Baylor
16-1,5-0Big 12
TCU
13-4,4-2Big 12
No. 2/1 WBB Edges TCU in Ft. Worth for 46th-Straight Big 12 Win
1/22/2020 8:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Queen Egbo and Te'a Cooper each had 14 points in the win
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
FORT WORTH, Texas – On a night when No. 2/1-ranked Baylor seemed ripe for the taking, the Lady Bears found a way to survive by far their stiffest test this season in Big 12 play.
TCU (13-4, 4-2), trying to snap a 27-game losing streak that goes all the way back to 1990 when they were rivals in the Southwest Conference, had an 11-0 run in the first half and was up 45-44 going into the fourth quarter.
But, even with leading scorer NaLyssa Smith sidelined by a right ankle injury, the Lady Bears (16-1, 5-0) overcome a dismal night at the free throw line and rallied to beat the Horned Frogs, 66-57, and extend their school and Big 12-record conference winning streak to 46-straight.
"(The defense) was good enough for us to hang in the game when we were shooting so poorly," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, whose team also won its 38th-consecutive league game on the road. "We won a tough game on the road without NaLyssa Smith. We won a tough game on the road without making free throws. We'll take it, get on that bus and head to Waco."
Sophomore forward Queen Egbo, starting in place of the injured Smith, was 7-of-10 from the floor and finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. But, she had a couple defensive lapses that led to 3-pointers in TCU's 11-0 run, tying it up at 25-25.
"You're playing with a new (forward) on the floor, and she got caught on their shooters and just didn't get out," Mulkey said. "I'm not calling a kid out, I'm trying to teach a kid, so I pulled her out of the game and went small. Those are moments she's got to learn. You're not always going to have the guy you've been assigned in transition defense."
All five Baylor starters scored in double figures, with Egbo and Te'a Cooper sharing team-high honors with 14. Lauren Cox added 11 points, eight rebounds and five blocks, while DiDi Richards and Juicy Landrum each had 10 points.
TCU coach Raegan Pebley said Egbo and Smith are "very, very similar."
"I don't think they're a whole lot different, except for maybe right now NaLyssa was more confident," Pebley said. "But I think Queen brings very similar type of dynamics. Maybe it's a little bit of a lack of depth, Lauren not getting as many opportunities to rest right now. And that's where it impacts, but they're a deep team."
Baylor seemed to take control at the midway point of the second quarter, scoring seven unanswered points to go up 25-14 when Cooper fed Egbo for a layup.
The Horned Frogs, though, responded with an 11-0 run that included two treys by Kianna Ray and one by Jaycee Bradley. Ray, who scored a game-high 16 points, tied it at 25-25 on a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
"It was matchups in transition that were bugging me," Mulkey said. "You've got a (forward) out there who's a role player, and she didn't do a very good job when we went up 11, and left people who we went over the scouting report that can shoot the 3. You just teach her, and I think when she came off the floor, I told her about it. . . . What Queen did was she gave us a post presence. She gave us a target in there to throw to, so we could work off of her."
TCU closed the third quarter with five unanswered points, taking a 45-44 lead on Lauren Heard's three-point play when she hit a layup and the follow free throw after getting fouled by Cooper.
With Baylor facing just its second fourth-quarter deficit of the year, Mulkey said she didn't give a big-time speech or "draw up anything special."
"Nah, we just started not turning the ball over, started making a few defensive stops and not letting them get offensive boards," she said. "And then we came down and executed a few plays. . . . You knew they were going to foul you, just get up there and make your free throws."
Baylor, which took the lead for good when Cox hit Egbo for a layup to start the fourth quarter, could have made life a whole lot easier by just making free throws. But, the Lady Bears missed their first seven in the game and 10 of their first 12 before sealing the deal by making six of eight in the last 64 seconds.
Typically dead-eye shooters from the line, Cox and Cooper were a combined 2-for-10, with Baylor finishing just 8-for-20.
"I don't know why I missed all those free throws," Cooper said, "but I'm going to figure it out."
Ray led the Horned Frogs with 16 points, while Jayde Woods and Heard had 13 and 11 points, respectively. Moon Ursin came off the bench to score five points and grab a team-high nine boards for the Lady Bears.
Baylor returns home for its next two, hosting Texas Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday and Iowa State at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
