No. 6/6 WBB Advances to Big 12 Championship with 66-55 Win over Texas

Saturday, March 13

Kansas City, Mo.

Noon

Baylor

24-2,17-1Big 12

Texas

18-9,11-7Big 12

Texas

Baylor

No. 6/6 WBB Advances to Big 12 Championship with 66-55 Win over Texas

3/13/2021 2:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score WBB_26_Texas

Lady Bears dominate the boards, survive late run by Longhorns

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Looking at the stat sheet from Saturday's semifinal game at the Big 12 Championship, one number jumped off the page for Baylor coach Kim Mulkey.
            "How about Queen Egbo with 18 rebounds? Good golly, Molly!"
            In what proved to be the difference, the sixth-ranked and top-seeded Lady Bears dominated on the boards and scored 28 second-chance points on 22 offensive rebounds to knock off the fifth-seeded Longhorns, 66-55, and advance to Sunday's noon championship game at Municipal Auditorium.
            "Rebound and defend will win you a lot of basketball games," said Mulkey, whose team made it to the Big 12 tournament finals for the 14^th time, looking for its 11^th title. "That's big when you can give us another shot at it by getting offensive boards."
            Eight of Egbo's career-high 18 rebounds came on the offensive end, with the 6-3 junior center adding 10 points and three blocks for her 17^th career double and fourth in the last five games. Big 12 Player of the Year NaLyssa Smith had her 24^th career double-double, tallying 21 points and 14 rebounds
            Celeste Taylor had back-to-back buckets to cap off a 9-0 run by the Longhorns (18-9), coming back from a 14-point deficit to make it a five-point game, 58-53, with 3:44 left. But, Baylor had a couple big offensive rebounds in a closing 8-2 stretch, Smith making one of two free throws after one of her own boards and then knocking down a mid-range jumper when Moon Ursin grabbed one in traffic.
            "Somebody's got to get it, why not me?" Ursin, who had 19 points and eight boards, said of her rebounding mentality. "Our posts do a good job of blocking out the big girls and occupying them, and I just slip in there and get the boards."
            With 6-5 Texas center Charli Collier limited to just 16 minutes because of foul trouble, Baylor dominated the boards, 51-29, and finished with a 28-15 edge in second-chance points.
            "They had 22 offensive boards, and that was the first thing on the board was rebounding," said first-year Texas head coach Vic Shaefer. "It just comes down to we get out-physicaled when we play that group. It's a physical game, and you have to play the big lineup sometimes. And we sacrifice some things when we do play the big lineup."
            Collier, the projected No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft after deciding to forego her senior year, picked up two quick fouls and played just three minutes in the first half. She scored 17 total points in three games against Baylor this season, finishing with three points and one rebound in Saturday's game.
            Lauren Ebo, a 6-4 junior making her first start, took up some of Collier's slack with seven points and a season-high 11 rebounds. But, it was the Longhorns' backcourt that kept them in the game, with Taylor and Joanne Allen-Taylor combining for five 3-pointers and scoring 22 and 18 points, respectively.
            That duo scored all nine points in the Longhorns' fourth-quarter run, giving them a chance to pull off the upset and end a series streak that has seen Baylor now win 10 in a row.
            Ursin, who hit two free throws, scored a layup off an inbounds play and grabbed the offensive board that led to a Smith bucket, said the Lady Bears didn't panic when the lead got whittled to five.
            "First, we trusted each other," she said. "We just kept our cool, went out there, patted each other on the back. 'Look, I'm here to help you, you're here to help me. Let's just keep going.' We stayed with our principles. We got in there and boxed out and rebounded the ball."
            Grad transfer DiJonai Carrington gave Baylor its fourth double-figure scorer with 14 points off the bench, hitting 6-of-8 from the line. That was her 17^th double-digit game for the Lady Bears and 61^st in a career that included her first four years at Stanford.
            In Sunday's championship game, the Lady Bears will face a second-seeded and 17^th-ranked West Virginia team (21-5) that handed Baylor its only loss in the Big 12 tournament over the last 10 years. The Mountaineers, who advanced with a 59-50 semifinal win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, defeated Baylor in the 2017 Big 12 Championship final, 77-66.
            "West Virginia is going to play you physical," Mulkey said. "They're going to get in passing lanes, they're going to deny the post, similar to what Texas does."
            Sunday's championship game will be broadcast by ESPN2, with Chuckie Kempf and Brenda VanLengen calling the action. The NCAA tournament selections will be revealed in the Selection Show at 6 p.m. Monday on ESPN.