No. 6/6 WBB Finishes Regular Season With 96-73 Win Over No. 17/23 West Virginia

Monday, March 8

Waco, Texas

7 p.m.

Baylor

22-2,17-1Big 12

West Virginia

19-5,13-5Big 12

West Virginia

Baylor

No. 6/6 WBB Finishes Regular Season With 96-73 Win Over No. 17/23 West Virginia

3/8/2021 9:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score WBB_24_WVU

Egbo pours in career-high 26, Carrington drops 22 in Lady Bears victory

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Queen Egbo couldn't be hitting her stride and "playing her best basketball" at a better time, with the sixth-ranked Baylor Lady Bears beginning postseason play in four days.
            The 6-3 junior center recorded her third-straight double-double and sixth of the season with a career-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds and a career-high-tying four blocks, helping Baylor (22-2, 17-1) pull away in the fourth quarter for a 96-73 win over No. 17 West Virginia in Monday's regular-season finale at the Ferrell Center.
            "Queen did a really nice job of trying to demand the ball and pin her man and get some shots," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said of Egbo, who was 7-of-11 from the floor in the first half.
            Egbo credited the guards, particularly senior DiDi Richards, for "getting me the ball when I was open and putting me in a good position to just score offensively . . . and not do too much out of my area."
            "They made me comfortable, and we were feeding off of each other," said Egbo, who bumped up her scoring average to 11.3. "DiDi was great passing, and I just feel like me and the guards were all on the same page."
            Winning its 14^th game in a row overall and sweeping the series from West Virginia (19-5, 13-5) for the fourth-straight year, Baylor also got 22 points and 10 boards from grad transfer DiJonai Carrington, 13 points from NaLyssa Smith and a game-high nine assists from Richards.
            Already shorthanded, the Mountaineers had three players foul out and also lost leading scorer Kysre Gondrezick to an apparent foot injury. Particularly limited in the post area, West Virginia was dominated on the boards, 53-28, and got outscored in the paint, 64-22.
            "We got lazy in the paint, and you can't get lazy on Baylor in the paint," West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. "That's what happens. You get in foul trouble, and they start pounding it inside. We were giving up offensive rebounds on fouls shots. I mean, that's unheard of. It's just a matter of not getting back and blocking out."
            Leading by single digits going into the fourth quarter, the Lady Bears hit five of their first seven shots in the period and scored 11 points in a three-minute stretch that pushed the lead to 76-57 on a fast-break layup by Carrington off a steal and assist, respectively, from Richards and fellow senior Moon Ursin.
            "I actually didn't even realize it was three seniors," said Carrington, who had her second double-double of the season and 11^th of her career with 22 points and 10 boards. "But, that's a fun way to potentially have our last game in the Ferrell end. Whenever we play like that, everyone gets hyped, the crowd, our teammates, the bench, everyone."
            Richards had seven of her nine assists in the first half and passed Kristy Wallace in moving up to third on Baylor's all-time list with 532 career assists.
            Gondrezick, who was averaging over 20 points per game, was just 3-of-11 from the floor and scored seven points. But, Kirsten Deans picked up the slack, hitting three 3-pointers and pumped in 22 points, while Esmery Martinez had 13 points and six rebounds.
            The national leader in defensive field goal percentage for the fourth-straight season and fifth time in the last six years, Baylor gave up 40.6 percent overall and 7-of-19 from outside the arc and allowed 70 or more points for just the fourth time.
            "Two of the best defensive teams in the country in this league," Mulkey said. "You look at that score, and you go, 'Ooh, that's not a typical Baylor-West Virginia score. I thought we did a good job on Kysre. It was other players. It was other players that just had good nights."
            This was the second-straight year Baylor finished 17-1 in conference play and the ninth time the Lady Bears have lost one or fewer in league play.
            The No. 1 seed for the Big 12 Championship that begins Thursday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Baylor has a bye to Friday's 1:30 p.m. quarterfinal and will face the winner of Thursday's opening-round game between No. 8 seed TCU (9-14) and ninth-seeded Kansas (7-17).

-BaylorBears.com-