#4 WBB Gets Final Tuneup vs. Texas A&M-Commerce in Thursday Exhibition

Thursday, November 1

Waco, Texas

7 p.m.

Baylor

Texas A&M-Commerce

Photo by: Baylor Photography

#4 WBB Gets Final Tuneup vs. Texas A&M-Commerce in Thursday Exhibition

10/31/2018 2:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Lady Bears and Lions tangle at the Ferrell Center Thursday



	#-/4 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (0-0) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12/D1 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes	#-/4 BAYLOR (33-2 in 2017-18) VS.TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE (18-12 in 2017-18) November 1, 2018 • 7 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • The Ferrell Center (10,284) - EXHIBITION LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: Facebook Live/BaylorBears.com Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) LISTEN: BaylorBears.com/1660 AM/92.3 FM Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) Baylor Social Media:

	TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE LIONS (0-0) Location: Commerce, Texas Conference/Affiliation: LSC/NCAA DII Head Coach: Jason Burton (Austin College, 2007) Roster \| Stats

WACO, Texas -The No. 4-ranked Baylor women's basketball team will play host to Texas A&M-Commerce in its final exhibition Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center ahead of the season opener Nov. 6 vs. Nicholls State.

The Lady Bears are coming off a 33-2 overall season last year under 19^th-year head coach Kim Mulkey where Baylor won the Big 12 regular season and Big 12 Championship title and advanced to its 10^th NCAA Sweet 16. Baylor defeated Langston 110-45 in its first exhibition Friday with freshman NaLyssa Smith leading the way with 23 points.

Texas A&M-Commerce, an NCAA Division II program out of Commerce, Texas, is coming off an 18-12 season and is under the direction of fourth-year head coach Jason Burton. The Lions return just three players from last season including Princess Davis who averaged 12.8 points per contest last season.

Baylor returns a nucleus of six players mixed with five freshmen and a graduate transfer. Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox headline the returners for the Lady Bears. Both players landed on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team and have earned numerous national preseason accolades.

Fans can watch a free video/audio broadcast on Facebook Live by visiting Facebook.com/BaylorWBB or by paid subscription on BaylorBears.com/Watch. The game will also be carried on the radio at ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM and 92.3 FM

Single-game, Bear-Claw Mini-Plans and season ticket packages are still available by visiting BaylorBears.com/Tickets or calling (254) 710-6446.

Follow Baylor Lady Bears basketball on social media all season long by following the handle @BaylorWBB on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

STORY LINES
   Nov. 1 the Lady Bears will play host to Texas A&M-Commerce in the final exhibition contest at the Ferrell Center with a 7 p.m. tip ahead of the Nov. 6 season-opener with Nicholls State. Four players scored in double figures for Baylor in the Lady Bears 110-45 win over Langston Friday with NaLyssa Smith's 23 points leading the way.

THREE NATIONAL TOP-FIVE NODS & BIG 12 REPEAT PREDICTED
   After a 33-2 season, a 10th consecutive trip to the NCAA Sweet 16, a Big 12 regular season and championship title, the return of an All-American duo in Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox has the national media and Big 12 head coaches expecting another
successful season for the Lady Bears.
   Athlon Sports College Basketball Preview, Street & Smith's Basketball Yearbook and Lindy's College Basketball have the Lady Bears selected as a preseason No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 pick, respectively.
   18-time Big 12 champion Baylor earned eight of 10 first-place votes in the 2018-19 Preseason Big 12 Women's Basketball Poll. The Lady Bears have won nine regular season and nine Big 12 Championship titles in the program's history, including eight-straight regular season titles.

TWIN TOWERS ACCOLADES POUR IN
   Senior Kalani Brown and junior Lauren Cox have been tabbed by many as the best post combo in the nation, and the pair has combined for six preseason All-America honors with Brown taking home four and Cox a pair. Brown was a first-team selection by the Associated Press, Athlon, Street & Smith's and Lindy's Sports while Cox earned second-team nods from Athlon and Street & Smith's.
   Both players were selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team and Brown was selected to repeat as Big 12 Player of the Year.
   Brown has combined for eight all-America honors between her sophomore and junior seasons while Cox was honored twice after a successful sophomore season last year.

