Cox Sisters Take Center Stage in WBB vs. Lubbock Christian Exhibition

Wednesday, October 30

Waco, Texas

7:00 PM

Baylor

Lubbock Christian

Cox Sisters Take Center Stage in WBB vs. Lubbock Christian Exhibition

10/29/2019 2:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Annual T1D Awareness Night to feature opponents, sisters

By: Jery Hill, Baylor Bear Insider



	BAYLOR LADY BEARS (0-0) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12/D1 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes	BAYLOR (37-1 in 2018-19) VS. LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (32-5 in 2018-19) October 30, 2019 • 7 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • The Ferrell Center (10,284) - EXHIBITION LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast/1660 AM/92.3 FM WATCH: N/A Talent: N/A LISTEN: BaylorBears.com Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) Baylor Social Media:

	LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN LADY CHAPS (0-0) Location: Lubbock, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Lone Star/NCAA II Head Coach: Steve Gomez (LCU, 1988) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            In a matchup of last year's national champions, the Baylor Lady Bears will cap off their exhibition season by hosting Lubbock Christian at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Ferrell Center.
            "They have a very good team," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said of the Lady Chaps, who finished 32-5 in winning their second Division II national title in the last four years. "They're national champions, OK, they can play. They're playing us, they're playing Mississippi State, they're playing some good teams. And that guy (Steve Gomez) is a heck of a coach."
            A Lubbock native who played for LCU, Gomez is 379-122 in 16 seasons as the head coach and helped the Lady Chaps transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II in 2013. Last year's team swept the Heartland Conference regular-season and tournament titles and defeated Southwestern Oklahoma, 95-85, in double overtime in the national title game.
            On Monday, LCU was within four of Texas with under eight minutes to play before falling to the Longhorns, 83-73, in Austin. Maddi Chitsey, a 6-2 senior forward and returning all-conference player, led the Lady Chaps with 22 points.
            Baylor, coming off its third NCAA Division I national championship and a 37-1 season, opened exhibition play last Friday with a 149-32 win over Langston University. Seven of the eight players who saw game action scored in double figures, led by freshman guard Jordyn Oliver with 28 points and 6-4 senior forward Lauren Cox with 26 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
            Grad transfer point guard Te'a Cooper from South Carolina, who had 15 points and six assists in 16 minutes, said she was just trying to "learn how (Mulkey) wants it to be played. It's a new system, so learning how to play with new players and just enjoying it."
            Erin DeGrate, a 6-6 grad transfer from Texas Tech, added a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while former La Vega High School teammate Juicy Landrum had 20 points, a game-high 13 rebounds and four assists.
            Wednesday's game is Baylor's annual Type 1 Diabetes Awareness game. Cox and her younger sister, 6-1 LCU freshman forward Whitney Cox, both have diabetes.
            "It's a big part of my life, it's not going away anytime soon," said Cox, who helped raise $50,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at last month's fundraiser in Waco. "And I've made it my goal to use that as my platform, to show kids they can do whatever they want to do."
            While Lauren has dealt with TD1 since she was 7 years old, her sister was diagnosed just two years ago when she was a junior at Flower Mound High School.
            "She was actually in the hospital for less than 12 hours," Lauren said of Whitney, who was a 6A first-team all-state pick last year when she averaged 12.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. "When I was diagnosed, I was there for three days. (This time), they knew everything, they knew what to do. I went home that Sunday after we had practice and saw her, and we cried on the couch for a little while. But, she's been seeing me do all this great stuff, and she knew she was going to be fine."
            Teammates at Flower Mound four years ago when Lauren was a senior and Whitney a freshman, they faced each other once in a select tournament, "and we killed them," Lauren said.
            Asked if they had played much one-on-one basketball either at home or in the gym, Lauren said, "No, not really. I think she knows I'd beat her."
            Mulkey seemed to enjoy the light banter or trash talk, but said "it's great that sisters are going to play against each other."
            "I don't want to say it's great that they both have diabetes, because I'm sure they wouldn't want to have that. But, it is what it is, and they deal with. For them to be able to be role models, and for this to be their platform and us to promote it during the game, it's going to be special for their family."
            Baylor will tip off the regular season with a matchup against New Hampshire at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the Ferrell Center. The Baylor men open the same day, hosting Central Arkansas at 11 a.m.

FROM COVERS TO CROWNS TO ALL-AMERICA HONORS, THE SPOTLIGHT TURNS TO FOCUS ON A HEALTHY LAUREN COX

April 7 was a roller coaster ride for then-junior Lauren Cox. That night in Tampa, Fla. saw Baylor with a commanding lead late in the third quarter over Notre Dame, then the Lady Bears' leader and defensive anchor – Cox – went down with an apparent serious knee injury. In her absence the No. 1 overall seed's 12-point lead evaporated quickly in the fourth quarter. But, then, Chloe Jackson hit arguably the top two clutch shots in the history of the storied Lady Bears program, including "the scoop" with 3.9 seconds to break an 80-all tie and eventually lift Baylor to an 82-81 national championship victory over the Fighting Irish. The aftermath led to a visibly conflicted Cox who wanted to bask in the joy of Baylor's third NCAA national championship with her teammates, but experienced timidity literally on the crutches she came out of the locker room on to watch the remainder of the game and figuratively with thoughts looming on the severity of her injury and recovery. Then, the coaster started to head back up the hill late on the night of April 8, when Cox's MRI revealed an MCL sprain rather than a ligament torn. The news left Cox healthy and 100 percent for summer practice with preseason accolades flooding in on and off the court.

