No. 7/7 WBB Downs Oklahoma State, 70-51

Wednesday, February 24

Waco, Texas

7 p.m.

Baylor

18-2,13-1Big 12

Oklahoma State

17-7,13-5Big 12

Oklahoma St.

Baylor

No. 7/7 WBB Downs Oklahoma State, 70-51

2/24/2021 9:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score WBB_20_OKST

Lady Bears outscored Cowgirls 52-30 from the 4:48 mark in the second quarter

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Even in a game where the No. 7 Baylor Lady Bears led by as many as 24 and were in control for most of the night, Kim Mulkey has a not-so-subtle way of sending messages to her players.
            Moon Ursin got the icy stare when she gave up a wide-open 3-pointer as part of a 19-2 first-half run by the visiting Oklahoma City Cowgirls, then DiJonai Carrington "couldn't escape it" when she pulled the trigger on a 3-pointer and missed rather than taking a wide-open lane for an easy layup.
            "That shot was right in front of her, so I couldn't escape it," said Carrington, who recorded her 10^thcareer double-double and first at Baylor with 12 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 70-51 win that leaves the Lady Bears (18-0, 13-1) a win away from clinching at least a share of their 11^th-consecutive Big 12 championship.
            Mulkey, who put the Cowgirls' first-half run on herself for subbing "too many at one time," said the Lady Bears don't want to share the title – their 11^th in a row and 12^th overall – but will celebrate if they get the clincher in Saturday's 11 a.m. game at the Ferrell Center against last-place Kansas State (7-14, 2-12).
            "I'm sure they're not going to let them come on the floor and celebrate and cut nets down and do all of that," said Mulkey, whose team has won 10 in a row overall and 11-straight against OSU (17-7, 13-5). Coupled with Iowa State's 85-68 win over No. 18/22 West Virginia (17-4. 11-4), Baylor extended its lead in the conference race and lowered its magic number to one – a Baylor win or West Virginia loss – to clinch the title.
            "We're not taking any shortcuts. The confetti will fall and we'll do all of that, but you've got to win the game first. So, we'll enjoy tonight and we'll get in the film room (Thursday) and get ready to go early on Saturday morning."
            With the visiting Cowgirls missing their first 11 shots, Baylor jumped out to an early 16-2 lead. But, OSU reeled off nine unanswered points over the last 3 ½ minutes of the first quarter and pulled within 18-14 early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Lexy Keys.
            Natasha Mack, who finished with a monster double-double with 18 points and 18 rebounds, finished off a 19-2 run with an inside bucket and gave OSU a 21-18 lead.
            "I took a lot of the blame for that," Mulkey said. "I subbed early, I subbed too many at one time. You want to get kids minutes, you want to rest kids. I need to be a better coach in subbing one at a time and let them get in a flow. So, I'll take some of that. But also, give a little credit to Oklahoma State. You're playing a team that's fighting for second, third place in the league."
            During a particularly disturbing nine-minute stretch at the end of the first quarter and start of the second, Baylor turned it over nine times and missed 11 of 12 shots from the floor.
            Senior point guard DiDi Richards, who finished one shy of her career high with 11 assists, said she "tried to be the poised one in the group" as the Lady Bears went from 14 up to three down.
            "You have Coach Mulkey yelling, and I'm trying to be the one that's like, 'Listen to her message, not the tone,''' Richards said, "because I think the younger players tend to listen to her tone instead of the message. I'm just repeating that the whole time. And once we started clicking, and once we see one shot fall in, it's kind of like, let's build off of this now. . . . Eventually, that turned into a 17-0 run."
            After going 0-for-2 with two turnovers in the first quarter, Carrington sparked the 17-0 run with a layup and 3-pointer and then capped it with a dish to NaLyssa Smith for a layup that gave the Lady Bears a 35-21 halftime edge.
            "That was a very alert play by two kids that had to know how much time was on the clock," Mulkey said. "That was a big momentum boost for us right there with NaLyssa running the floor like that and DiJonai recognizing it."
            Seeing the clock winding down to the last few seconds, Carrington said "there was no other option, for real."
            When she actually did have an option in the second half, with a wide-open lane to the basket, Carrington got the stare down from Mulkey.
            "I'd say we had a prayer meeting when she came off the floor," Mulkey said. "And you saw, the prayer worked. She went back in and played like she's capable."
            The Lady Bears saw a 20-point lead whittled to 12 early in the fourth quarter when Mack hit a short jumper to make it 54-42 with 9:02 left in the game. Baylor answered again, scoring 12 straight points and capping the run when Richards hit Smith on the back side with an alley-oop pass for a layup that stretched it back to 66-42.
            "When Coach Mulkey calls the play, I always have my mind set, 'DiDi, this is your chance, throw the lob,''' Richards said. "NaLyssa is always giving me a hard time about the lob. Having Lys in there, I literally just throw it in the area, and she can make it happen. And that's what she did. She's a great athlete. She makes it real easy on me, for sure."
            Smith finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 20 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, with Queen Egbo chipping in with 13 points, nine boards and two blocks. Ja'Mee Asberry gave OSU another double-figure scorer with 15 points, while Ursin had 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
            "Every game, we've had to do something a little bit different, just based on what the defense has given us," said Carrington, who has scored in double figures in seven-consecutive games since returning from a COVID quarantine. "But, there's one thing that remains the same, and it's that grit that we have each and every night."
            The Lady Bears' closing schedule includes road trips to Texas and Kansas next Monday and Saturday, sandwiched between home dates against Kansas State on Saturday and West Virginia on March 8.
            "Do I think about it much, in 21 years that you've won 11 times?" Mulkey said of Baylor's Big 12 regular-season titles. "Sometimes, I think about it, when I'm home and have a quiet moment and just kind of think, 'Wow, just keep feeding that monster.'''

-BaylorBears.com-