BACK FOR MORE: FOUR VETERANS BACK IN SUPPORT OF BROWN & COX
   Junior Juicy Landrum, sophomores DiDi Richards, Moon Ursin and redshirt freshman Trinity Oliver all bring back experience as well for the Lady Bears in 2018-19. Landrum and Richards should see time early in the starting lineup, but other than Brown and Cox, just 16 starts are shared among the four returning players with Landrum taking 14.
   Landrum could see time at the point guard position and the shooting guard spot; she shot .415 beyond the arc last season on 44 made 3-point field goals and is second among returners with 77 assists last season. Richards played in 33 of 35 games last season averaging 18 minutes per contest and 5.1 points per game; she's expected to be a go-to lockdown defender for the Lady Bears. Ursin averaged 10.5 minutes per contest last season in 28 games and will look to increase productivity her second season. Oliver missed all but seven games due to an ACL tear and was awarded a medical redshirt after a brief rookie campaign.

POINT GUARD BY COMMITTEE: COMBO GUARDS WILL HAVE TO STEP UP IN 2018-19
   Head Coach Kim Mulkey said at the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tipoff Oct. 16 that she had never entered a season without knowing who her point guard would be. Well, in season No. 19, Mulkey and the Lady Bears will shuffle four players at the position after the dismissal of Alexis Morris in early September. (continued on page 2)
   Morris averaged just under double figures at 9.4 points per contest as Kristy Wallace's spell last season and was expected to take over the reins before a violation of team rules ended her tenure.
   LSU transfer Chloe Jackson, Richards, Landrum and freshman Honesty Scott-Grayson have all worked out at the point guard position in the
preseason. Jackson transferred with the intent of getting more experience at the point guard position, but hasn't played the 1 in college to this point.
   Scott-Grayson is a true two but did play some point guard in high school while Richards and Landrum offer experience and leadership that has Mulkey considering the pair for playing time at the point.

NEWCOMER, JACKSON HONORED FOR POSSIBLE TRANSITION TO POINT
   Chloe Jackson was a Second-Team All-SEC selection for the LSU Tigers last season after averaging 18.1 points per contest, she's just 49 points shy of 1,000 career points as a collegian, but she transferred to Baylor with the intention of learning the point guard position from Mulkey, one of the best point guards to ever play the college game.
   Jackson's reputation at shooting guard, however, had the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the WBCA tab Jackson as one of 20 players to the watch list for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, which recognizes the top shooting guard in women's college basketball.

FIERCE FIVE: FISH EAGER TO MAKE MARK AFTER SELECTION AS NO. 1 RECRUITING CLASS
   For the second time in program history, the Baylor women's basketball team signed the nation's top recruiting class and the "Fierce Five" freshmen are ready to lace them up for 2018-19. Caitlin Bickle, Aquira DeCosta, Queen Egbo, Honesty Scott-Grayson and NaLyssa Smith all signed with the Lady Bears and all were ranked in the Top 30 overall by ESPN Hoopgurlz and boasted a five-star rating.

NEW WAVE: Gietzen, Stinnett take over Baylor Lady Bears Radio Crew
   After 22 years of the same play-by-play voice and 20 years of the same color analyst, the Baylor Lady Bears radio waves will bring two new voices to the air after Rick May (PBP) and Lori Fogleman (Color) retired following the 2017-18 season.
   Former Houston Astros radio color analyst Bruce Gietzen and Baylor Athletics Hall of Famer Maggie Davis-Stinnett join the program as play-by-play and analyst, respectively beginning with the 2018-19 season.
   Gietzen is the Director of Student Publications at Baylor while teaching in the journalism department and has more than three decades of media experience between print and broadcast. In addition to his three seasons with the Astros, Gietzen has been a contributing reporter to Fox, ESPN, CNN, ABC, MLB and the NBA.

Davis-Stinnett was a 2001 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, a 2017 Southwest Conference (SWC) Hall of Famer and was one of the most decorated Lady Bears in program history. She amassed 2,027 points and 1,011 rebounds from 1986-1991 and was a three-time All-SWC performer in addition to the only player in league history with 2,000+ points and 1,000+ rebounds.