No. 17 WBB Rolls in 104-55 Win Over ETAMU

Thursday, November 14

Waco, Texas

7 PM

Baylor

2-1,0-0Big 12

104

East Texas A&M

2-2,0-0Southland

East Texas A&M

Baylor

104

No. 17 WBB Rolls in 104-55 Win Over ETAMU

11/14/2024 9:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)

Littlepage-Buggs, Vonleh drop double-doubles in victory

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – For Baylor junior Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, this really is personal.

"I've talked about it, but it's just a personal year for me," said the 6-1 Buggs, who recorded her second-straight and 21^st-career double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds in leading the 17^th-ranked Bears to a 104-55 win over the East Texas A&M Lions Thursday night at Foster Pavilion.

"Just some personal goals I've set and things I've seen. Just the potential of my team. I know what role I play, and I just have to bring it every night. I'm the energy, that's my role, and just come in with that every night."

Bouncing back from Sunday's 76-74 loss at Oregon, Baylor (2-1) also got a double-double from Colorado transfer Aaronette Vonleh, who had 18 points and 11 boards after taking just one first-half shot against the Ducks.

"That shows you we can have a balanced game," said fifth-year senior point guard Sarah Andrews, who had nine points, eight assists and four steals. "We can kill you in the post, and our guards can kill you as well. I think that's a little of what we were missing last year. So, to see Nettie dominate down there was amazing. It opens up stuff for the guards. Just to see her have a night like this is just the beginning."

It was also a bounce-back game for 6-foot junior wing Bella Fontleroy, who suffered an ankle injury in the first two minutes of the Oregon game. Knocking down three 3-pointers, Fontleroy scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in 24 minutes.

"I think when you're thinking about it, it's hard," Baylor coach Nicki Collen said. "When you start playing, it's not. Once you get warmed up, you just play. When Bella sees 3's go through the basket, it hurts even less."

Rounding out the double-figure scorers, Jada Walker had 11 points, seven assists and three steals, and Yaya Felder scored 11 points in 20 minutes off the bench.

Baylor also got energy and production off the bench from newcomers Kayla Nelms and Waiata Jennings, who scored eight and five points, respectively.

"I thought Wise (Jennings) was incredible," Collen said. "I want to say she played six or seven minutes straight in that second quarter when we extended the lead. I thought she was guarding really, really well."

After being pushed in the first quarter, when they gave up 18 points, the Bears (2-1) outscored the visiting Lions, 59-22, in the middle quarters and never let up. Even when the subs were in late in the game, Baylor hits its last seven shots, reaching the 100-point mark on Madison Bartley's only bucket of the night.

Setting career highs for free throws made (10) and attempted (12), Littlepage-Buggs already had a double-double by halftime with 16 points and 10 boards, helping the Bears take a commanding 51-28 lead.

"I knew, I'm not going to lie," Littlepage-Buggs said. "I looked up there (at the stats board on the giant screen) and was like, 'Okay.' When I was one rebound away, we were actually talking about it. 'Just give me one, y'all can have the rest.'''

With Littlepage-Buggs and Vonleh nearly matching East Texas A&M's total rebounds, Baylor dominated the boards, 53-27, and outscored the Lions (2-2), 24-2, on second-chance points.

"She just doesn't take plays off," Collen said of Littlepage-Buggs. "She just never slows down. When other people slow down, he speeds up. She didn't have to take any jump shots tonight. Tonight was about getting to the rim drawing fouls and getting on the offensive glass. She brings you what you need when you need it."

Leading by just five after the first quarter, the Bears got a combined 16 points from Littlepage-Buggs and Fontleroy and outscored the Lions, 28-10, in stretching the lead to 51-28 at the break.

Vonleh dominated the paint in the third quarter, hitting 4-of-5 from the floor and scoring nine points, to help Baylor produce a season-high 31-point quarter in the third.

