No. 5 WBB Bests Kansas, 85-77

Saturday, February 26

Waco, TX

2 PM

Baylor

23-5,13-3Big 12

Kansas

19-7,10-6Big 12

Kansas

Baylor

No. 5 WBB Bests Kansas, 85-77

2/26/2022 4:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bears led by career game from NaLyssa Smith

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Fifth-ranked Baylor didn't need a miracle this time. The Bears just needed NaLyssa Smith to play like the All-American she is.
            Recording her 19^th double-double of the season and 47^th of her career, Smith scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Bears defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, 85-77, Saturday afternoon before a Ferrell Center crowd of 5,639.
            Smith helped Baylor (23-5, 13-3) stay tied atop the Big 12 standings with ninth-ranked Iowa State (24-4, 13-3), which knocked off Texas Tech, 72-55, earlier in the day. In what amounts to a Big 12 championship game, the Bears and Cyclones meet at 6 p.m. Monday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
            "It feels great, honestly, especially being here," Smith said of being in this position after starting out conference at 0-2. "I've already won three, so I don't want to be that one not to get the fourth one. So, I'm super-excited to play for another championship."
            The chances of that seemed remote at best on Jan. 16 before Baylor scored seven unanswered points in the last 14 seconds to beat Kansas, 82-79, in Lawrence, with Ja'Mee Asberry knocking down a 3-pointer and hitting two free throws after a Jayhawk turnover on the inbounds play.
            "We knew they were going to be more aggressive," said Asberry, who hit four 3-pointers and scored 19 points, one off her season-high, "because you could see in their faces that they were a little upset that they lost that one in Kansas. They were hungrier this game, and they made sure they were very physical with us."
            Since that miracle finish in Lawrence, Baylor has won 13 of its last 14 games and ran its winning streak to a season-high eight straight with Saturday's win that completed the series sweep of the Jayhawks (19-7, 10-6).
            "I'm not sure they're not playing as good as anybody in the country," said Kansas coach Brandon Schneider, whose team was eliminated from the Big 12 title race. "They appear to be a lot more bought-in on the defensive end than maybe the first time we played them. They're playing really well."
            Trailing by two after the first quarter, Kansas went on a 9-0 run to take a 28-20 lead on a second-chance bucket by Ioanna Chatzileonti, who had a team-high 21 points.
            Holding KU scoreless for four minutes, the Bears answered with a 13-0 run of their own and went up 33-28 when Jordan Lewis drove inside for a layup after 11-straight points by Smith and Queen Egbo, who finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine boards.
            "I felt like me rebounding the whole game got me a lot of buckets," said Smith, who had scored her previous high of 30 four times, "especially defensive rebounds and taking it coast to coast."
            Unwilling to go away, Kansas regained the lead at 45-43 on a floater by Zakiyah Franklin about midway through the third, but then Baylor scored nine-straight points on a go-ahead 3-pointer by Asberry and back-to-back three-point plays by Asberry and Caitlin Bickle that staked the Bears to a 52-45 lead.
            First-year Baylor coach Nicken Collen calls the and-one plays "energizers."
            "They energize the crowd, they energize the team. It creates separation," Collen said.
            Baylor stretched its lead to as many as 10 and was up 61-54 going into the fourth quarter.
            Just like they did all game, the Jayhawks whittled into the deficit and pulled within 75-72 on a three-point play by Franklin with 2:49 left.
            That's when the Bears went inside to its 1-2 combo of Smith and Egbo. After Egbo scored on layups on back-to-back possessions, Smith got her career high with a jumper and capped the scoring with a layup.
            "Finally," Smith said. "I was like, please God, let me go over 30. I hit 31, actually, so I was hyped."
            While Franklin (17), Chandler Prater (13) and Julie Brousseau (11) also scored in double figures for the Jayhawks, Asberry held Holly Kersgieter to just eight points on 3-for-12 shooting overall and 0-for-4 from outside the arc.
            "I think it was already a part of my game," Asberry said of her defensive prowess. "I think the challenge is (Collen) putting me on the best player. And this game, it was Holly, obviously. You just take that on, and I'm not scared."
            And now, the Bears are one step away from winning their 12^th-consecutive Big 12 championship.