MANHATTAN, Kan. – Even on a day when Kansas State looked more like an NCAA tournament team than one trying to climb off the bottom rung of the Big 12 ladder, the eighth-ranked Baylor Lady Bears had more than enough to beat the Wildcats for the 35^th-consecutive time. 
            Complementing NaLyssa Smith's inside game (17 points, eight rebounds), DiJonai Carrington and Moon Ursin combined to knock down six 3-pointers and score 32 points to help Baylor (14-2, 9-1) stay atop the conference standings with a hard-fought 64-52 victory Sunday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum. 
            "I thought we were in control of the game, start to finish," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, whose team has reeled off six wins in a row to maintain a slim half-game lead on No. 21/24 West Virginia (15-2, 9-2). "I never felt like the momentum swung. It was a very slow-paced game, which is not to our liking. But, I thought if that's what they wanted to play today, we'll play it."
            The Lady Bears did struggle to contain 6-6 sophomore center Ayoka Lee, who was 9-of-16 from the floor and finished with a game-high 21 points. She had six points in the first 5 ½ minutes and helped the Wildcats take an early 11-7 lead. 
            "She's just a big girl, you can't move her," Mulkey said. "We fronted her. I thought we got a lot of deflections, a lot of steals. I thought the guards helped a lot when they could. You know they're going to go down there to her. And when you get that close and you have that kind of size, it is Division I basketball, you are going to make shots. I thought we did a better job in the second half of making her make shots without it being a layup or lob."
            Taking the lead for good on a Carrington 3-pointer, Baylor closed the first quarter on a 9-0 run and went up 16-11. With Ursin and Carrington both knocking down a pair of 3-pointers, the Lady Bears stretched it to a 37-26 halftime lead and never let K-State (5-11, 0-9) get closer than 10 the rest of the way. 
            "I don't think we got out in transition as much as we would have liked," said Carrington, who has scored 50 points combined over the last three games since coming back from a COVID quarantine, "but we were able to speed them up occasionally and get them out of their rhythm."
            Facing a 2-3 zone defense, Baylor was challenged to hit some outside shots. Led by Carrington, who was 4-of-11 from outside the arc, the Lady Bears made a season-high seven 3-pointers and scored 40 of their points outside the paint. 
            "If you shoot a lot, you're going to make a lot. That was really today," Carrington said. "But, I think it's just confidence and playing free, playing within myself, letting it come to me and trying not to force things. A couple shots were definitely forced, and I felt that, but just over the last couple of games, just trying to play comfortable and trying to give my team what we need in that game."
            Ursin, perfect from the floor (3-of-3) and line (2-for-2) in the first half, finished with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. But, Mulkey said the 5-6 senior guard "played fatigued for some reason today," committing four of Baylor's 17 turnovers. 
            "You stay with her, and she hits two big shots in the fourth quarter, but I just thought she played a little bit fatigued and had a couple bad turnovers," Mulkey said. "She's entitled to have some of that fatigue if she wants to. She's played her heart out all year."
            Kansas State lost its ninth in a row, but once again hung around despite playing without second-leading scorer Christianna Carr and backup point guard Jada Moore. The Wildcats had dropped six of their previous seven games by 10 points or less, including Wednesday's 83-75 overtime loss at Texas Tech. 
            "I liked our fight," K-State coach Jeff Mittie said. "I thought Lee really battled down there. She's body on body the entire tie with three, four, five people running at her. I just thought our group fought hard."
            Baylor, which also got seven points and 10 assists from DiDi Richards, finishes a two-game road trip with a matchup against Texas Tech (9-10, 4-9) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Lubbock. The Lady Bears return home to face Texas (13-5, 7-4) in a Valentine's Day showdown at 4 p.m. next Sunday at the Ferrell Center.