#6/6 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (8-1, 3-0) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster | Stats | Game Notes	#6/6 BAYLOR (8-1, 3-0) vs IOWA STATE (8-4, 4-1) January 16, 2021 | 7 PM (CT) Waco, Texas | Ferrell Center (10,284) WATCH: ESPN2 Talent: Courtney Lyle (PBP), Carolyn Peck (Analyst) RADIO: 1660 AM/92.9 FM DIGITAL RADIO LINK: ESPN Central Texas Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Analyst) LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast Baylor Social Media: ** Due to COVID-19, there will be no physical copies of stats, media almanacs, rosters, please use the following link for MEDIA RESOURCES **
	IOWA STATE (8-4, 4-1) Location: Ames, Iowa Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Bill Fennelly (William Penn, 1979) Roster | Stats | Game Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Having played just once in the last four weeks because of an extended Christmas break and COVID-19 postponements or cancellations, the sixth-ranked Baylor Lady Bears (8-1, 3-0) will host Iowa State (8-4, 4-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center. 
            Since a 74-50 win at TCU on Jan. 2, which head coach Kim Mulkey missed because of contact tracing, Baylor canceled a high-profile matchup against UConn and postponed Big 12 games with Kansas State and Kansas. 
            "I'm super ready, super excited to be out there with my team," said 6-3 junior center Queen Egbo, who is averaging 12.1 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game. "We haven't played in a couple of games, so we're really anxious, ready to get our jitters out and just have a great game."
            On Friday, Baylor released a statement, saying: "After our period of restricted team activity, the program is prepared to play tomorrow's contest with Iowa State. The team and the staff continue to follow testing protocols to ensure the safety of our program and our opponents. Coach Mulkey's availability to participate in tomorrow's contest will be determined Saturday."
            Mulkey has quarantined since getting a positive COVID test on Jan. 4, but could return for her first game since a 117-24 win over McNeese State on Dec. 19. 
            "it's just a situation where we have to play with the cards that are dealt us," said associate head coach Bill Brock, who filled in for Mulkey in the Lady Bears' game at TCU. "Our kids have been very responsive and working hard. And believe me, they are anxious to get back on the court and play. We'll have no excuses, and we'll be ready to play."
            On top of the obvious COVID challenges, Baylor is facing an explosive Iowa State team that just handed Oklahoma State its first conference loss, 90-80, Wednesday night in Ames. Junior guard Ashley Joens leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally in scoring (24.4 ppg) and is sixth in the league with 8.7 rebounds per game. 
            The Cyclones are third nationally and have made more 3-pointers (123) than Baylor has attempted (32-of-105). While Stanford transfer DiJonai Carrington leads the Lady Bears with 11 3-pointers made, Iowa State has five players who have hit at least 14, led by freshman guard Lexi Donarski with 23. 
            "Anytime you look at a team that hit 19 3's against Texas Tech and 16 against Oklahoma State, I think that's your major concern," Brock said. "They're an unconventional team. . . . everyone plays on the perimeter, their players shoot the 3. So, our post players will have to prepare to guard inside and outside."
            While Baylor has dominated the all-time series, 30-8, and has won 16 of 17 previous matchups in Waco, the Cyclones handed the Lady Bears one of their two losses last season. 
In what turned out to be the final game of the COVID-shortened season, DiDi Richards was called for a foul on an inbounds play and Joens hit a free throw with 0.1 seconds left in a 57-56 upset in Ames, snapping Baylor's 58-game conference winning streak.
            "You don't call that," Mulkey said after the game. "You usually say, 'You know what, we're going to overtime.'''
            Egbo said that loss is "definitely going to be on our minds."
            "I won't let it distract me too much, but it's definitely something I think about," she said. "I just want to beat them so that loss can be erased and we can move on from it."
            In a matchup of the team's top two scoring offenses, Baylor is led by Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year NaLyssa Smith, who is averaging 17.3 points and 9.6 rebound per game. Also averaging double-digit points for the Lady Bears are Egbo (12.1), Carrington (11.2) and 6-5 freshman center Hannah Gusters (10.3). 
            With Iowa State expected to pack the paint in a tight zone defense, "we're going to have to hit some shots on the perimeter," Brock said. 
            "And then, when we have our opportunities to get the ball inside, we have to convert those," he said. "What Iowa State will do to us defensively is not anything that we have not seen in the past. They've been working on that, and I anticipate them having a good showing offensively on Saturday."
            Saturday's game has been switched from ESPNU to an ESPN2 broadcast, with Courtney Lyle and former Florida and Purdue coach Carolyn Peck calling the action. 
 

