Baylor
9-0,0-0Big 12
Miami
8-1,0-0ACC
No. 10 WBB Shoots Past Miami, 75-57
12/16/2023 6:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Bears sink 10 three's in win over ranked Hurricanes
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – After a five-game stretch where she didn't score more than seven points, Kentucky transfer Jada Walker went 4-for-4 and scored nine of her 14 points in the first quarter to lead 10th-ranked Baylor to a 75-57 win over No. 24 Miami Saturday afternoon at Frost Bank Center.
Walker hit the first two buckets in a 13-0 first-quarter run that gave the Bears (9-0) the lead for good as they beat a top-25 team for the second time this season and remained unbeaten.
"I love that they were playing man to begin with," Baylor coach Nicki Collen said, "because when she can just read hers and get downhill, and I just kept encouraging her to get to her left hand and get downhill. I thought she was just really aggressive against their pressure early."
Sarah Andrews hit three 3-pointers and scored 10 of her game-high 18 points in the second quarter, when Baylor stretched it out to a double-digit lead and took a 49-33 lead into the break.
"The past couple of games I've been kind of passive and overthinking," said Walker, who scored in double figures for the third time this season and the first time in four weeks. "I feel like when I just go (and) push (the) tempo, it makes everyone else better and everyone started running and getting into things. So, we don't always have to set up in something. We're a great transition team, too."
Twice in the second half, the Hurricanes (8-1) whittled it down to a 10-point deficit. But both times, Baylor responded with runs to keep them at bay.
Scoring eight of the first 10 points of the second half, Miami got within 51-41 on a Jasmyne Roberts fast-break bucket. Three-pointers by Andrews and Bella Fontleroy were part of an 8-0 run by the Bears that stretched it back out to an 18-point lead, 59-41.
And then in the fourth, when the Hurricanes scored three-straight buckets to get it back to a 10-point game, 62-52, Baylor scored seven-straight points on a pair of Andrews free throws, a Fontleroy layup and a Yaya Felder 3-pointer. Miami never got closer than 15 the rest of the way.
"(t says) we know how to keep our head," said sophomore forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, who had six points and a season-high 13 rebounds. "When conference (play) comes, we're going to be facing more harder teams. But that goes to show us that we just need to keep our head, be poised, and when (hard) times do come, we just know how to play through it and don't get lost in everything."
Led by Andrews' 18-point outing, the Bears had five double-figure scorers. Walker scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half, while Fontleroy got nine of her 13 points in the second half. Felder (12 points, five assists) and Dre'Una Edwards (10 points, seven rebounds) rounded out Baylor's double-figure scorers.
Miami, which missed its last 13 shots and hit just 3-of-16 from 3-point range, was led by Shayeann Day-Wilson with 12 points and Kyla Oldacre and Ally Stedman with 11 apiece.
"We may not have a lot of (Big 12) Player of the Week honors," Collen said, "because every game looks like this. Every game, it's multiple players getting in double figures. When we have two games in a week, we can't even figure out who to nominate because it takes back-to-back games. And then, someone else in the league will have 35 points and 11 made threes. (It's just) keeping them in tune to winning games being the most important thing."
One of 12 remaining undefeated teams, Baylor will face Providence (6-5) at 2:30 p.m. CT Wednesday and South Florida (7-4) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the West Palm Beach Invitational in West Palm Beach, Fla., before opening league play Dec. 30 at No. 5/7 Texas (10-0).
BIG PICTURE
Baylor: The Bears failed to score at least 80 points for only the second time this season. Their previous low was a 71-51 victory over Oregon on Dec. 3. Baylor entered among the top 10 offenses at 90.3 points per game and was second nationally at 24.3 assists.
Miami: The Hurricanes were held to their lowest output of the season in suffering their first loss. Miami's previous low came in a 61-57 home victory over Southern on Nov. 17.
UP NEXT
Miami: The Hurricanes open their Hurricanes Holiday tournament against Jackson State on Wednesday.
Baylor: The Bears play Providence in the West Palm Beach (Fla.) Invitational on Wednesday.
GAME NOTES
- The No. 10 Baylor women's basketball team picked up its second top-25 win of the season with a 75-57 victory over No. 24 Miami on Saturday night at the Frost Bank Center.
- The Hall of Fame Series game marked the second game away from the Ferrell Center this season and first contest on a neutral court.
- Baylor's victory marked the seventh 16-plus point win for the Bears this year.
- Of BU's 425 wins since 2010-11, 356 of them have been by 10-or-more points.
- BU's 9-0 start to the season matches its best start since the 2015-16 campaign when the Bears went 13-0 to begin that year.
- Five players finished in double figures led by Sarah Andrews' 18-point outpouring. She scored 13 of those in the first half and went 4-for-7 from 3-point range while adding a team-high six assists.
- Jada Walker poured in 14 points, going a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, while Bella Fontleroy (13), Yaya Felder (12) and Dre'Una Edwards (10) also finished in double figures.
- The Bears have had five-or-more players finish in double figures in four of nine contests this season.
- For the second-straight game, and fourth time this season, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs turned in a double-digit rebound performance, grabbing a game- and season-high 13 boards.
- Baylor has outrebounded its opponents in 214 of the last 241 games and seven of its nine games this year.
