No. 17 WBB Downs Texas Tech in Second Round

Friday, March 8

Kansas City, Mo.

11 AM

Baylor

24-6,12-6Big 12

Texas Tech

17-16,5-13Big 12

Texas Tech

Baylor

No. 17 WBB Downs Texas Tech in Second Round

3/8/2024 1:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bears led by Sarah Andrews, Aijha Blackwell

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Dusting off something that had been sitting on the shelf for five months, the 17^th-ranked Baylor Bears used their press to force five turnovers in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter in finally putting away a pesky Texas Tech team, 71-60, Friday in the second round of the Big 12 Championship at T-Mobile Center.

Ohio transfer Yaya Felder gave the Bears (24-6) a spark off the bench, helping Baylor force turnovers on Tech's first five possessions of the fourth quarter and scoring six of her 10 points in a 14-3 run that turned a two-point game back into a double-digit cushion against the Lady Raiders (17-16).

"I thought the press, which we haven't run since maybe the third practice of the year in October, that was really effective to change the energy of the game," said Baylor coach Nicki Collen, whose team won its sixth-straight in advancing to a quarterfinal matchup against fourth-seeded Iowa State (18-10, 12-6) at 11 a.m. Saturday.

"We got in passing lanes, we got turnovers. I thought Yaya was a big lift off the bench for us today. I thought, in general, we shot the ball and we took care of it."

Tech – which lost for the 10^th time in its last 11 games – shot the ball well enough, shooting 48% overall and 5-of-15 from outside the arc. But the Lady Raiders had 23 turnovers, including eight in the fourth quarter alone.

"Defensively, I think our mindset shifted," said senior forward Aijha Blackwell, who just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. "We weren't poor, but we could have picked it up, and I think we did that in the fourth quarter, the ball-screen coverage specifically. We had to get back in the ball-screen coverage, and I think we did better in the fourth."

Through the first 23 minutes of the game, the Bears looked to be in complete control, taking a 40-28 lead into the locker room at the half and extending it to 46-31 when Jada Walker knocked down a short jumper in the lane with a little over seven minutes left in the third quarter.

But Tech, blown out by 29 when these same two teams met 19 days ago at the Foster Pavilion in Waco, came roaring back with a 14-3 run to make things interesting. Bailey Maupin capped it with a fast-break layup off a Baylor turnover, cutting the deficit to 48-45 with 4:24 remaining in the third quarter.

"I thought the third quarter, we missed a bunch of easy ones and we just really didn't defend," Collen said of Tech outscoring BU, 22-12, in the third quarter. Jasmine Shavers, who scored 29 points in the Lady Raiders' 74-60 win over Houston Thursday night, converted a three-point play that made it a two-point game, 52-50, going into the fourth.

"We certainly emptied the tank in the third quarter and got ourselves back in it and gave ourselves every opportunity," Tech coach Krista Gerlich said. "Obviously, Baylor turned up the pressure in the fourth and caused turnovers that led to easy baskets for them, which was unfortunate for us, as hard as we were working in the first three to keep them at bay and keep the game close."

The Bears' first eight points of the fourth quarter all came off Tech turnovers, with Felder hitting two free throws and a layup that pushed the lead back to double digits, 60-50.

"I thought it was a good adjustment by Coach (Tony) Greene to get us in that press," Collen said. "It wasn't that we turned the ball over at 94 feet with it, but I thought it set the tempo. We got lined up with them early. We were pressuring them at half-court. We got some five-second calls. We got really aggressive in the passing lanes.

"I thought the press set the tone almost more for the half-court than it did that we just were turning them over in the full court."

Sarah Andrews, who had a team-high 13 points, finished off the Bears' 14-3 run with a driving layup that pushed the lead to 66-53 midway through the fourth quarter. And the Lady Raiders never recovered, scoring just 10 points in the quarter and never getting it back down to single digits the rest of the way.

"Basketball is about making in-game adjustments," Andrews said. "So, we were like, 'Hey, we're going to press for the first time. Okay, let's try it.' And it worked. So, we might see it again tomorrow. You never know."

Collen, echoing her senior point guard, said, "You never know."

Baylor, which has won 30-consecutive games against Tech dating back to 2011, also got 10 points, four rebounds and three steals from sophomore forward Bella Fontleroy and eight points apiece from Jana Van Gytenbeek and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs. Shavers had 20 and Maupin 15 for Tech.

"I don't think we were unprepared for Texas Tech and what they did," Collen said. "I just think Texas Tech was really, really hungry in the third. They hit us, and we didn't respond quickly enough."

In the other game on Baylor's side of the bracket, No. 9 seed TCU beat eighth-seeded Oklahoma State, 68-66, behind a 22-point outing from Una Jovanovic. The Horned Frogs (20-10) advance to face top-seeded and 19^th-ranked Oklahoma (21-8) in the quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, with the winner getting the Baylor-Iowa State winner in Monday's 1:30 p.m. semifinal.

GAME NOTES

The No. 17 Baylor women's basketball team outlasted Texas Tech, 71-60, in the second round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City on Friday.
Baylor will face No. 4-seeded Iowa State on Saturday at 11 a.m. The game will be available via streaming Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
The No. 5-seeded Bears remained undefeated against the Lady Raiders in the postseason conference tournament, moving to 8-0.
Baylor has won 30-consecutive meetings with Texas Tech.
The Bears moved to 49-15 all-time at the Big 12 Championship.
BU's win marked the 29th win by a five seed at the event all-time.
Baylor has won six-straight games that kick started with a 61-32 victory over Texas Tech at Foster Pavilion in Waco on Feb. 18.
The Bears are 21-2 this season when leading at the half.
Baylor shot 50% from the floor and is 268-2 all-time when shooting 50% or better from the field.
BU outrebounded TTU, 27-26, and is 20-1 this season when grabbing more rebounds than its opponent.
Four players finished in double figures led by Sarah Andrews' 13 points. Aijha Blackwell finished a rebound shy of a double-double adding 10 points to her game-high nine boards.
Bella Fontleroy and Yaya Felder each contributed 10 points. Felder led all bench players for the Bears.