Box Score By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Just what other teams around the country didn't want to see, the fourth-ranked Baylor Lady Bears with another weapon.
Alexis Jones, an All-Big 12 guard who came in averaging 14.4 points but only 4.0 assists per game, had nine by halftime and finished with a season-high 11 assists to go with 19 points and three steals in helping Baylor cruise to an 84-57 semifinal win over 24th-ranked Oklahoma Sunday afternoon in the Big 12 Tournament.
"You see what she can do," said senior Niya Johnson, who acquiesced to Jones' facilitator role for most of the day. "That's what makes us so scary. I thought she did well today, especially handling Oklahoma, dishing it, shooting it, pushing it. She did everything."
After seemingly letting their foot off the gas in the two regular-season games, the Lady Bears jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first 5 ½ minutes and never let up. Never trailing from tip to final buzzer, Baylor was up by 19 at halftime and stretched it to 27 in the fourth quarter.
"We knew we couldn't let up, because they came back on us on their home court," Jones said of the Feb. 22 matchup in Norman, when the Sooners rallied from a 19-point third-quarter deficit to pull within two before falling, 78-70. "We knew we just couldn't letup, so we kept trying to fight and keep pushing through it."
Baylor (32-1) advances to the Big 12 Championship final for the sixth time in a row and the 10th time in program history. With an eye on their sixth straight and eighth overall title, the Lady Bears will face sixth-ranked Texas (28-3) at 8 p.m. Monday at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
"Hopefully, I'll be 3-for-3," said junior forward Nina Davis, who has earned Most Outstanding Player honors in each of her previous two Big 12 tournaments. "It's just an exciting time. Why play the game if you don't play to win?"
The Lady Bears certainly came to win Sunday, hitting nine of their first 11 shots and going up 22-8 on a three-point play by Jones with 3:25 left in the opening quarter. Jones flew out of the gates, getting nine points and three assists in the first quarter, helping Baylor take a commanding 26-12 lead.
"I think the team came out with a lot of energy, not just me," Jones said. "I figured out the way that (OU) was trying to play me. They were trying to make me go right. I saw my teammates open, so was dishing the ball to them."
OU (21-10), which shot just 28 percent in the first half and 30.5 percent for the game (20-of-66), never could get on track offensively and simply had no answer for Baylor's constant wave of players. Davis chipped in with 15 points, Alexis Prince had 13 and freshman post Kalani Brown had 13 points, six rebounds and two of the team's eight blocks.
"I thought several things were key to the game today to keep the crowd out of it, because you're playing in OU's backyard," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "I thought our defense had to be much better than it was the two previous times we played them. I thought our bench had to be better than their bench. And I thought we had to get the foul line and make free throws. And I thought we did all three as good as good as we can do it."
They certainly did, holding the Sooners to a dismal day of shooting while controlling the boards, 41-31, and doubling them up in points in the paint, 44-22. Baylor's bench outscored the OU reserves, 29-25, with Kristy Wallace adding eight points, and the Lady Bears were a near-perfect 19-of-21 from the charity stripe.
The Sooners did open the third quarter with five unanswered points, pulling within 47-33, but they would get no closer. Baylor was back up by 19 at the end of the third, 63-44, and stretched it out to the 27-point lead on a Dekeiya Cohen layup with 1:15 left in the game.
Other than Jones and Johnson, who played 37 minutes apiece, Mulkey was able to give her starters a lot of rest for the second straight day. Johnson, who had five points, nine rebounds and four assists, said she was able to get some extra rest with the ball in Jones' hands so much.
"I (go out) to the wing and get to rest," Johnson said, "and just give them a different look. I don't always have to have the ball in my hands. I try to get it to them. It depends on the defense and who's guarding who."
Mulkey said the biggest challenge for Jones, a transfer from Duke who sat out last season, has been learning not to pass when here teammates aren't ready for it.
"She can do things with the basketball in her hands that most girls can't," Mulkey said. "But she has to learn those teammates aren't ready for that, so that's your turnover. She has to learn how to work within what they're capable of doing. To have 11 assists and two turnovers, it allows me to keep coaching her and explain to her how important turnovers are and why you played so good today."
Derica Wyatt hit four 3-pointers and scored 12 points off the bench to lead the Sooners, who also got 11 points from Maddie Manning and 10 from Gioya Carter. After scoring a combined 26 points in the last meeting, OU's post duo of Kaylon Williams and Vionise Pierre-Louis had just 14 points on 4-for-14 shooting from the field.
"My goal was to alter shots and be a presence in the paint, because I know dribble penetration was a problem for us last time we played them," said the 6-foot-7 Brown. "So just being a presence and being a force in the paint was really my goal."
Texas, swept by Baylor in the season series, advanced to the final with a 67-51 win over third-seeded and 22nd-ranked West Virginia. Celina Rodrigo led a balanced scoring attack with 12 points, four assists and three steals.
"Texas has a lot of depth, and when they get on a roll shooting 3's, they're as good as anybody you'll face," Mulkey said of the Longhorns, who got trounced 74-48 last Monday in Waco. "They've had success in trying to take their program in a different direction than it has been, and they've been rewarded for it. They're nationally ranked now and fought hard for the Big 12 championship."
