PROVO, Utah – On a night when the shots weren't falling for the 18th-ranked Baylor women, especially in the first half, the Bears simply couldn't get enough stops against an unranked BYU team that shot a sizzling 52.6% while also dominating the boards.
 
Led by the 1-2 punch of 6-1 senior forward Lauren Gustin and freshman guard Amari Whiting, the Cougars (13-11, 3-8) climbed out of the Big 12 cellar with a 78-66 win over the Bears (17-5, 6-5) Wednesday night at the Marriott Center.
 
"We just didn't get stops, it's that simple," said Baylor coach Nicki Collen, whose team has lost five of its last eight in falling four games behind first-place and 24th-ranked Oklahoma (16-6, 10-1). "You've got to defend, period. Defense has to travel. They shot over 50%."
 
BYU, which posted its first win over a ranked team in three years, held the Bears to a season-low 34.8% shooting from the field (23-of-66), scored 14 more points in the paint (38-24) and finished with a 45-32 rebounding edge.
 
The nation's leading rebounder, Gustin already had a double-double by halftime and finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Whiting, the daughter of BYU coach Amber Whiting, came up just shy of a triple-double with 14 points, nine assists and eight rebounds while also committing six of the Cougars' 19 turnovers.
 
A 12-point edge in points off turnovers, 21-9, is the only thing that kept the Bears in the game after digging a double-digit hole in the first quarter. They trailed 35-21 at intermission and never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
 
"Usually, the altitude gets to you towards the end of the third quarter when you're out here," Collen said. "But I thought we looked tired from the beginning. And then, all of a sudden, we had energy. You can't have energy once you get down, you've got to have energy from the beginning."
 
Baylor's starting backcourt duo of Sarah Andrews and Jada Walker were a combined 3-for-17 overall and 1-of-8 from outside the arc. Sophomore forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs had a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Yaya Felder and Jana Van Gytenbeek scored 15 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench.
 
"I thought Jana played with good pace, got a couple steals," Collen said. "She wasn't perfect, but I thought she confidently looked for her shots, took good shots. Didn't necessarily finish at the rim, but did a good job of getting to balance with her threes and really giving us a lift from there."
 
Twice in the first two minutes of the third quarter, Baylor got within single digits. Andrews hit a 3-pointer in the first eight seconds, then Walker fed Dre'Una Edwards for a driving layup that made it a 35-26 game. And then, when Kailey Woolston knocked down a 3-pointer, Buggs had a three-point play.
 
But the extended run the Bears needed just never came. They scored 45 second-half points, shot 45.7% from the floor and hit 8-of-10 from the line, but BYU was an even more efficient 61.5% and hit 5-of-11 from 3-point range.
 
Relatively quiet in the first half, Woolston and Emma Calvert combined for 24 of BYU's 43 points in the second half and finished with 14 points apiece. Littlepage-Buggs scored 15 of her team-high 17 points in the third quarter, when she went 7-for-8 from the floor.
 
"I thought Buggs was solid all night," Collen said. "She was flying around. When you're trying to keep someone like Gustin off the glass, you rely on other people to go get the ball. As long as she doesn't get the offensive rebound when you're guarding her, you've done your job."
 
Baylor will host 22nd-ranked West Virginia (20-2, 9-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Foster Pavilion. The Mountaineers have reeled off seven-straight wins, including an 82-59 blowout of Texas Tech on Tuesday, and are just a game out of first place in the Big 12.


GAME NOTES

• The No. 18 Baylor women's basketball team fell on the road at BYU Wednesday night, 78-66. 
• After just two points in the opening half, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs got hot in the second half, adding 15 more, for a team-leading 17 in the game. 
• The sophomore has reached double figure scoring in 11 contests this season and three of the last four games. Additionally, she has led the Bears in scoring in five outings. 
• Yaya Felder finished in double figures for the second-straight game, and 10th time this season, tallying 15 points off the bench. 
• Felder has contributed at least half of the BU bench points in three-straight games.
• Littlepage-Buggs paced the Bears on the boards, grabbing 12, for her third double-double of the season and 17th of her career.
• Jana Van Gytenbeek went a team-high 3-for-5 from 3-point territory for her third double-figure outing of the season, finishing with 10 points. Her trio of 3-pointers matched a season high. 
• The Bears had assists on 18 of BU's 23-made baskets. 
• Dre'Una Edwards and Jada Walker dished out four assists apiece to lead the Bears in the category. Edwards has led the team in the category five times this season while Walker has paced BU in seven outings. 
• Felder went a team-leading and season-best 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. Baylor finished 11-of-16 (68%) as a team from the free throw line.