Dec 8, 2001

Box Score

HONOLULU (AP) - Baylor tried not to let a road trip to Hawaii distract them from concentrating on playing basketball.

Freshman reserve Steffanie Blackmon scored 15 points as No. 9 Baylor beat Illinois-Chicago 62-43 in the Tesoro Invitational on Saturday night.

"One of the main things we talked about while we were down here was to stay focused here in paradise," Blackmon said. "People who win here win anywhere."

Blackmon missed her four shots and four free throws during Friday night's 70-65 victory over host Hawaii. She rebounded nicely against Illinois-Chicago.

"Last night, I wasn't as productive as I liked," Blackmon said. "So I came out today more hard and aggressive."

Baylor (9-0) forced 15 turnovers as the Flames shot just 3-of-22 from the field in the first half to trail 30-10 at halftime.

Zsuzsa Tarnai made four 3-pointers to lead the Flames (5-1) with 12 points.

Baylor raced to a 14-3 lead to start the game and never trailed.

With a double-digit lead, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson went to her bench midway through the first half.

"Having played Hawaii in the first game on their home court on the first night took a lot of energy," Mulkey-Robertson said. "I was concerned we would be leg weary, and we are.

"The good thing is we have a lot of depth on this team, and a lot of our kids off the bench played significant minutes tonight. It allowed some of our stars to rest more."

It was the last game of the round-robin tournament for Baylor. The Flames will play Hawaii on Sunday night.