In November, she'll grace the cover of Dave Campbell's Texas Basketball magazine, she was named to the Baylor Homecoming Court and chosen as a "princess" along with three others and the Homecoming Queen out of 54 candidates, she donned the cover of the Baylor Arts & Sciences magazine, was the keynote speaker for an event that raised $50,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and oh yeah: She was a unanimous pick for Preseason First-Team All-America honors by Lindy's Sports, Athlon Sports & Street & Smith's. But, the honors haven't stopped there, she was named Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year and for the third time earned a spot on the WBCA Starting Five Watch List for power forwards and will be a leading candidate for its Katrina McClain Award.

Kalani Brown and Jackson may be gone, but the Lady Bears are confident in Cox to make them a contender in 2019-20.

ALL FIVE POSITIONS COVERED AS LADY BEARS SWEEP NAISMITH HALL OF FAME / WBCA STARTING FIVE AWARD WATCH LISTS

Beginning Oct. 21, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, in association with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association began issuing preseason watch lists for their annual "Starting Five Awards." The Lady Bears had a representative for all five positions. For the Nancy Lieberman Award, grad transfer Te'a Cooper earned a spot on the point guard list. The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award honors the best shooting guard in the college game, and Juicy Landrum appeared on the list of 20. The Cheryl Miller Award honors the best small forward in the game and Baylor's DiDi Richards graced the list. The Katrina McClain Award recognizes the top power forward in the game, and Lauren Cox earned a spot on the watchlist for the third-straight year. Finally, Queen Egbo was named to the Lisa Leslie Award watchlist for top center.

HANGIN' WITH MISS-TE'A COOPER

Te'a Cooper got familiar with Baylor last year when the Lady Bears defeated her South Carolina Gamecocks twice by 25 points in each contest. One came on SC's home floor and the other gave Baylor a berth to the Elite 8. Cooper, the Gamecocks' shooting guard, averaged 16.5 points per game in each of those losses to the Lady Bears and finished the year leading SC with 11.9 points per contest. The second-team All-SEC selection will be the second-straight shooting-turned-point guard from the SEC to transfer to Baylor to take over point guard. After Chloe Jackson's success from LSU last year, Cooper elected to use her final year of eligibility at Baylor, a team that needed a point guard. Cooper is no stranger to the one position having started for Tennessee as a freshman in 2015-16. Cooper joined Lauren Cox as a preseason all-America selection by Street & Smith's and was named Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Cooper is engaged to Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard and the couple plans to be married in the summer of 2020.

DEGRATE COMES HOME, OLIVER THE LONE-FISH

The only other newcomers to join the Lady Bears are 6-6 post Erin DeGrate and guard Jordyn Oliver. DeGrate is on her third college, like Cooper, having spent her freshman season with Louisville, her second and third seasons of eligibility with Texas Tech, and she'll return to her hometown to play alongside former high school teammate Juicy Landrum. DeGrate and Landrum won a state title at La Vega High School in Waco in 2014. In 86 college games, DeGrate has averaged 6.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and has shot 49.8 percent from the floor.

Oliver was the lone signee from the 2019 recruiting class, joining Baylor from Prosper High School. The five-star recruit was ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation for the 2019 recruiting classes. She averaged 20 points and nine rebounds as a senior and amassed 2,000 career points at Prosper High School.

GUESS WHO'S BACK, BACK AGAIN?

Joining Cox are eight other returning lettermen. Landrum joins Cox as the pair makes up the only two seniors. Landrum in addition to earning a spot on the Drysdale Award watch list, was named Preseason All-Big 12. Juniors DiDi Richards and Moon Ursin join the upperclassmen ranks with the Lady Bears. Richards was an All-Big 12 Defensive Team member last season, a preseason honorable mention All-Big 12 selection this year, and she was named to the Cheryl Miller Award watch list. Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey called Moon Ursin "the most improved player of the bunch" in a press conference Thursday. Ursin was also selected as the Baylor representative for the Big 12's Champions For Life, and she will be featured several times throughout the year.

Trinity Oliver will begin her redshirt sophomore season playing without a brace for the first time since her torn ACL in the fall of 2017. Four players remain from the "Fierce Five" recruiting class from 2018 that ranked No. 1 in the nation. Preseason All-Big 12 selection NaLyssa Smith leads that group while posts Queen Egbo & Caitlin Bickle are back along with sophomore guard Aquira DeCosta.

COX SISTERS SQUARE OFF AT THE FERRELL CENTER ON T1D AWARENESS NIGHT OCT. 30

Many fans will be interested in the Oct. 30 matchup with Lubbock Christian for a variety of reasons. One, it brings together the reigning Division I and Division II national champions, two Lauren Cox's sister, Whitney, is a freshman on the LCU team, and third the Cox sisters will be honored in BU's annual T1D Awareness game. Lauren was diagnosed at age seven while Whitney learned of her Type 1 Diabetes as a junior in high school.