No. 4/4 Women's Hoops Hosts McNeese State
12/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
 vs.  |
| Baylor vs. McNeese State Dec. 13, 2015 | 2 p.m. CT Waco, Texas | Ferrell Center (10,284) TV: None |
 Watch |  Listen |  |  Notes |  Tickets |
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The No. 4/4 Baylor Lady Bears will host McNeese State to begin a four-game slate to close out the non-conference portion of the 2015-16 season. Baylor will play McNeese State on Sunday, Dec. 13 and host Oral Roberts (Dec. 17) before heading to Winter Park, Fla., to play Miami (FL) and James Madison, Dec. 19 and Dec. 21, respectively, in the Florida Sunshine Classic.
Sixteenth-year head coach Kim Mulkey's Lady Bear squad is led on the season by All-American junior forward Nina Davis, junior guard Alexis Jones and freshman post Kalani Brown with 16.4, 12.6 and 10.2 points per game, respectively. Senior point guard Niya Johnson averages 6.9 points, a nation's-leading 9.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds a contest. Senior post Kristina Higgins leads the Lady Bears on the boards, hauling down 5.4 per game while Davis manages 5.3 a contest while Brown, junior post Khadijiah Cave and freshman post Beatrice Mompremier all join Johnson to pull down 5.0 an outing.
As a team, Baylor is shooting a Big 12-leading .525 (285-543). However, BU's six forward/posts, Nina Davis, Kalani Brown, Khadijiah Cave, Kristina Higgins, Beatrice Mompremier and Dekeiya Cohen, are shooting a combined .622 (194-312) from the floor. Davis (.659), Cave (.667), Mompremier (.651) and Brown (.587) rank among the Big 12's top 10 in field goal percentage. Cave ranks tied for No. 1 while Davis checks in at No. 3, Mompremier No. 4 and Brown is No. 7.
The Lady Bears lead the Big 12 in eight categories: scoring offense (82.0), scoring margin (+34.6), field goal percentage (.525), field goal percentage defense (.304), scoring defense (47.9), assists (24.1), steals (10.6) and assist/turnover ratio (1.6).
McNeese State, under ninth-year head coach Brooks Donald-Williams, enters the contest at 6-2 on the season. The Cowgirls are led by senior guards Allison Baggett and Jayln Johnson's 14.0 and 10.8 points a game, respectively. Jasmyn Carswell, a sophomore forward, leads the team in rebounding at 8.3 a contest, she is followed by sophomore forward Frederica Haywood's 7.0 an outing.
Coming up on Sunday, Dec. 13...
Postgame autograph session and "Break from the Books" - Free Clif Bars/Hydrives for Baylor students.
Quick Hits...
- Through nine games, Baylor is maintaining a league-leading .525 (285-543) shooting percentage which ranks No. 4 nationally.
- Baylor is averaging 5.7 blocks per game which ranks No. 3 in the Big 12. BU is led by freshman post Kalani Brown and senior post Kristina Higgins' 1.2 per contest each.
- BU ranks No. 4 nationally and leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense at .304 (158-520).
- The Lady Bears are averaging a league-leading 10.6 steals per game.
- Baylor is out-scoring its opponents in the paint, 408-156.
- Baylor's bench is outscoring its opponents, 274-135.
- BU seeks its fifth 10-0 start in the Mulkey era and first since 2011-12 (finished 40-0).
- In six of nine games this season, the Lady Bears have shot over .500 including two contests over .600, No. 19 DePaul (.632) & Northwestern State (.625). Games over .500 include: Southern Miss (.535), Cincinnati (.544), No. 20 Michigan State (.551) and Grambling (.591).
- In the past six games, Baylor has shot .561 (202-360) from the floor.
- Baylor is 307-70 in football and men's and women's basketball since 2011-12, the nation's best record in that span.
- Baylor, Michigan State and Oklahoma are the nation's only schools ranked by the AP in football and men's and women's basketball.
- Nina Davis and Niya Johnson have been named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 30 list and to the Naismith Trophy Early Season Watch List.
- Davis and Johnson were named to the Preseason WNIT All-Tournament team; Davis earned MVP honors.
- Niya Johnson is averaging 9.0 assists a game which ranks No. 1 nationally.
- The Lady Bears have 252 AP Top 25 poll appearances in the 2000s, all of which have come under head coach Kim Mulkey, to rank No. 7 on the wire service's active all-time list.
- All told, BU has been ranked in 269 AP polls which ranks No. 22 on the all-time list.
Defense Dominates...
- In Baylor's nine games this season, the defense has dominated, holding its opponents to a Big 12-leading .304 (158-520) mark. BU's field goal percentage defense ranks No. 4 nationally.
- Baylor has forced 166 (18.4 per game) turnovers and averages 10.6 steals and 5.7 blocks per game.
Niya Johnson Shines...
- Baylor senior point guard Niya Johnson is the team's third-leading rebounder, averaging 5.0 a contest.
- Johnson is also averaging 6.9 points and a nation's-leading 8.9 assists an outing. In addition she has recorded a team-leading 17 steals.
- Johnson was named to the Preseason WNIT All-Tournament team and a Junkanoo Jam All-Star.
- Johnson has been named to the Naismith Trophy Early Season Watch list and the Wooden Award Watch List.
- In Baylor's 84-76 victory over No. 20 Michigan State, Johnson scored a career-high-tying 19 points and took six charges.
- Johnson leads the team in free throw shooting, hitting .719 (23-32) percent of her shots.
Nina Davis Picking up Where She Left Off...
- Baylor junior forward Nina Davis leads the team in scoring on the season with 16.4 points a contest.
- Davis is shooting .659 (58-88) from the floor and is averaging 2.9 assists per game.
- Since the injury to Alexis Prince, Davis has playing out of position, she has been playing the No. 3 spot instead of the No. 4 position.
- Davis led BU to the Preseason WNIT championship, averaging 15.0 points and 7.3 rebounds a contest. She was named to the all-tournament team, earning MVP honors. She also earned Junkanoo Jam (Lucaya Division) MVP recognition.
- Davis has been named to the Naismith Trophy Early Season Watch list and the Wooden Award Watch List.
Khadijiah Cave Stepping Up...
- Baylor junior post Khadijiah Cave has started the last three game and has produced outstanding results.
- Over that span, Cave produced two double-doubles and has averaged 13.3 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting .630 (17-27) from the floor and .750 (6-8) from the free throw line.
- Cave tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds vs. Rice and 15 points and a career-high-tying11 rebounds vs. Northwestern State.
- Cave currently ranks tied for No. 1 among Big 12 Conference players in field goal percentage at .667 (36-54).