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BAYLOR BACK AFTER TWO WEEK HIATUS
    In an unprecedented season, the Baylor Lady Bears will be back to action for the first time since defeating TCU, 74-50 Jan. 2 in Fort Worth. Baylor beat the Horned Frogs without head coach Kim Mulkey, who at the time was quarantining due to exposure to COVID-19. The following week with Baylor's much-anticipated contest with UConn, Mulkey tested positive and contact tracing protocols dropped the team below the roster threshold to play. In addition to the UConn contest being canceled, the K-State contest scheduled for Jan. 10 was postponed due to both teams being unable to reach the minimum roster threshold of six players set by the Big 12.
     The following week, Baylor was set to return to action Jan. 13 at Kansas, but additional COVID-19 concerns kept the Lady Bears from making the trip, and the contest was postponed.
 
LADY BEARS 61-GAME HOME WIN STREAK IS TIED FOR 10TH-BEST IN NCAA HISTORY
    Baylor's win vs. McNeese State Dec. 19 tied Virginia (1991-1996) for the 10th-longest home-win streak in NCAA history. The Lady Bears' last home loss came to Texas Feb. 6, 2017, and since then, Baylor hasn't suffered a blemish at the Ferrell Center. In addition, Baylor has 61-straight non-conference home wins after the win over the Cowgirls. All-time under Kim Mulkey, Baylor is 160-4 vs. non-conference opponents at the Ferrell Center, which includes postseason contests.
 
BAYLOR EYES VENGANCE FOR 2020 REGULAR-SEASON FINALE LOSS TO IOWA STATE
     To add insult to injury from last season's COVID-19 shortened season, Baylor ended the season with a loss at Iowa State, March 8 by a score of 57-56. The loss in Ames kept Baylor from running the table in the regular season for a third-consecutive season and snapped the Lady Bears' 58-game conference win streak, which was the nation's longest streak. In addition, Baylor had won 44-straight conference games on the road. With the game tied at 56 apiece, Baylor's DiDi Richards was called for a foul with 0.1 seconds remaining and ISU's Ashley Joens hit the game-winning free throw on the front end of the two-shot foul to secure the upset.
     Baylor leads the all-time series, 30-8 with a 16-1 mark in Waco. The Lady Bears' only loss to the Cyclones at home came in the programs' first-ever meeting, Feb. 5, 1997 (88-43). Since then, it's been 16-straight wins for Baylor at the Ferrell Center.
 
SMITH NAMED TO WOODEN AWARD MIDSEASON WATCH LIST
     NaLyssa Smith advanced to the Midseason Top 25 Watch List for the John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's, and she leads Baylor in scoring and rebounds at 17.3 and 9.6 per contest, respectively.
      The junior from Converse, Texas has had double-figure scoring games in all but one contest. She tied a career-high with 15 rebounds in the season opener vs. Central Arkansas, Nov. 25 and tied her career high in scoring with 30 points vs. Northwestern State, Dec. 18. Defensively, she's averaging 1.4 steals and 1.2 blocks per contest.
      This season marks the second-straight year that she reached the Midseason Watch List team for the John R. Wooden Award.    
     Brittney Griner won the Wooden Award in back-to-back seasons in 2011-12 and 2012-13. Five different Lady Bears have landed on the Wooden All-American teams, including Griner, Odyssey Sims, Nina Davis, Niya Johnson and Lauren Cox.
 
