By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
Kim Mulkey knows that playing two top-10 teams right out of the box, "you can look pretty bad."
But, after blowing out Langston, 121-32, Monday night in their second and final exhibition game, one thing is clear - the No. 2-ranked Baylor Lady Bears are very deep and extremely talented.
"There's no doubt, we've got post players that can play," Mulkey said. "I'll just rotate them in and run different offenses, depending on who's at the posts. I'm probably going to play eight players, minimum, but we could go much deeper than that."
Seven players scored in double figures Monday night, led by 6-4 freshman Lauren Cox with 19, as the Lady Bears jumped out to a 35-5 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
"We talked about pushing the ball more and basically getting in the flow of our offense and trying to get some easy buckets," said senior point guard Alexis Jones, who flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, nine assists and eight rebounds with no turnovers in 21 minutes. "We just tried to come out and have a better start than we did the last game."
Freshman Calveion "Juicy" Landrum drained a 3-pointer against Langston's zone defense to open up a 16-2 lead halfway through the first quarter. But, the 3-point shooting overall was one of the few negatives in the game, with the Lady Bears hitting just 4-of-16 from outside the arc.
Because of Baylor's size inside, which includes 6-7 sophomore Kalani Brown, 6-4 sophomore Beatrice Mompremier, the 6-4 Cox and 6-3 senior Khadijah Cave, Mulkey said, "we're going to see a lot of zone."
"They're going to challenge us to shoot the perimeter shot," she said. "And we didn't shoot it very well tonight, but we can and we're very capable."
In last week's 89-60 win over Division II Emporia State, the Lady Bears were 5-of-5 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter and 7-of-10 for the game.
"We have some girls that can shoot the 3-ball," said junior guard Kristy Wallace, who was 0-for-2 from outside the arc but finished with 10 points, five assists, two blocks and a pair of steals in just 17 minutes. "That will draw some players out and allow our bigs to get some points in the paint. . . . I think we're a very versatile team and have a lot of depth. So, it's good to see numbers coming from all across the board."
Those numbers included a 62-6 edge in bench points, 92-10 in the paint and 57-19 on the boards as the much smaller Lady Lions had no answer for Baylor's post game. They had only one player taller than 6-foot on the roster and none in the starting lineup.
Cox had a field day, hitting 9-of-13 from the field and adding three boards, three assists and four blocks.
Mulkey says her freshman post has a little toughness about her, "just being a little gritty, a little tough."
"That's something you don't coach, that's something you try to pull out of some of the softer kids," Mulkey said. "I love it. And I think it's contagious. She likes to communicate on the floor, she'll talk. If a pick's being set on a guard, she'll let them know. We're a very quiet team, so if she's the one that has to talk the most as a player, then we certainly encourage it."
Seniors Alexis Prince and Nina Davis chipped in with 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Brown and 6-1 freshman guard Natalie Chou had 11 points apiece.
Baylor extended the lead to 61-17 at the half and stretched it to 93-22 going into the fourth quarter. The Lady Bears hit the century mark on a Prince 3-pointer just over two minutes into the final period.
Ultimately, Mulkey said her rotation will depend on who contributes in the "big, tough games that are coming up," including No. 9 UCLA at home next Monday, Nov. 14, and on the road at four-time defending national champion Connecticut on Nov. 17.
"Obviously, you're going to go with your most experienced players, and then you're going to sub in players with those experienced players so that they can be comfortable," she said.
The Lady Bears open the regular season with a matchup against Houston Baptist at 3:30 p.m. Friday as part of a Ferrell Center doubleheader, with the men facing Oral Roberts at 6.
