steals in holding the Longhorns to the fewest points by a Lady Bears Big 12 opponent in more than six years.
That’s the kind of defense, especially when both teams have lofty goals still in front of them this season, that separates Baylor.
“You have to give Baylor an enormous amount of credit for how good their defense is,” Texas coach Karen Aston said. “Everybody talks so much about their bigs and how good they are on offense, but their defense is really tremendous and it’s a problem.”
As a result, the Lady Bears (26-1, 16-0 Big 12) continue to make a case for the top overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Baylor wrapped up at least a share of its ninth-straight and 10th overall Big 12 Championship last week. The Lady Bears followed that up by posting victories over No. 20 Iowa State on Saturday in Iowa and then the No. 18 Longhorns a little more than 48 hours later.
Iowa State and Texas are scrapping to finish second in the Big 12 and each could’ve used a victory over Baylor both for their places in the conference standings and their seeds in the NCAA Tournament. But neither of them managed to shoot as well as 32 percent against the Lady Bears and, thus, both suffered regular-season sweeps against Baylor.
The Lady Bears held the Longhorns (21-7, 11-5) to just two points during an 11-minute stretch that spanned the second and third quarters. That kind of defense allowed the Lady Bears to stretch a two-point game and potential nail-biter into a 21-point lead on the way to a romp.
— WACOTRIB