No. 13 WBB Remains Undefeated with Win at SMU

Thursday, November 30

Dallas, Texas

7 PM

Baylor

6-0,0-0Big 12

SMU

3-4,0-0AAC

Baylor

SMU

No. 13 WBB Remains Undefeated with Win at SMU

11/30/2023 9:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Littlepage-Buggs records double-double with 24 points, 11 boards

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

DALLAS – After averaging close to a double-double last season, when she was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Baylor forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs struggled to find anything close to that level through the 13^th-ranked Bears' first five games.

Thursday night, she was back.

Recording her first double-double of the year, Littlepage-Buggs had a season-high 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Bears (6-0) topped the 80-point mark for the sixth-straight game and defeated former Southwest Conference rival SMU, 85-61, Thursday night at Moody Coliseum in their first road game.

"We know what we can do," she said. "It all starts with our energy. If we don't start with energy, we have a rough start. When we come out and play to our principles and hype each other up and play to our principles, and hype each other up and get going, it's (good) for us."

While the three other starters were a combined 7-for-27 (25.9%), Dre'Una Edwards also got into the double-double act with 10 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and three steals.

"I thought Buggs and Dre early on were scoring around the rim and giving us good energy and stemming the tide there," coach Nicki Collen said. "And Bella (Fontleroy) was fantastic off the bench, I thought, defensively, pace, didn't have any turnovers. I think the plus-minus (+24) indicates that. I thought her and Yaya (Felder) really brought energy off the bench tonight."

SMU (3-4) led by as many as four early on, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Chantae Embry, but the Bears took the lead for good with a 7-0 run that included a Littlepage-Buggs layup, two free throws by Felder and a Sarah Andrews 3-pointer.

Strapped with two first-quarter fouls and another early in the third, Andrews failed to hit double digits for the first time this season, scoring nine points with three assists and three rebounds.

Up by four after the first quarter, the Bears stretched it out to 28-18 on a pair of free throws by Madison Bartley and layups by Fontleroy and Aijha Blackwell off assists by Felder, who had seven points and a season-high six assists.

The Mustangs answered with a 7-0 run and closed to within two, 29-27, on a driving layup by Tiara Young, who narrowly missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds.

"We saw a little bit of everything," Collen said of SMU's defense," because we saw man, where they jumped out on our ball screens. We saw drop coverage, then we saw 2-3 (zone). And then in the third quarter, when Sarah went out, they went triangle-and-two. That's' really uncomfortable for a team. When we relaxed, it didn't bother us at all. And they couldn't get into it with our pace in transition."

Getting it rolling in the second half, the Bears led by 17 at the end of the third and pushed it to as many as 29 when Denae Fritz knocked a 3-pointer on her only shot of the game.

"I looked up at one point, and it was almost 30," Collen said. "And I finally took a deep breath. It happened really, really fast."

Fontleroy, who was 7-of-11 from the floor, finished two points off her career high with 17 points. Jada Walker missed her first seven shots, but had a 3-pointer and three-point play in the fourth quarter and had a solid all-around game with six points, six assists, five rebounds and only two turnovers in 29 minutes.

Baylor was 9-of-25 from outside the arc, with six different players hitting 3-pointers. The Bears scored 17 points off 17 offensive rebounds and 19 points off the Mustangs' 14 turnovers while dominating the boards, 51-28.

"I just think when Yaya can make threes and Bella can make threes and Sarah can make threes and Jada can make threes, it becomes hard to stay in a zone long-term against us," Collen said. "And I thought our ability to attack the paint and make simple reads around the rim and find Buggs . . . I think that's why we separated, because we got good shots and we got offensive rebounds."

SMU, which lost its fourth in a row under former Baylor assistant Toyelle Wilson, had three double-figure scorers led by Tamia Jones with 17 points. Young and Reagan Bradley added 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Baylor returns home to face Oregon (4-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Ferrell Center in a nationally televised game on FS1 before a break for finals and then plays Delaware State (0-6) in the "Future Bears" game at 11 a.m. Dec. 14 in the Bears' last game at the Ferrell Center.

GAME NOTES

The No. 13 Baylor women's basketball team remained undefeated after an 85-61 win in its first road game of the season at SMU on Thursday night.
Baylor has scored 80-plus in all six of its contests to start the year for just the fourth time in program history. The last time it accomplished this feat was during the 1977-78 campaign. It's the first time since the 1975-76 season that all six games were wins by the Bears.
The Bears finished the month of November a perfect 6-0. It's the first time since 2018-19 that Baylor went undefeated in the opening month of competition and just the ninth time since the turn of the century that the Bears have done so.
The 24-point victory marks the fourth 20-plus point win of the year for Baylor.
For the third-straight year under the direction of Nicki Collen, the Bears earned the win in their first true road game of the season.
BU improved to 15-7 on the road in the Collen era with the win over the Mustangs.
The Bears moved to 8-6 in nationally televised games over the last three seasons. More specifically, BU is now 4-1 in games broadcast on ESPNU during that span.
In each of the Bears' six wins, Baylor has had a different leading scorer each contest.
Sophomore Darianna Littlepage-Buggs led the way for the Bears at SMU, turning in her first double-double of the season with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Sophomore Bella Fontleroy finished in double figures for the second time in three outings, contributing 17 of BU's 31 points off the bench.
As a team, the Baylor's bench has outscored its opponent's bench, 212-71.
Graduate senior Dre'Una Edwards recorded her second double-double of the year, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The forward has notched double figure scoring in all but one game this season.
Edwards added three steals and three blocks to her stat line, leading the Bears in each category.
Senior Sarah Andrews drilled three from range to lead the Bears behind the 3-point arc. The guard has hit 3-or-more from behind the arc in four games this season.
Andrews has made 179 threes in her career which is good for third all-time in BU history and she needs just 17 more to stand alone in second.
The Bears outrebounded the Mustangs, 51-28, marking the fourth time this season BU has grabbed more boards than its opponent.
Newcomers Jada Walker and Yaya Felder each dished out six assists to lead the Bears while Baylor combined for 27 assists on 33 made baskets.