No. 13 WBB Uses 20-Point Win to Take Down Oregon, 71-51

Sunday, December 3

Waco, Texas

1 PM

Baylor

Oregon

No. 13 WBB Uses 20-Point Win to Take Down Oregon, 71-51

12/3/2023 3:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – Held below 80 points for the first time this season, the 13^th-ranked Baylor Bears had to rely on their stifling defense on a night when "we just couldn't throw it in the ocean from 3."

Baylor (7-0) scored 23 points off Oregon's 20 turnovers, dominated the boards against a frontline that went 6-8, 6-7, 6-3 at times and held the Ducks (4-3) to one point in the last four-plus minutes to remain unbeaten with a convincing 71-51 victory Sunday afternoon before a Ferrell Center crowd of 4,340.

"Tonight, we proved that when we're not making shots, we can get stops," said Baylor coach Nicki Collen, whose team matched its best start in four years. "I really thought tonight was about our defense, our defensive game plan. . . . I thought Jada Walker was incredible on Chance Gray all night, making her life miserable. That was the difference in the game."

This was a rematch of a classic 2019 national semifinal that Baylor won, 72-67, en route to its third national championship. There were no holdovers from that game playing on Sunday, but it's safe to say the Ducks don't have another Sabrina Ionescu or Satou Sabally still hanging around.

No, but they do have 6-8 junior center Phillipina Kyei, the tallest player in program history. She recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds, but only blocked one shot and had eight of Oregon's 20 turnovers.

"I thought we blocked our own shot," Collen said. "At one point, midway through the fourth quarter, I said, 'You guys know how many blocks Kyei has?' And I said, 'She has zero.' Sometimes, her sheer size makes you double-clutch, makes you throw it up there a little quicker. And I thought at times, we didn't do a good enough job of playing inside out.

"You saw her impact when (Darianna Littlepage-Buggs) threw it over the backboard. You've just got to smile, which she did. I'm proud of her to keep playing, because I thought she played well all night."

After six different players led the Bears in scoring through the first six games, Littlepage-Buggs was the scoring leader for the second-straight game, finishing with 18 points and six boards.

"I definitely plan on getting better and better," said Littlepage-Buggs, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds in Thursday's 85-61 road win at SMU. "Nothing special to my game that I'm going to change. Just do me, and it'll all come."

Aijha Blackwell had her first double-double of the season and 35^th of her career with 10 points, 12 rebounds and five steals, while Dre'Una Edwards had 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

After opening the season with six-straight games of 80-plus points, Baylor scored its fewest points and also had its lowest shooting percentage (39.4), hitting 28-of-71 overall and just 6-of-24 from 3-point range.

"I just thought the next 3 was going to go, Jada's 3 was going to go, Aijha's 3 was going to go, Sarah (Andrews') 3 was going to go," Collen said. "And I think if we make one of those, we get the momentum, we bust it open and get really comfortable in it. We had a double-figure lead most of the game, but it just didn't feel like it."

Oregon trailed by 13 at the break, 37-24. But even midway through the fourth, the Ducks closed to within 62-50 on back-to-back buckets by Kyei and a driving layup by Gray, who finished with 10 points, three rebounds, one assist and four turnovers.

But over the last 4:23 of the game, Oregon missed four shots, turned it over twice and scored its only point on a Kyei free throw with 22.4 seconds left. Baylor went on a 9-0 run in pushing the lead to as many as 21 on a free throw by 6-7 freshman Lety Vasconcelos.

"It was just getting in passing lanes – and don't be hesitant to go steal the ball. Get in the passing lanes and make sure you have the right out there, your offside hand," Blackwell said of her career-high five assists. "Just making sure you get there in the right time and just being aggressive on defense, honestly, and getting your hands on it."

Andrews hit three 3-pointers and finished with nine points, seven assists and six rebounds. Walker missed her first seven shots from the field and turned it over four times, but hit a 3-pointer for her first bucket and finished with seven points and three assists.

After an extended break for semester finals, Baylor will face Delaware State (0-6) at 11 a.m. Dec. 14 in the "Future Bears" game and the women's final game at the Ferrell Center.

The remainder of the December schedule has the Bears facing Miami on Dec. 16 in the Hall of Fame Series in San Antonio, Providence and South Florida in the West Palm Beach Classic and then opening Big 12 play against No. 10/11 Texas on Dec. 30 in Austin.

GAME NOTES

The No. 13 Baylor women's basketball team remained undefeated, moving to 7-0 on the year, with a 71-51 win over the Oregon Ducks at the Ferrell Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Bears have matched their best start to the season since 2019-20 with seven-straight wins to open the year.
The 20-point win marked the fifth 20-plus point win of the season.
For the second-straight game, sophomore Darianna Littlepage-Buggs led all BU scorers, pouring in 18 in 26 minutes of action. She added six rebounds and two steals.
Graduate seniors Aijha Blackwell and Dre'Una Edwards joined Littlepage-Buggs in double figures, finishing with 10 and 14 points, respectively.
With her performance, Edwards has reached double-digit scoring in all but one contest this season.
Blackwell added a team-high 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the year. She has a team-high 35 double-doubles in her career.
For the second-straight game, Oregon committed 20 turnovers. It's the fourth time this season BU has forced 20-plus turnovers of its opponent.
Senior Sarah Andrews dished out a game-high seven assists.
The Bears recorded 21 assists as a team on 28-made shots, marking the fourth time this season BU has had at least 70% of its baskets assisted.
Blackwell turned in a career-high five steals, accounting for one-third of Baylor's team total in the category.
Baylor outrebounded Oregon, 44-28, marking the fifth time this season the Bears have outrebounded their opponent. BU held the Ducks to zero offensive boards in the opening half, as the Bears held the 18-4 margin for the game.