No. 2/3 WBB Cruises Past Oklahoma

Sunday, January 27

Norman, Okla.

2 p.m.

Baylor

Oklahoma

Photo by: Baylor Photography

No. 2/3 WBB Cruises Past Oklahoma

1/27/2019 4:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score PDF Box Postgame Notes Highlights

Juicy Landrum and Kalani Brown combined for 41 points.

NORMAN, Okla. – Kim Mulkey didn't exactly petition for the No. 1 ranking her Baylor Lady Bears will likely get come Monday.

"If they saw us play today, they wouldn't vote us No. 1," the Baylor coach said after her team turned it over 17 times and shot just 41 percent in a 74-53 road victory over Oklahoma Sunday afternoon at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Ultimately, though, Baylor (17-1, 7-0) did what top-ranked Notre Dame couldn't do – beat an unranked team on the road. Entrenched in the No. 1 spot since Baylor's 68-57 win over UConn on Jan. 3, Notre Dame could fall from that perch after losing on the road at North Carolina, 78-73.

"Anything that's considered positive for our program and Baylor, we welcome," Mulkey said of the potential No. 1 ranking in the polls. "But really, what does it mean? It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't win a championship for you. It just puts a bigger target on your back. It's not the first time we've been ranked No. 1, if we do get the opportunity to be ranked No. 1. But, I don't think it will change anything about the kids in the locker room. I don't think it will change anything about our practices.

"Our focus right now is Oklahoma State (Wednesday in Stillwater), and then our focus is winning another Big 12 championship."

Despite the turnovers and poor shooting, the Lady Bears took another step toward winning their ninth consecutive Big 12 regular-season title. They beat Oklahoma (5-13, 1-6) for the eighth time in a row, ran their conference regular-season winning streak to 30 and extended their Big 12 record to 30 straight on the road.

Baylor did it in a familiar way, dominating inside with a 50-32 edge in rebounds and outscoring the Sooners in the paint, 36-8. Kalani Brown contributed to that with her fifth 20-point game of the season with an even 20, while Juicy Landrum had a flurry of fourth-quarter layups and finished with a team-high 21 points.

"Height does matter," Mulkey said, referring to the Lady Bears' size advantage inside with the 6-7 Brown and 6-4 Lauren Cox, who had seven points, a season-high 12 rebounds and two blocks. "Particularly what we do offensively, it matters. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but you expect that. That's part of the game, especially on the road. That's why when you don't shoot it well, you better take care of the basketball, you better rebound and you better defend."

The Lady Bears did two of those three, holding OU to 31 percent shooting overall and just 4-of-19 (21 percent) outside the arc. Taylor Robertson hit three of her team's four 3-pointers and matched Landrum for game-high scoring honors with 21, but the rest of the team was just 1-of-11 from 3-point range.

Mulkey said she'd like to say the combined 42 turnovers by the two teams – Oklahoma had 25 – was because of great defense. "But, they played a sagging man. It wasn't like they were up there in us and creating the turnovers. We were just trying to force things instead of taking jumpers. Our kids can shoot it. We just didn't shoot it well today."

Oklahoma scored more than a third of its points at the foul line, hitting 19-of-25, finishing with a 10-point advantage in free throws with Baylor going 9-for-13.

"We put them at the foul line almost 30 times. You're not going to win many games when somebody shoots that many free throws and you don't," Mulkey said. "And we fouled. It's not like we didn't foul. It was just a messy game."

Brown said the Lady Bears did follow the game plan, even if the ball-handling and shooting weren't always there.

"We had a game plan coming in, and I thought we followed it all the way down to our freshmen," she said. "Coach was telling us to get out in transition, try to get some transition baskets, posts run the floor. Altogether, I thought we did well. We got in a little bit of a slump, but we managed to pick it back up."

At the end of a back-and-forth first quarter that saw two ties and three lead changes, freshman NaLyssa Smith scored four of her nine points in the last 30 seconds to give the Lady Bears a 20-13 lead. She got a put back off an offensive board and then a fast-break layup off a feed from point guard Chloe Jackson, who finished with 10 points and eight assists.
"I thought the first subs in the first half – Smith, Queen (Egbo) and (Moon) Ursin – gave you those transition points, they gave you energy," Mulkey said. "And we went from a six-point lead and extended it to double digits. I told them that in the time out. That's what we needed."

Completing its two-game stretch of trips across the Red River, Baylor will play Oklahoma State (12-6, 3-4) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Stillwater. OSU dropped its second in a row, falling to 20^th-ranked Iowa State, 84-71, on Saturday.