By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
AMES, Iowa – Even with a team that can bomb from the outside with the best of them, Baylor coach
Nicki Collen says "the most important thing we do" is get touches in the paint.
That was certainly the case Saturday night at Hilton Coliseum, where the Bears got 25 of their 28 fourth-quarter points off either shots in the paint or free throws in pulling out a 76-70 win over 12
th-ranked Iowa State before a crowd of 11,788.
Sarah Andrews and
Ja'Mee Asberry combined to score 35 points, including 10 apiece in the fourth quarter, helping Baylor (16-6, 7-3) win its third game in a row, fourth against a top-25 team and 10
th in its last 11 trips to Ames.
"I thought we played aggressive to the rim," Collen said. "We put foul pressure on them, and we made enough free throws. We got some easy ones around the rim attacking. But really, down the stretch, it was our ability to play downhill, get some layups and get to the foul line."
Freshman
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs recorded her third-straight double-double and team-high 10
th of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds. And she also made arguably the defensive play of the game when she blocked an Ashley Joens shot with 2:16 left and the Bears clinging to a two-point lead.
"I thought Buggs competed. The shot she blocked late was really big," Collen said. "She finally recognized that you're not done guarding (Joens) just because she gets down to the block. That's when she starts to wheel and play under you. You've got to stay loose enough that you can go to the ball and get it."
Asberry, who was scoreless in the first half, hit a runner in the lane and then knocked down two free throws to push the Bears' lead to 70-64. Although the Cyclones (15-6, 7-4) scored three buckets in the last 44 seconds, they never got closer than five the rest of the way.
"They're really well-coached and know what they're trying to do," Collen said of Iowa State, which lost its first home game of the season (10-1) and just its third over the past two seasons (26-3). "You've got to move to second and third options. I thought
Ja'Mee Asberry did an unbelievable job down the stretch of attacking downhill, getting to the foul line and getting some and-ones, even."
Down 49-48 going into the fourth and trailing by as many as three, the Bears got six-straight points from Andrews on a 3-pointer and a three-point play to take the lead for good, 62-57, with 6:05 left in the game.
Keeping the Cyclones at bay, Asberry and Andrews combined to knock down 9-of-11 free throws in the quarter. Andrews recorded her seventh 20-point game of the season with a team-high 21 points and added four assists and three steals, while Asberry scored in double figures for the 13
th time with all 14 of her points coming in the second half.
Limited to 28 minutes because of foul trouble,
Caitlin Bickle scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half, with
Jaden Owens adding nine points, eight assists and two steals.
"We don't post-up a lot now that we don't have Queen (Egbo) and NaLyssa (Smith)," Collen said. "It's off cuts, it's off the bounce, it's off screens. But we have to get a piece of the paint. We shoot the 3 well when we get a piece of the paint. We attack and we get to the foul line."
Hitting six of its first eight shots, Baylor jumped out to a 17-9 lead, but Joens and Nyamar Diew hit back-to-back 3-pointers and closed the quarter on a 12-3 run to go up 21-20.
Holding the Cyclones to 10 second-quarter points, the Bears led 33-31 at the break and went up by as many as seven in the third. Diew, whose previous career-high was 14, scored 13 of his game-high 25 points in the third and sparked a closing 8-0 run that gave Iowa State a one-point lead, 49-48.
"To hold them to five made 3-pointers (5-of-24) was really key," Collen said. "Certainly, (Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly) is going to look at it say they missed some wide-open ones. And so did we, from good shooters. But I thought we were the most of the time on the contest."
Jones, the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, was just 1-of-9 from 3-point range and finished with 23 points and six rebounds. Lexi Donarski scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, while Emily Ryan had 12 assists and seven rebounds.
"Disappointed in the outcome," said Fennelly, who was going for his 750
th career win. "We got beat by a better team. It's a make-shot, miss-shot game – credit to them. It was a tough week by our team, but we'll see how we respond and move forward."
Baylor, which improved to a league-best 4-1 in conference road games, returns home to host 20
th-ranked Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Ferrell Center. After back-to-back road losses to ranked teams, the Sooners bounced back with lopsided home-court wins over TCU and West Virginia.
NOTABLES
- The Baylor women's basketball team won its third straight on Saturday, picking up the 76-70 victory at No. 12 Iowa State.
- The loss by the Cyclones marked the first home loss for the season for Iowa State, dropping to 10-1 at Hilton Coliseum and moving to 15-6 overall.
- The victory by Baylor marked its fourth top-25 win of the season and highest ranked win since topping the Cyclones on the road last year when they were No. 8 in the poll. Three of the four top-25 wins have been Big 12 road victories.
- For the 16th time this season, Baylor outrebounded its opponent, besting Iowa State, 37-34, on the glass.
- BU's 20 points in the opening quarter marked the second-most scored by the Bears in an opening frame during conference play this season.
- Four Bears reached by double figures led by Sarah Andrews' seventh 20-plus point performance of the season, as she finished with 21. Caitlin Bickle and Ja'Mee Asberry contributed 14 points apiece, while Darianna Littlepage-Buggs finished with 13.
- Littlepage-Buggs added a game-high 12 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season and fifth in six games. Her 10 double-doubles are the second most in the Big 12.
- For the 14th time this season, Jaden Owens led the Bears in assists, dishing out eight.