COVID-19'S EFFECT ON THE LADY BEARS
     All are having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Lady Bears are no exception. Baylor lost four games scheduled for the Preseason WNIT in Waco in November, along with a Thanksgiving week game vs. Oregon in Las Vegas. Originally scheduled for Nov. 27, Baylor and Northwestern State's game was postponed due to COVID issues within the NWST program and was rescheduled for Dec. 18. Baylor lost its top-10 matchup with UConn Jan. 7 and postponed originally-scheduled Big 12 contests with K-State at home (Jan. 10) and at Kansas (Jan. 13).
     Moon Ursin, lost her grandmother, Ruby Alexander, to the virus in April after a swift and brief battle with COVID. Kamaria McDaniel, a transfer from Penn State that is having to sit this season, lost her grandfather, Johnny Webster, Sr., in April as well.
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OWENS DECLARED ELIGIBLE AFTER NCAA INSTATES BLANKET WAIVER; MCDANIEL STILL SIDELINED WITH INJURY
     The NCAA announced Dec. 16 a blanket waiver for transfer students at the NCAA Division I level, which activated Baylor's Jaden Owens and puts the Lady Bears active roster at 11 players. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Division I basketball players will not have the 2020-21 season count against them, which prompted the NCAA Division I Council to make an exception for Division I transfers who arrived at their current institution before the Fall 2020 term began. The blanket waiver would have also made eligible senior guard Kamaria McDaniel. However, the former Penn State standout was sidelined with a left-knee injury earlier in the fall and underwent successful surgery, Nov. 30 to repair an ACL and meniscus tear. She will miss the 2020-21 season.
     Owens came to Baylor after one year with UCLA as a backup point guard. In her freshman season with the Bruins in 2019-20, she averaged 9.6 minutes per contest in 28 games off the bench. She averaged 2.5 points, 1.2 assists and 0.6 steals per contest. Her assist-to-turnover ratio was 1.8:1, and she backed up All-Pac-12 point guard and recent WNBA draft pick Japreece Dean. Owens debuted Dec. 18 vs. Northwestern State hitting her first attempt from the field, a 3-pointer, and she finished with 3 points and 2 assists before she collected a career-high eight assists in Baylor's win vs. McNeese State, Dec. 19.
 
RICHARDS RETURNS TO FLOOR AFTER SPINAL INJURY, FEATURED ON ESPN'S SPORTSCENTER
     Oct. 24, Moon Ursin and DiDi Richards collided in mid-air during a practice scrimmage, leaving Ursin with a concussion and Richards with a Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality (SCIOWRA). Ursin returned to practice after clearing concussion protocol in mid-November while Richards' rehab began immediately after she briefly lost feeling below her knees. Richards was first confined to a walker to assist her in walking, but by mid-November she was completing individual drills and workouts with medical and strength & conditioning staff. Richards shocked doctors, team medical staff and coaches with the rate of her rehab. Thirty-eight days after the injury, she played 30 minutes off the bench at South Florida Dec. 1. She scored a bucket 13 seconds into her entry, and picked up where she left off last season by leading Baylor with seven assists. Dec. 6 in Fayetteville, Ark., she resumed her starting role, getting her first start at point guard and finished the contest with a game-high eight assists. She led the Big 12 in assists per game in 2019-20, ranked 13th in the nation and had the NCAA's sixth-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9:1.
     Her return to the floor sparked interest from ESPN with Mechelle Voepel writing a feature on her recovery, and Scott Van Pelt led off his Tuesday edition of SportsCenter, covering Richards' return with the "Best Thing I Saw Today" segment.
 
BAYLOR WINS 1,000TH WIN AS A PROGRAM; LADY BEARS BECOME 15TH PROGRAM IN D1 HISTORY TO REACH 1,000 VICTORIES
      Baylor's win at South Florida Dec. 1 marked the program's 1,000th victory. Baylor became the 15th program in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,000 victories joining Tennessee, UConn, James Madison, Louisiana Tech, Stanford, Texas, SFA, Old Dominion, Ohio State, Maryland, Western Kentucky, Wisconsin-Green Bay, South Dakota State, and Notre Dame. Kim Mulkey has 606 of those wins as head coach for Baylor. At Louisiana Tech, she was either a player, assistant or associate head coach for 560 victories, which makes her a direct contributor to 1,106 wins between the two programs on the prestigious list.
 
MULKEY JOINS STAR-STUDDED 2020 CLASS WITH NAISMITH HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
     The Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments were cancelled, but Kim Mulkey did get some good news in April when she was announced as a member of the 2020 induction class to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She and her class' peers are virtually peerless as she joined a star-studded class, including Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Tamika Catchings, Rudy Tomjanovich, Eddie Sutton, Barbara Stevens and Patrick Baumann.
     Her induction ceremony was delayed due to COVID-19 and the 2020 class has yet to be enshrined. Her induction will be as a coach, although she has been nominated as a player on numerous occasions. She was also a finalist in 2018. Mulkey's many accomplishments earned her the honor, but among them are three NCAA titles, 21 Big 12 championships, and she was the fastest NCAA Division I head coach, man or woman, to reach 600 career victories (700 games).