No. 1/1 WBB Moves On to Big 12 Title Game

Sunday, March 10

Oklahoma City, Okla.

2 p.m.

Baylor

30-1

Kansas State

21-11

Kansas State

Baylor

Photo by: Chris Jones Photography

No. 1/1 WBB Moves On to Big 12 Title Game

3/10/2019 4:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score PDF Box Baylor Postgame Notes Highlights

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            OKLAHOMA CITY – Baylor has barely broken a sweat in getting to the Big 12 Championship final for the 10^thtime in the last 11 years.
            After opening the tournament with a 100-61 rout of Texas Tech, the top-ranked Lady Bears (30-1) shook off an early seven-point deficit and rolled to an 88-60 win over fifth-seeded Kansas State (21-11) in Sunday's semifinal at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
            "It's always sweet, going for a championship," said sophomore guard Moon Ursin, who had four rebounds and three assists the day after her grandfather, Clarence Alexander, died. "You never can win too many. To be here again, with almost an entirely different team, it just shows how good we are and how well we've been doing."
            Kalani Brown scored 24 points in 21 minutes, while Lauren Cox came up two assists shy of a triple-double with 18 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, to help Baylor dominate in the post area. The Lady Bears won the battle of the boards, 56-32, and outscored the Wildcats, 53-16, in the paint.
            "I'm pumped," Brown said of Monday's 8 p.m. championship game against 19^th-ranked Iowa State (25-7), which got by No. 21 Texas, 75-69. "That never gets old. I'm excited for our freshmen to experience a big game like this."
            K-State, which had reeled off six straight wins and eight of its last nine, jumped out to a 14-7 lead by knocking down six of its first 10 shots in the first quarter. But, there was never a hint of panic or worry in a Baylor team that has now won a national-best 22 in a row.
            In the huddle at the first media timeout, coach Kim Mulkey told her team to "weather the storm."
            "You keep playing good defense, you keep running the floor, shooters will fatigue," said Mulkey, whose team has posted nine consecutive 30-win seasons. "Usually, you lose legs first when you shoot a lot of perimeter shots like that. Just stay with your defense and weather the storm."
            The Wildcats answered a Juicy Landrum 3-pointer with another bucket, going up 16-10 and hitting seven of their first 11 shots. From that point on, they hit just 10 of 48 from the floor and were outscored 78-44.
            "You just have to stay patient," said senior point guard Chloe Jackson, who gave the Lady Bears their fourth double-figure scorer with 10 points, most of those coming on mid-range jumpers from the baseline. "You can't shoot lights-out the whole game, at least you hope not. So, just weathering the storm. If we just stayed calm, we knew we would be able to attack them and go on our runs, too."
            Baylor didn't have to be that patient, ending the first quarter on a 14-4 run and taking a 21-18 lead when Landrum drained another 3-pointer and Brown caped the run with a layup off an assist from freshman Aquira DeCosta.
            In a second quarter completely dominated by the Lady Bears, K-State was just 2-of-11 from the floor and nearly got outscored by Cox alone, 11-10. Scoreless in the first quarter, Cox hit six straight free throws after Brown picked up her second foul just 40 seconds into the period.
            "She had to because Kalani was in foul trouble," Mulkey said of Cox finishing with 15 rebounds and eight assists to go with her 18 points. "Cox took over down there, and she made everybody around her better. . . . She just kind of took over the game when Kalani was out. And Kalani played what, 21 minutes, and look at her stats."
            While Cox tied Baylor's Big 12 tournament record with 15 rebounds, her eight assists might have been even more impressive.
            Jackson, a grad transfer from LSU who ranks among the assists leaders nationally, said she has never seen a bigger player pass any better than Cox.
            "Never. That overhead pass where she passes it up the court, I've never seen that," Jackson said. "She's definitely one of the best passers I've ever seen at that size."
            Leading 47-29 at the break, Baylor continued its dominance in a 29-point third quarter that included eight from Cox and seven from Landrum, who finished with 19.
            With Baylor's bench turning it over three times and getting outscored 7-0 in the first 2 ½ minutes of the fourth quarter, Mulkey put her starters back on the floor.
            "Just because we're playing with different people doesn't mean things change," Ursin said. "It shouldn't have had us shaken, but it did. You just get out there and get anxious and your legs stop working and your mind stops working."
            At the 6:00 mark, Brown and Jasauen Beard were both hit with technical fouls after Brown blocked Beard's shot and they exchanged words. Cox quickly pulled Brown out of the fray because "if they get into an altercation and stuff happens, she can get suspended for the next game. So, I knew I had to stop in there quick and get her out of there. We need her."
            Brown said she was looking at referees, waiting for them to call a foul after she grabbed the rebound.
            "(The referee) was standing right there, under the basket. And no call," said Brown, who finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 24 points and nine boards. "It just escalated, and I just blame the refs, because you could have stopped it and you didn't."
            The Wildcats finished off a 10-0 run with a three-point play by Kali Jones, pulling within 76-55, but Baylor answered with six straight points. Freshman Honesty Scott-Grayson capped the scoring with a pull-up jumper when she brought her defender to her knees with a sweet move.
            "That's always fun to watch," Ursin said. "It just gets you excited, doesn't matter if you're up by 50 or however many. That was just exciting, just to show how many skills everyone on this team has."
            Peyton Williams and Christianna Carr had 12 points apiece and Rachel Ranke added 10 for the Wildcats, who shot just 29 percent from the floor (17-of-59) even after the hot start.
            "That's a team, I believe, that has a chance to win the national championship," K-State coach Jeff Mittie said. "It's a team that has all the weapons. . . . You have to pick your poison with them, and they're very, very good."