Baylor
13-1, 3-0Big 12
TCU
11-4, 1-3Big 12
Landrum Leads No. 4/4 WBB Past TCU
1/12/2019 5:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Landrum had 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists.
FORT WORTH – Two years ago, Juicy Landrum didn't have enough confidence to shoot it the way coach Kim Mulkey likes and expects.
Clearly, that awkwardly shy freshman from nearby La Vega High School has grown up.
After Baylor had a 3-point streak snapped at 56 consecutive games three days earlier, Landrum drained 3-of-5 from outside the arc and scored a career-high 23 points to lead the fourth-ranked Lady Bears (13-1, 3-0) to a 79-55 blowout win over TCU Saturday afternoon at Schollmaier Arena.
"I guess my freshman and sophomore year I didn't have the confidence to shoot the ball," said Landrum, who added eight rebounds, five assists, one block and a steal in 39 minutes. "But now, in my junior year, Coach (Bill) Brock) and Coach Kim stay on me about shooting; keeping the confidence to shoot the ball."
Baylor, which led by as many as 35 late in the third quarter, also got 16 points, six rebounds and a season-high four blocks from Kalani Brown and 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks from Lauren Cox.
That post duo helped the Lady Bears win the rebounding battle, 41-32, and outscore the Frogs, 48-20, on points in the paint. Baylor won its 26th straight against TCU and 28thconsecutive conference road game.
"I don't know about (being) overwhelmed, but I think we definitely didn't play with the aggressiveness at the beginning of the game that was part of the game plan and part of what we needed to do," said TCU coach Raegan Pebley, whose team fell to 11-4 and 1-3 with its third straight loss. "This is a league, whether you're playing Baylor, it doesn't matter. If you open games passive, you're going to be behind. We can't do that."
Leading 16-9 at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Bears put the defensive clamps on TCU and held the Frogs to 0-for-10 shooting from the field in the second quarter and 11 points in the first half, tying a program record for fewest points by a Big 12 opponent.
"I don't know that I've ever coached in a game – quarters are new in college for us – to have a (team shoot a) zero field goal percentage," Mulkey said of TCU's second-quarter shooting. "To hold a team to not scoring, you can't do anything but compliment your kids. We're going to guard you. I'm just old-school, that I've learned from people who taught man-to-man defense, that you stay with it. We have length, we have size. Those kids can come out and guard on the perimeter."
Baylor outscored TCU, 19-2, in the second quarter to go up 35-11 on a Brown layup. The Frogs' only points of the quarter came on a pair of free throws by freshman guard Yummy Morris at the 1:29 mark, ending a 20-0 run by the Lady Bears.
TCU actually went nearly 15 minutes between field goals made, getting outscored 27-3 over an extended stretch from 1:46 left in the first quarter to 6:53 in the third.
While reigning Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Amy Okonkwo pumped in 20 points, TCU's 6-3 center Jordan Moore was held nearly 10 points below her scoring averaging, finishing with 11 points on 3-of-13 shooting.
Pebley says the 6-7 Brown is "a great defender. She deserves a lot of credit for that. Jordan was taking probably some shots a little too quick, unbalanced and not utilizing some of the footwork she needed to separate. She was trying to help her team score, so she was probably forcing some shots that normally when we get a little contribution from other people she doesn't have to."
Baylor pushed the lead to 59-24 late in the third quarter on a layup by freshman center Queen Egbo, but TCU scored three points in the last 20 seconds of that quarter and then outscored the Lady Bears 28-20 in the fourth when the Frogs made four 3-pointers and shot 10-of-17 from the floor.
"All but the fourth quarter was good today," Mulkey said. "I'll take the blame for that. I've got a lot of freshman I'm trying to get in games that I need to substitute better. I need to let them grow with older players instead of throwing them all out there at the same time, sometimes."
Didi Richards and Moon Ursin scored seven points apiece, while senior point guard Chloe Jackson had six points, seven assists and only two turnovers in 32 minutes.
"You're just so happy for a kid like (Ursin), because she's a sophomore now and she absorbs everything you teach her," Mulkey said. "You knew she could jump out of the gym at her size. You knew she had quickness, speed. You just stay with her. She can shoot the jumper. What a tremendous spark she was for us."
After winning four games in 10 days, starting with the 68-57 upset of then-No. 1 UConn on Jan. 3, Baylor goes back on the road to face Kansas (10-3. 0-2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday inLawrence. Kansas plays at Kansas State on Sunday after opening league play with single-digit losses to Iowa State and Texas Tech.
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