By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
PORTLAND, Ore. – At the end of a game that no one gave Baylor even a remote chance of winning, third-year head coach Nicki Collen had "zero doubt that we had what it took to beat" the top-seeded and third-ranked USC Trojans in Saturday's region semifinal at the Moda Center.
 
"I have a lot of respect for (USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb) . . .  and they've had such an unbelievable turnaround season," Collen said. "But I'm going to ride or die for mine. And I think we were the better team. I think we had moments where they couldn't guard us and moments that we looked so fluid and so special. And we competed."
 
Down to the very last seconds.
 
Sarah Andrews missed a 3-pointer with about 10 seconds left that would have tied it, as the Bears' 26-8 season ended Saturday with a 74-70 loss to a USC team (29-5) that made it to the Elite Eight for the first time in 30 years.
 
"I just wanted this one for those kids," said Collen, who led Baylor to its 16^th Sweet 16 and first in her three-year tenure. "But I wanted to coach another game."
 
Collen was certainly in that position when Baylor closed an explosive third quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 57-53 lead. Coming back from an 11-point first-half deficit, the Bears tied it on a 3-pointer by senior forward Dre'Una Edwards and then went ahead with back-to-back buckets by junior guard Jada Walker.
 
"We weren't going to go down without a fight," said Andrews, who hit a season-high five 3-pointers in scoring a team-high 17 points. "We were right there. They don't want to give us five more minutes because it might be a different outcome."
 
Andrews and sophomore forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs combined for 14 of the Bears' 26 points in the third quarter, going a combined 6-for-8 from the field.
 
"Buggs stepped up and she hit big-time shots that built confidence in me," Andrews said. "We were just playing in the moment of, we're not going down without a fight."
 
After a shaky first half that saw the Bears fall behind 35-24, Collen said the Trojans "got a heavy dose of Baylor basketball in the second half."
 
"I thought we looked a little . . . the moment was a little big for us in the first half," Collen said. "And then, I thought we really settled down and played really good basketball in the second half. I thought the ball was moving . . . the ball had energy. I thought we were balling at the defensive end."
 
Sophomore Bella Fontleroy had one of the toughest defensive assignments anyone can have, guarding freshman All-American JuJu Watkins, the second-leading scorer in the nation. And while Watkins did score a game-high 30 points, 12 of those came at the free-throw line (12-of-13).
 
Scoring 15 points in each half, Watkins was just 8-of-28 (28.6%) from the field overall and 2-of-11 from outside the arc.
 
"I thought Bella did an unbelievable job," Collen said. "I thought Bella's length, her contest . . . (Watkins) certainly hit a couple, but for the most part, Buggs switched on her a little bit. But she was Bella's probably 90% of the night. So, I thought Bella did a great job guarding her."
 
Fontleroy credited Baylor's help defense for containing Watkins, who missed her only two 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of her nine points in the final period at the line.
 
"People were communicating really well when we got screens, other actions," Fontleroy said. "Obviously, when you're up on the ball, you can't be checking over your shoulder and whatnot. It was a team effort to guard her. We switched, everyone contested shots and boxed out. I felt like it was a really good team effort to contain."
 
USC started the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run to regain the lead, with Kayla Padilla converting a three-point play right out of the gate and McKenzie Forbes knocking down a 3-pointer that put the Trojans up 59-57.
 
But led by Walker, who hit a couple pull-up jumpers, Baylor went on a 7-2 run and led by three, 64-61, with 4:19 to play.
 
"I feel like I had a great turnaround from the beginning of the season to now," said Walker, who followed up her career-high 28-point game against Virginia Tech with 15 points against USC, "just hitting shots, being more confident in myself, not turning the ball over as much. And really, just watching Sarah, how she leads and trying to take on that role more and more as we go in the season."
 
In a game of runs, USC made the biggest one, reeling off eight unanswered points in a pivotal two-minute stretch. After Kaitlyn Davis made one of two free throws, Watkins fed Clarice Akunwafo for a game-tying layup, converted a three-point play with a driving layup and free throw and capped it with two more free throws to put the Trojans up, 69-64.
 
Andrews gave the Bears a chance, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers that made it a one-point game, 71-70. But she missed a deep one after a pair of Watkins free throws.
 
"I took the shot with confidence, and I knew the team was behind me when I shot it," Andrews said. "There was no doubt in my mind when I shot it. Basketball, you win some, you lose some. I shot a confident shot, and I'm okay with that."
 
While Baylor loses Edwards and fellow seniors Catarina Ferreira and Aijha Blackwell, who added nine points and five rebounds, the Bears return their starting backcourt of Andrews and Walker and could have as many as 10 players back for another run in 2024-25.
 
"As far as a team, we'll get back," said Littlepage-Buggs, who recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. "I'm ready to break a lot more, 'Well, they can't get here; they won't be here.' I'm ready for that next year, and I'm pretty sure my team is right behind me. That's really the biggest thing right now is (to) debrief this season, but we'll be back."
 
USC advances to face third-seeded UConn (32-5) in Monday's 8 p.m. CT region final. The Huskies advanced with a 53-45 win over seventh-seeded Duke.


GAME NOTES

• The five-seeded Baylor women's basketball team fell to top-seeded USC, 74-70, at the Moda Center in the Sweet 16 round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
• The Bears' appearance in the Big Dance marked the 20th-straight for BU which is the fourth-longest active streak in the country. 
• Baylor's trip to the Sweet 16 marked the 13th in the last 15 seasons and 16th in program history. 
• The Bears are 57-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. 
• BU's appearance in the Sweet 16 as a five seed marked the first for the Bears in program history. The only other time Baylor was a five seed (2007), the Bears lost in the second round. 
• Senior Sarah Andrews led the Bears offensively with 17 points, going a season-high 5-for-13 from 3-point range. 
• Andrews has connected from behind the arc in 31 of 34 games this season and hit three-or-more from range 14 times. 
• Andrews' five treys are tied for the second-most in an NCAA Tournament game in program history and just the third time a BU player has hit five 3-pointers in at least the round of 16. 
• With her eighth point of the game, Jada Walker reached 1,000 for her career as the junior finished with 15 on the night. She added team-high seven assists and finished with three rebounds in 35 minutes of action. 
• A pair of Bears finished in double figures on the glass led by Dre'Una Edwards' 12 rebounds.
• Darianna Littlepage-Buggs added 11 rebounds to 12 points, finishing with her fifth double-double of the season and 19th in her career. 
• Littlepage-Buggs scored eight of her 12 points in the third quarter. 
• Baylor bested USC on the boards, outrebounding the Trojans, 44-41. It marked the 23rd time this season that the Bears grabbed more rebounds than their opponent.
• The Bears shot 34.6% from 3-point range, marking the highest in the NCAA Tournament game for BU this year.