No. 1/1 Lady Bears Roll to Win over OU

Saturday, February 16

Waco, Texas

7 p.m.

Baylor

23-1, 13-0 #1/1

Oklahoma

6-18, 2-11

Oklahoma

Baylor

No. 1/1 Lady Bears Roll to Win over OU

2/16/2019 9:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score PDF Box Postgame Notes Postgame Quotes Highlights

Chloe Jackson scored a season-high 24 points.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Disrespectful or not, Chloe Jackson has to like these Big 12 defenses.
            With Oklahoma taking a page from Kansas State and sagging off Jackson, the senior transfer from LSU burned the Sooner defense for a season-high 24 points and helped the top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears roll over OU, 87-53, Saturday night for their 36^thconsecutive conference win and 34^thin a row at the Ferrell Center.
            "It is actually really surprising," said Jackson, who had two 30-point games in her two seasons at LSU. "I don't know, it's the Big 12, they don't know my game. It's kind of disrespectful, but . . ."
            OU coach Sherri Coale said "you've got to give them something. That's what we gave them, and she took advantage of it."
            "We, obviously, couldn't do a thing with all that size," said Coale, whose team fell to 6-18 overall and tied for last in the Big 12 at 2-11. "We couldn't get a rebound, we couldn't stop them from scoring in the paint, and Jackson was terrific in the first half. You roll the dice and you've got to give them something."
            Following a four-game stretch of single-digit scoring games, Jackson has scored a combined 40 points in the last two games and shot 18-of-30 from the floor.
            "I'm always still looking for my posts," she said. "But, if I kick into them and they kick it back to me, I know I need to shoot it. I'm just taking what the defense gives me. My post players are finding me, so it's just being able to focus in and knock down the shot."
            Playing just 23 minutes, 6-4 junior forward Lauren Cox had 14 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. After picking up her second foul at the 3:13 mark in the first quarter, 6-7 senior All-American sat out the rest of the half and all of the fourth quarter, finishing with eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
            "As usual, poor Kalani, she just can't move in there," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, who improved to 23-1 overall and 13-0 in the Big 12. "Consequently, it left Chloe with a lot of mid-range jumpers, and she's just shooting the ball really well."
            Sophomore guard Ana Llanusa carried the load for the Sooners, scoring a game-high 31 points. She was a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line and 5-of-10 outside the 3-point arc, scoring 17 fourth-quarter points.
After scoring just 27 points through the first three quarters, OU scored 26 in the fourth quarter alone against a Baylor bench that includes six freshmen and sophomore guard Moon Ursin.
    "Honestly, I didn't realize Ana had 31 points. It was a quiet 31, it was a late 31," Mulkey said. "Other than the fourth quarter, I thought our field goal percentage defense was very good. I was pleased with everybody. You never can plan to play everybody. But, with the opportunity presents itself, and it did tonight for all the parents to get the chance to see their kids play."
    Mulkey had emptied the bench late in the third quarter, but put the starters back in when freshman guard Honesty Scott-Grayson turned it over against an OU press.
    "I put five new kids that are not warmed up out there, and their starters are going to press me. No, I'm not going to play that game," Mulkey said. "I'm going to get them out of the press and let those kids have some success. And I told the five of them when they came out, they did nothing wrong."
    The Lady Bears got 27 points from its "Fierce Five" freshman recruiting class, including eight apiece from NaLyssa Smith and Aquira DeCosta. Queen Egbo chipped in with five points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
    "I didn't realize Cox had seven blocks and whatever she had, almost a triple-double," Mulkey said. "But, you've got to get them off the floor. You have to play kids when you can get them some game experience and it just so happene3d that it was Family Night. So, that was even better."
Cox, who is averaging more than 30 minutes per game in conference play, said it was good to get a little extra rest in Saturday's game.
    "That's one thing freshmen don't realize is that it takes a toll on our body," she said. "In high school, their seasons are over by now. Ours is really picking up. It's nice to have a break and to have depth like we do so we have those breaks."
Brown, who was an efficient 3-of-4 from the floor and 2-of-3 from the line, needs just 11 more points and two rebounds to become the sixth player in program history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.
    When Baylor hosts Kansas (12-11, 2-10) at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Brown will get a chance to join an elite list that includes former All-Americans Suzie Snider Eppers, Sophia Young, Brittney Griner and Nina Davis and current radio analyst Maggie Davis-Stinnett.