By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Dipping into her bench more than she had in all but one of the first six conference games, Baylor coach Nicki Collen kept "searching for people to make shots" in Monday's matchup against fourth-ranked Kansas State.
 
Particularly in the second half, her search came up empty.
 
After a first half that saw the 13^th-ranked Bears shoot a blistering 57.7% and lead by as many as 13, they made only 6-of-26 shots in the second half and went scoreless over the last 4 ½ minutes as the visiting Wildcats (19-1, 8-0) rallied to hand Baylor (15-3, 4-3) its first loss at the new Foster Pavilion, 58-55, and its third defeat in the last four games.
 
"We were scoring pretty easily against their man-to-man." Collen said. "They went zone midway through the second quarter. That's not a team that's used to teams scoring against them. Really, the final score is what they've done to teals all year and why they are where they are."
 
Where the Wildcats are is atop the Big 12 standings at 8-0, with a three-game lead on the Bears in the loss column, and their highest ranking in 21 years.
 
Playing its second-straight game without injured 6-6 center Ayoka Lee, Kansas State ran its winning streak to 13 in a row with 16 points apiece from Serena Sundell, Gabby Gregory and Eliza Maupin, who was a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and added nine rebounds.
 
"Maupin was a superstar tonight," Collen said. "Her 3 in the corner (in the fourth quarter), that's the shot we were willing to give up. She sticks that, and it rolls all the way around. She shot great from the foul line (3-of-4). She grabbed four offensive rebounds. She was a pogo stick out there. She finished everything at the rim. And when we didn't do a good job guarding her hard and got beat . . . we had no second layer of rotation."
 
Truthfully, Baylor played well enough defensively to win, holding the Wildcats to a season-low 58 points, 44.7% shooting overall and 6-of-21 from 3-point range.
 
The problem is the Bears continued to struggle offensively as well, scoring a season-low 55 points and shooting just 21.1% from outside the arc, hitting 4-of-19. They simply had no answers against K-State's 1-2-2 zone.
 
"We're still working on the offensive zone," said senior forward Dre'Una Edwards, who had 11 points and eight boards. "That's kind of what happened. We couldn't pound it on the inside because they were clogging it up. We've just got to knock down shots."
 
There were times in the first half where Baylor made it look easy, going up 33-20 halfway through the second quarter when Yaya Felder fed Bella Fontleroy for an easy bucket. Even when Gregory hit a couple 3-pointers in a closing 8-2 run, the Bears still led by nine at the break, 39-30.
 
"We did a lot of good things," said Fontleroy, who was 4-of-6 overall, 1-for-2 from distance and 3-for-3 from the line. "We had a really strong defensive effort. Our shots didn't fall. We definitely needed some more of those shots to fall in the second half.
 
"But at the end of the day, we're going to get back in the gym this week, work on attacking zone offenses, getting those better reads, open windows, open looks. But whenever we have that, we are really good at finishing those opportunities. Just getting back into that and finding our rhythm again.'
 
Steadily chipping away, the Wildcats pulled back within three, 44-41, on a Sundell free throw and trailed 47-44 going into the final period.
 
"We were having a lot of trouble guarding them man-to-man," Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. "We went zone, went to a 1-2-2. . . . We hadn't played that much this year. We had some interesting rotations. Probably confused Baylor, confused me a couple of times."
 
After leading for all of 14 seconds through the first three quarters, K-State went up 50-49 on Maupin's 3-pointer from the corner and took the lead for good, 56-55, when Sundell drove in for a layup with 3:27 left.
 
Turning it over three times and missing its last seven shots, Baylor went scoreless for the last 4:34 of the game. The Bears shot 40.4% overall (21-of-52), 4-of-19 from 3-point range and just 9-of-17 from the free throw line.
 
"I thought they made better plays late than we did," Collen said. "Obviously, their transition D was better than ours. I just don't think that we were able to play with tempo. They played Saturday, too, and traveled, so we have no excuses. And we played our bench as much as we've played it in the last month. So, we really didn't have excuses for why we looked like the more tired team."
 
Baylor had three shots at it in the last 10 seconds, getting the ball back after Zyanna Walker missed a 3-pointer. Jada Walker missed a wild 3-point attempt from probably 30 feet, trying to draw a foul, then Sarah Andrews missed inside and Edwards had a 3-point attempt blocked by Jaeylyn Green.
 
"Everyone in the building knew they were trying to foul, and they didn't call it," Collen said. "But it was actually a pretty smart play, because when she turned, they instantly grabbed her. So, it wasn't necessarily a bad decision. Because you know, when somebody reaches across your arm, that's your chance. You don't see it a lot in college, but you certainly see it in the pros."
 
Aijha Blackwell recorded her fourth double-double of the season and team-high 58^th of her career with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but also had six of the Bears' 20 turnovers. Rounding out the game's double-figure scorers, Fontleroy and Edwards scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Baylor will go back on the road to face Oklahoma State (11-7, 4-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla. The Cowgirls have lost two of their last three and play at Cincinnati on Wednesday.
 

GAME NOTES

• The No. 13 Baylor women's basketball suffered its first home loss of the season with a 58-55 setback to No. 4 Kansas State on Monday night at Foster Pavilion. 
• A trio of Bears finished in double figures led by Bella Fontleroy's 12-points and perfect 3-for-3 night at the free throw line. 
• Dre'Una Edwards added 11 points and has finished in double digits in a team-leading 15 of 18 contests this season. 
• Aijha Blackwell recorded her fourth double-double of the season, and team-best 38th of her career, with a 10-point, 11-rebound performance. 
• Blackwell's 11 boards marked the seventh time this season that the graduate senior has led the Bears in the category. She has finished in double figures on the glass in four of the last five games and six times this year. 
• Baylor's game against Kansas State marked the fifth game against an AP Top 25 opponent this season. The Bears' 4-1 record in those contests is tied for the second-most wins against the top 25 with Colorado, South Carolina and the Wildcats. Only UCLA and UConn have more with five apiece. 
• Jana Van Gytenbeek made two of Baylor's four 3-pointers in the game and she now has 10 made threes on the year. 
• The Bears recorded the third-most steals (15) in a game this year as Jada Walker led the way, matching a season-high of four. 
• Baylor out-rebounded the Wildcats, 32-30, marking the 12th time this season that the Bears have grabbed more boards than their opponent. 
• BU's nationally televised game marked the fourth one of the year for the Bears and first of three-straight. Baylor's game at Oklahoma State (Jan. 28) and home contest against Texas (Feb. 1) will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.