Box Score By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            A returning All-American and last year's Wade Trophy winner, Baylor senior forward NaLyssa Smith is usually the best player on the floor, no matter who the opponent is. 
            "There's no great mystery in that," first-year Baylor head coach Nicki Collen said. 
            West Texas A&M certainly isn't going to dispute it. 
            Scoring 34 points in 24 minutes, Smith helped the No. 7 Baylor women rout the visiting Lady Buffs, 92-37, Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center in their final exhibition game before next Tuesday's regular-season opener. 
            "I think some of the things she does in transition, her ability to finish through contact, to keep her eye on the rim, you can't coach that," Collen said. "I'd love to say that that's something we're doing, but I think she's playing very freely and enjoying playing. . . . She certainly made some plays that proved she's probably the best player in America."
            Going to the bench for good with 4:59 left in the game, Smith had actually outscored West Texas, 34-29, staking the Bears to a 50-point lead. She was an efficient 12-of-15 from the floor and 10-of-10 from the line, adding eight rebounds, one block and a steal. 
            Even in a 55-point blowout victory, Smith said, "Any game is going to give you time to learn something you don't know."
            "This game helped me with a zone, seeing where I could score and seeing where I could get the ball the best," Smith said. "I feel like (finishing through contact) is – and-ones, getting to the rim – that's the part of the game that I love the most is contact and getting to the basket."
            Coming off the bench, Queen Egbo had 12 points, seven rebounds and four of Baylor's five blocks, while Caitlin Bickle got the start after missing the first game and chipped in with eight points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. 
            "She's the best communicator on the defensive side of the ball," Collen said of Bickle. "She's just a quarterback out there. Maybe she doesn't have the best feet, maybe she's not the tallest or the quickest or the best at anything. But, she's pretty good at everything. . . . She's like a coach on the floor."
            Bickle said Collen's offense "definitely gives me more opportunities, just as a stretch-4 (power forward). I don't know how many assists I had just from being able to throw it in there to Lys and Queen. They made it real easy for me."
            In last Wednesday's 88-52 blowout of Texas A&M-Commerce, the Bears were challenged much more by a team that's ranked 10^th in the NCAA Division II coaches' poll. The Lions lost by single-digits two days ago at SMU, 66-58. 
            "I think what people don't realize is that first team we played is pretty solid," Collen said. 
            With Smith scoring 10 of Baylor's first 16 points, the Bears jumped out to a 23-12 lead in the first quarter and then held West Texas to single-digit points in the second and third quarters. 
            McKauley Gregory drained a 3-pointer at the 7:14 mark in the second quarter, trimming Baylor's lead to 29-17. But, the Lady Buffs went scoreless for the next 10 ½ minutes before ending the drought with another 3-pointer by Karley Motschenbacher, ending Baylor's run of 27-straight points. 
            "There was a serious focus," Collen said. "We wanted to hold them under 10 points a quarter. Our goal was 35 there at the end, and if we don't foul after the rebound, we keep it at 35. We've got to dial-in. There is no reason to give up 3's. We just weren't closing down well enough."
            After hitting 10-of-23 from 3-point range against A&M-Commerce, the Bears made just 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from outside the arc, with Bickle draining the first one midway through the second quarter. 
            Bickle said having the green light is "absolutely an adjustment" for her. 
            "They caught me several times in the summer," she said. "I got a little better at checking myself. But, there were a lot of times in the summer, where I would look (at the coaches) and be like, 'I can't do that,' because I wasn't used to it. For years, I was told, 'Hey, do this, you're in this role. Just hearing from them, the confidence they have in me, it really helps me as a player being out there."
            Baylor's nine scholarship players all scored and had at least one rebound, with Ja'Mee Asberry scoring eight points and Kamaria McDaniel and Jordan Lewis contributing seven points apiece. 
            The Bears will open the regular season with another in-state matchup against Texas State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Ferrell Center.