No. 2 WBB Rolls by No. 15 Hawaii in NCAA Opening Round

Friday, March 18

Waco, Texas

3 PM

Baylor

28-6,15-3Big 12

Hawaii

20-10,13-3Big West

Hawaii

Baylor

No. 2 WBB Rolls by No. 15 Hawaii in NCAA Opening Round

3/18/2022 5:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (.pdf)

Bears used a 34-8 third quarter to pull away

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Watching Baylor senior All-American NaLyssa Smith in Hawaii's scouting film session before Friday's first-round game in the NCAA Tournament, Amy Atwell concluded that "we're not going to stop her. She's going to get hers."
            She was right.
            Held to four points in the first half, Smith nearly had a double-double in the first nine minutes of the third quarter with 17 points and nine rebounds to help second-seeded Baylor (28-6) break open a close game and blow out the Rainbow Wahine, 89-49, in the Bears' 19^th-straight first-round victory.
            "We told the girls coming out at halftime, they're going to up their intensity, you're going to get the best Baylor," said Hawaii coach Laura Beeman, whose team fell to 20-10. "That's when Smith kind of took the game over."
            Smith and senior point guard Jordan Lewis combined for 29 points in a dominant third quarter that saw the Bears outscore Hawaii, 34-8, and take a commanding 72-37 lead going into the fourth.
            "She's one of those players, you might not realize it, but you can look up at any given moment and she'll have 20," said sophomore guard Sarah Andrews, who added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists.  "It's amazing just the way she impacts the game. At any given moment, I know she's going to go off."
            Baylor got off to a slow start, missing eight of its first 10 shots and led by just four, 16-12, at the end of the first quarter.
            First-year head coach Nicki Collen said the 6-4 Smith was "a little under the weather, didn't have a ton of energy" in the first half. She was 2-for-5 from the field and had four points and five rebounds with two turnovers, "and then somehow kind of rallied in the second half."
            Smith also struggled on the defensive end, with Atwell knocking down four 3-pointers and scoring 20 of her game-high 29 points in the first half against a rotation of Smith, Queen Egbo and Caitlin Bickle.
            "I expected her to take shots. I certainly wasn't expecting her to make them all like she was," Collen said. "If your hands are down, she's going to shoot it. She doesn't care that Queen is longer than her or Lys is longer than her. If their hands are down, they're not longer than her, and her release is so quick."
            Other than getting Smith and Lewis going on the offensive end, the biggest second-half adjustment was switching it up to have Lewis, Andrews, Jaden Owens and Ja'Mee Asberry take turns defending the 6-0 forward from Perth, Australia. Atwell made just one bucket in the third quarter and was 3-of-12 overall in the second half, scoring nine points.
            "She plays the (power forward) position, but she really plays like a guard," said Lewis, who had 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists before sitting out the fourth quarter. "So, we felt like we could use the bigs as more of a helper, if she were to drive it past us, but just guarding her straight-up. She can dribble, so we guarded her more like she was a guard."
            Despite the slow start, Smith recorded her school-record 25^th double-double of the season with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Egbo had her 13^th double-double fo the season and 32^nd of her career with 10 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks.
            Hitting a 3-pointer and five free throws and driving inside for two layups, Lewis attacked in the third quarter, scoring 12 of her team-high 23 points.
            "Their speed . . . we don't see that in the Big West," Beeman said. "Their speed is unmatched. We see avenues and gaps that we think we've closed off, and they have the strength and the speed and the sill set to still get to the basket."
            Being able to rest Smith and Lewis for the entire fourth quarter, Collen dipped into her short bench to get 10 minutes out of freshman forward Kendra Gillespie. Andrews, who was 3-for-14 in the last two games, scored 10 fourth-quarter points and hit 7-of-12 from the field overall.
            "Seeing it go through (the basket), I was like 'Finally!''' Andrews said. "The past few games, I struggled putting the ball in the hole, but I think it was more about finding a rhythm. Coach just kept telling me, 'Shoot the ball, shoot the ball. It'll go in sooner or later.' To finally see it going in, now I just hope it's going in going forward."
            While Baylor had four double-figure scorers, the Rainbow Wahine got all but 10 of their points from Atwell (29 points, 13 rebounds) and Kallin Spiller (10 points).
            "I think everyone is getting back under their feet from not playing for a few days," Lewis said. "I think coming out of the half, we wanted to separate ourselves and not keep the game close. I think just getting out and running in transitionis when we're at our best."
            BU advances to the second round to face 10^th-seeded South Dakota (28-5) on Sunday at a time to be announced. The Coyotes upset seventh-seeded Ole Miss, 75-61, in the earlier first-round game in Waco.