Five Players Score in Double Figures in 81-71 Win over Harvard

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Five Players Score in Double Figures in 81-71 Win over Harvard

11/19/2023 3:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – As the visiting Harvard Crimson found out, two's not enough.

While Harvard's duo of Lola Mullaney (19) and Mansfield, Texas, native Harmoni Turner (29) combined for 48 points and knocked down eight 3-pointers, the No. 21 Baylor women (3-0) had all five starters score in double figures in an 81-71 victory over the Crimson Sunday afternoon at the Ferrell Center.

Aijha Blackwell had a team-high 16 points to pace the Bears, who were playing their first game since upsetting fourth-ranked Utah, 84-77, on Tuesday. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Kentucky transfer Jada Walker had 13 points and a game-high eight assists.

"I do think you have this confidence," Baylor coach Nicki Collen said of beating a top-five team. "That's a great thing, but you've got to keep earning it. You have to earn it game-in and game-out. And that's a scrappy team. They know who they are. Harmoni is going to be in all their actions . . . but they screen really well for the people who need it."

Baylor struggled to put away a Harvard team that had won three in a row since opening the season with a 23-point loss at then-No. 14 Maryland. The Crimson, WNIT quarterfinalists a year ago, hit six first-half treys and trailed by just two at the break, 39-37.

"Their pace was much quicker than ours at the beginning," Walker said, "but we ended up picking it up and matching up and knowing who we have and knowing our matchups. . . . (Mullaney) is the shooter, so we have to be aware where she is on the floor at all times.

"(Turner) is the scorer, so we had to live with some of the shots she was going to make. But for the most part, it was fixing our ball-screen defense, the staggers and just playing better against that."

Turner, who added seven rebounds and five assists, proved to be a difficult matchup at times with her outside range and attacking the rim. She scored 16 of her game-high 29 points in the first half, shooting 2-for-4 from outside the arc and 4-for-4 from the line.

"We knew Harmoni was going to take a lot of shots," Collen said. "She's super-talented and we made her inefficient (9-for-26 overall). If we don't foul her, I would have said we played really good defense on her over the course of the night. She makes some, she's going to miss some, but I thought (Mullaney) was the difference-maker."

With Harvard missing its first four shots, Baylor opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run and took its biggest lead of the game, 49-37, when Sarah Andrews fed Kentucky transfer Dre'Una Edwards for a jumper. Edwards and Andrews chipped in with 14 and 11 points, respectively.

The Bears were still up by double digits going into the fourth quarter, but Mullaney and Katie Krupa knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers that trimmed the deficit to 60-56. Mullaney's trey was a second-chance bucket off one of the Crimson's 12 offensive boards.

"When all was said and done, it was a wash when you talk about extra possessions," Collen said. "We had eight fewer turnovers (12-20), they had eight more offensive rebounds (12-4). But we shouldn't be even. We have to be more committed to being at least even on the glass with teams and then win the turnover battle."

In a 9-3 run that pushed the lead back to double digits, Littlepage-Buggs hit a pair of jumpers, Blackwell knocked down a 3-pointer and Yaya Felder hit a layup off a steal to put the Bears up 69-59.

With Harvard forced to foul, Baylor made 6-of-11 free throws in the last 3 ½ minutes and then ran out the last 17 seconds after Turner missed a contested 3-pointer. After Utah was just 6-of-24 from outside the arc on Tuesday night, the Crimson was 6-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half and 10-of-24 for the game.

The Bears shot 52.6% from the field and scored 80-plus points in three-straight games to start a season for the 12^th time in program history and first time under Collen. Harvard won the rebounding battle, 37-29, and outscored Baylor, 8-2, in second-chance points.

"We just need to make a point where, wherever it's going, we need to box out and just go get it," Littlepage-Buggs said.

Follwing a four-day break, the Bears will return to the court to face McNeese State at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24, in the Ferrell Center. The Cowgirls (1-4) have lost four in a row and host North American on Tuesday before coming to Waco.

GAME NOTES

In their first-ever meeting, the No. 21 Baylor Bears topped Harvard, 81-71, at the Ferrell Center Sunday afternoon.
The 10-point win marked the second time this season BU has won by double digits.
With their 81 points, the Bears have scored 80-plus in three-straight games to start a season for just the 12th time in program history and first time under the direction of head coach Nicki Collen. Additionally, in those 11 seasons, it is the first time that two of the three opponents reached the postseason the year prior.
Baylor used the same starting lineup (Andrews, Blackwell, Edwards, Littlepage-Buggs, Walker) for the third-straight game.
For the first time under the direction of Collen, all five starters finished in double figures led by Aijha Blackwell's 16-point outpouring.
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs finished a rebound shy of a double-double, turning in a season-best 13 points for her first double-digit scoring performance of the season.
Newcomer Jada Walker put on a season-best performance, finishing with 13 points and eight assists. She went a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe and added a steal in a season-high 31 minutes of action.
Dre'Una Edwards notched 14 points in the win marking the fifth-straight game the forward has reached double figures dating back to her last season playing at Kentucky in 2021-22. Edwards has 56 double-figure scoring games in her career.
The Bears only scored 14 points off the bench as Bella Fontleroy accounted for half of them.
Baylor forced Harvard to commit 20 turnovers – the most in a game by an opponent since Kansas committed 20 on Feb. 1, 2023.