No. 2/3 WBB Powers Past Kansas

Wednesday, January 16

Lawrence, Kan.

7 p.m.

Baylor

14-1, 4-0Big 12

Kansas

11-4, 1-3Big 12

Baylor

Kansas

No. 2/3 WBB Powers Past Kansas

1/16/2019 9:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score PDF Box Postgame Notes Highlights

Chloe Jackson had a season-high 22 points to go with eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals.

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Even on a night when it seemed like they couldn't miss from outside the 3-point arc, the Kansas Jayhawks still didn't have enough firepower to hang with the No. 2 Baylor Lady Bears.

Guards Jessica Washington and Kylee Kopatich combined for 11 of the Jayhawks 14 treys, but Baylor (14-1, 4-0) offset Kansas' sizzling outside shooting with a balanced attack of five double-figure scorers led by grad transfer Chloe Jackson with a season-high 22 points to go with eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals.

"I was just taking what the defense was giving me," said Jackson, who was an efficient 10-of-14 from the floor with her first made 3-pointer of the season "I was feeding the posts if they came out on me. The posts were finishing and posting up, as always. That's my first look coming down the court. If they don't step out on me, I know have that mid-range shot, too."
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said the LSU transfer "hit shot after shot, but that's what we expect from Chloe."

"As important as the point guard position is, you don't want to take away what she does best, because we need those points," Mulkey said. "At the same time, Chloe is getting better at delivering passes to the bigs inside. She can always shoot it. It's difficult (for the defense). Are you going to give up the posts, or are you going to let her shoot it? She was just clicking tonight."

While the Jayhawks (11-4, 1-3) did most of their work from deep, Baylor finished with a 52-12 edge on points in the paint and dominated the boards, 42-29.

DiDi Richards scored 10 of the Lady Bears' first 15 points on five backdoor layups, part of a phenomenal 13-of-16 shooting (81 percent) in the first quarter that helped Baylor jump out to a 29-15 lead.

"You never know going into a game where the (defensive) help is going to come from," Mulkey said. "Kalani (Brown) did a tremendous job of recognizing it, and DiDi and her were on the same page. Every time they cut off of DiDi, she just found a gap and Kalani found her."

Also scoring in double figures for the Lady Bears were Brown with 15, Richards with a career-high 14 and Cox and freshman NaLyssa Smith with 13 apiece.

Jackson, who transitioned to point guard for the first time in her collegiate career, said she "wouldn't like to play with any other post players" than Baylor's combo of Brown, Cox, Smith and Queen Egbo.

"You get all types of different games," she said. "NaLyssa can pop out, and (Cox) can, too. And all of them run the floor really well. So, I know if I'm running to look for them, because they're going to run down the floor and post up and give me another option."

Scoring all but 12 of their 68 points from outside the paint area, the Jayhawks got 18 points from Washington, 17 from Kopatich and 10 points and four assists from point guard Christalah Lyons. Washington and Kopatich were a mind-boggling 11-of-18 from 3-point range.

"Credit Kansas, those guys shot 50 percent from 3 (14-of-28)," Mulkey said. "Some of them were long rebounds and quick throw-outs. Nonetheless, we can't give up that many 3's and win. Tonight, we were able to match them. At one point, it was 3's for 2's. We were scoring in the paint and they were scoring 3's. And we just hung in there. It's hard to win. We had some upsets in the league tonight, so we'll take any win we can get on the road and get out."

With 11^th-ranked Texas (14-3, 4-1) getting upset on the road at Kansas State, 87-69, eight-time defending conference champion Baylor takes over sole possession of first place in the Big 12 standings going into Sunday's 4 p.m. home game against West Virginia (12-4, 3-2) that will be nationally televised by FS1.

The Mountaineers pulled off a 73-64 win over 18^th-ranked Iowa State, their third straight win after an 0-2 start in league play, and moved into a tie for third in the Big 12 standings with the Cyclones at 3-2.