"We were obviously focused early in the game on getting post touches," Collen said. "We were not going to go another half with getting Nettie one touch. I really challenged her to get 20 (points) and 12 (rebounds. And if she had made her free throws there, she would have been at 20 and 11 in 20 minutes. That's what she needs to do. She needs to have that impact every time she steps on the floor."

Even when Collen subbed late in the game, the Bears still hit their last seven shots and pulled away for the 49-point victory. Much to the delight of the crowd, Baylor reached the 100-point mark on Madison Bartley's only bucket off the night.

Cora Horvath matched Littlepage-Buggs for game-high scoring honors with 22 points for East Texas A&M, going 9-for-21 from the floor and 4-of-6 from outside the arc.

Completing a two-game homestand, the Bears will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday in the front end of a split doubleheader. The 12^th-ranked Baylor men (2-1) will face Tarleton (1-3) at 7 p.m., with both teams headed to the Bahamas for tournaments next week.

Game Notes

The Bears returned home to Foster Pavilion with a 104-55 win over the East Texas A&M Lions on Thursday evening.
Baylor is 2-0 this season at the new Foster Pavilion, 9-2 all-time.
Nicki Collen picked up her 20^th win in the month of November and 70^th while leading at the half.
Collen is 76-29 in her fourth season leading the Bears.
BU's 53.2 field goal percentage is the best of the year, moving Collen to 10-0 in games where the Bears shoot better than 50%. All-time, Baylor is 269-2 when shooting 50 percent from the field.
The Bears take their first official win over the East Texas A&M Lions and have the 1-0 lead in the series.
The 104-55 score was only the second time a Bear squad finished a game with 100+ points in the Collen era, the first since McNeese on Nov. 26, 2023.
Aaronette Vonleh's 18 points on the evening moves her two away from the 1,000-career point mark in her fourth season of collegiate basketball.
Vonleh had her fifth career double-double, adding 11(T-career best) rebounds to her 18 points, while also taking three steals.
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs hit a double-double before the end of the first half with 10 points from the charity stripe alone, going 10-11 at the line in the first half. 10 from the free throw line is a new career-best mark for the junior.
Littlepage-Buggs had her second-straight double-double of the season, with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Buggs hit double-digits in points for the 40^th time, double-digits in rebounds for the 26^th time.
Thursday night was the sixth time Littlepage-Buggs ended the game with 20+ points.
Bella Fontleroy returned from an ankle injury sustained at Oregon with 15 points in 24 minutes, the 35^th game ending with 10+ points for the junior.
Jada Walker's 33:01 on the court, the game best, ended in 11 points, seven assists and three steals.
Sarah Andrews ended the night with nine points, but tallied eight assists, her best total of the season in that category.
Andrews needs 15 assists to reach 500 in her career, which would be top five in program history.
Andrews needs 16 3-pointers to break the all-time Baylor record.
Baylor started Jada Walker, Sarah Andrews, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Aaronette Vonleh and Bella Fontleroy for the third time this season.
- Walker is 28-9, Andrews is 73-30, Littlepage-Buggs is 40-16, Fontleroy is 23-11 and Vonleh is 2-1 as starters at Baylor.
Yaya Felder ended the night with 10+ points scored for the 12th time at Baylor, 47^th of her career in just shy of 20 minutes, while also recording the first block of her 2024-25 season.
Waiata Jennings scored for the first time as a DI athlete, coming to Baylor after a 1,227-point stint at Collin College for two years in the NJCAA. Jennings' 3-pointer was the 82^nd of her collegiate career after 60 last year with the Cougars.
Freshman Kayla Nelms sunk her first collegiate points on Thursday, ending the night 4-of-5 from the floor for eight points.
Kyla Abraham took six boards in 11 minutes with two blocks.
Every available Bear scored against the Lions, as Madison Bartley added two points for the home team in the final two minutes.
Baylor returns to Foster Pavilion to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday afternoon at 1. It is Alumni Weekend, and the Bears will celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of the program and the 20^th Anniversary of the 2004 national championship team.