No. 9 WBB Defeats No. 13 Texas in Back-to-Back Games, 63-55

Sunday, February 6

Austin, TX

3 PM

Baylor

17-5,7-3Big 12

Texas

15-6,5-5Big 12

Baylor

Texas

No. 9 WBB Defeats No. 13 Texas in Back-to-Back Games, 63-55

2/6/2022 5:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            AUSTIN – First-year Baylor head coach Nicki Collen didn't want to be the one to "foul out" senior All-American NaLyssa Smith in Sunday afternoon's game at the Frank Erwin Center.
            Despite playing with four fouls for the final eight minutes, Smith hit four-straight free throws and a baseline jumper to cap a 10-0 fourth-quarter run and scored a game-high 28 points to lift the ninth-ranked Bears to a 63-55 win over No. 13 Texas to complete the series sweep in a span of 46 hours.
            "Sometimes, coaches have a tendency to take their own players out for fear that they're going to foul out," said Collen, whose team won its 13^th-straight against Texas in improving to 17-5 overall and 7-3 in the Big 12. "What you're actually doing is fouling them out because they're not on the floor. We don't go on the 6-0 run with her if she's sitting on the bench."
            Two days after dominating the first half in a 75-63 win over the Longhorns (15-6, 5-5) in Waco, Baylor shot just 25.9% in the first half, turned it over 11 times and trailed by eight at the break, 26-18.
            "I think we just looked tired in the first half," Collen said. "I thought we played tired, the physicality bothered us. We got shots up around the rim and didn't make them. We weren't quite as explosive. And let's be honest, they didn't turn the basketball over. Friday night, we got a ton of stuff in transition because of their live-ball turnovers. They took really good care of the ball tonight."
            With the Bears facing a double-digit deficit early in the third quarter, a game-changing play came at the 5:57 mark when point guard Sarah Andrews was initially called for a charging foul, running into Audrey Warren before passing off to Smith for a layup on the backside.
            After a monitor review, the officials reversed the call when the video showed that Warren's heels were on the line of the restricted area under the basket. Not only was the foul switched to Warren, Smith's bucket counted, and then Ja'Mee Asberry hit a layup on the inbounds play to pull Baylor back within three, 37-34.
            That was part of a 9-0 run that saw the Bears retake the lead on a Caitlin Bickle 3-pointer and go into the fourth with a two-point lead, 45-43, when Queen Egbo scored off an offensive rebound and putback. Baylor hit its first 10 shots and shot 78.6% (11-of-14) in putting up 27 points.
            The Longhorns started the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to go back on top, 50-47, but missed a chance to extend the lead when they went 1-for-2 from the line on three-straight possessions.
            When Smith picked up her fourth foul just two minutes into the quarter, Collen opted to keep her on the floor rather than go to a short bench.
            "I knew I had to play smart, because my team needed me on the floor," said Smith, who recorded her 15^th double-double of the year with 28 points and 13 rebounds. "So, I just made adjustments. I just went for it, honestly."
            Asberry, who was Baylor's only other double-figure scorer with 13 points. tied it up when she banked in a 3-point prayer at the end of the shot clock with 4:59 left in the game.
            "She doesn't even know the shot clock is about to go off, and we're yelling at her, and she throws it up and banks it in," Collen said of Asberry's third 3-pointer of the game. "Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good in moments like that."
            After Jordan Lewis made one of two free throws to give the Bears the lead, Smith hit four in a row and then pushed the lead to 57-50 with a baseline jumper.
            "I feel like it's just a will to win," Smith said of her willingness to take late-game shots. "Anybody on our team could be last-second-shot type players."
            While Collen agreed that "we have a lot of players that can take a late-game shot, not everybody wants it."
            "You've got to be fearless in those moments," she said. "Not everyone can take last shots. (Smith) wants the ball. Let's be simple here: When an action we were running was working, I don't think she was disappointed when I called it again."
            The Longhorns, who have lost three in a row, were led by Taylor and Aliyah Matharu with 18 and 10 points, respectively. Baylor won the rebounding battle, 40-32, and scored 19 points off UT's 12 turnovers whle turning it over just three times in the second half.
            Baylor became the first team in 23 years to beat a top-25 team twice in three days, a scenario that was set up when a Jan. 9 game was postponed because of COVID health and safety protocols.
            "I feel like we just take pride in it," Smith said of the Bears winning 13-straight and 27 of the last 28 meetings in the series with Texas. "It's kind of like the battle for who's the best team in Texas. We know the goal here at Baylor is to beat Texas every year."
            Playing their fourth-straight game against a ranked opponent, the Bears will face No. 25 Kansas State (17-6, 7-4) at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center. The Wildcats, who opened conference play with a 68-59 win over Baylor back on Jan. 2, have dropped two of their last three and are coming off a 70-55 loss at Iowa State.