Baylor
TCU
No. 25/23 WBB Faces No. 9 TCU in Fort Worth
1/25/2025 9:20:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sunday matinee broadcast on ESPN2
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25/23 BAYLOR BEARS (16-4, 6-1 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Nicki Collen (Marquette, 1998) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
25/23 BAYLOR BEARS (16-4, 6-1 Big 12) vs 9/9 TCU HORNED FROGS (19-2, 7-1 Big 12) Jan. 26, 2025 • 2 p.m. CT Fort Worth, Texas • Schollmaier Arena (6,800) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN2 TALENT: Eric Frede (pxp), Rebecca Lobo (analyst) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Media Network via FOX Sports Radio 93.9FM in Central Texas and worldwide at centexsportsfan.com. Talent: Derek Smith (pxp), Lori Fogleman (analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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9/9 TCU HORNED FROGS (19-2, 7-1 Big 12) Location: Fort Worth, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Mark Campbell (Hawaii, 2004) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
FORT WORTH, Texas – Coupled with 10th-ranked Kansas State's stunning loss to Colorado, the No. 25 Baylor women (16-4, 7-1) can climb to the top of the Big 12 ladder with a win over ninth-ranked TCU (19-2, 7-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Schollmaier Arena.
The Bears, who have won five conference games in a row, are playing their second-straight top-10 opponent after falling to top-ranked UCLA, 72-57, Monday in the inaugural Coretta Scott King Classic in Newark, N.Y.
Comparing this stretch to the NCAA Tournament, Baylor coach Nicki Collen said "it's about scouting report prep. It's about understanding your strengths."
"The teams that win in March are the teams that know who they are and do what they do better than the team they're playing," Collen said. "I think when you match up with really, really good teams, you have to do a better job of executing than they do. . . . Maybe you don't do it for 40 minutes, but you have to do it enough to get an upper hand."
Baylor has dominated the all-time series 47-5 and has won 37 in a row dating back to the last loss to TCU on Feb. 28, 1990, when the two teams were both in the Southwest Conference. In the only meeting last year, Bella Fontleroy scored a career-high 21 points in a 71-50 win over previously unbeaten and 23rd-ranked TCU in the first women's game at Foster Pavilion.
"A year ago, we walked into that game, and we had video of (TCU) talking about how they couldn't wait to beat Baylor," Collen said. I don't think that changes from one year to the next. This rivalry means something, regardless of their history. To them, the only history that matters is the one that they're a part of, because very few of them started at TCU. So, it's their story that they're writing rather than some historical matchup of two Texas teams."
Rebuilding the TCU roster through the transfer portal, second-year head coach Mark Campbell is 40-14 over the past two seasons, including winning 16 in a row at home.
Tabbed the No. 1 overall transfer by ESPN after stops at Louisville and LSU, 5-9 guard Hailey Van Lith is averaging 18.1 points per game. A part of Arizona's NCAA national runner-up team in 2021, 5-11 senior guard Madison Conner (15.5 ppg) broke the Horned Frogs' single-season record last year with 100 made 3-pointers.
The centerpiece of this team, though, is 6-7 senior center Sedona Prince (19.1 ppg, 9.1 rebounds, 3.5 blocks), an Oregon transfer last year.
Unlike 6-7 UCLA center Lauren Betts, who had a school-record nine blocks versus the Bears, Prince "plays on the perimeter a lot," Collen said.
"She's not afraid to go in and post, and her post game is good," Collen said, "but she's very much a facilitating big on the perimeter for them. . . . I think when it comes to playing against bigs, I think it's just as important that you can move them and accomplish what you need to accomplish on the offensive side.
"I think that's where I feel like, having played Lauren and now playing TCU, it gives us a gauge of, 'We can't take that shot.' We are not going to win that matchup 100 times out of 100 times."
Baylor had to play all but 10 minutes of Monday's loss to UCLA without 6-3 Colorado transfer Aaronette Vonleh (13.6 ppg, 5.4 rebounds). Fouling out early in the fourth quarter, she scored a season-low two points, with 6-3 junior Kyla Abraham and 6-1 freshman Kayla Nelms having to take up the slack defending Betts.
"I do think (Prince) and Nettie can have a really good individual matchup," Collen said. "I hope the officials let them, because I don't believe Nettie had a chance in that game (against UCLA). I thought three of those calls were incredibly questionable when it comes to elite centers playing. You make a swim move, and it's an offensive foul. I think (Vonleh) has to stay out of foul trouble, but I also think she's got to be given a chance."
Earlier this week, 6-3 grad center Madison Bartley announced she was medically retiring from basketball, leaving Vonleh, Abraham and Nelms as the Bears' only true options at the center position.
"You just need to stay ready," said Nelms, who hit two 3-pointers and matched her season high with eight points against the Bruins. "No matter if (Bartley) was playing, you just have to stay ready for whenever your name is called to go on the court."
Sunday's game will be broadcast by ESPN2, with Eric Frede and former UConn All-American Rebecca Lobo calling the action.
Game notes-
• Baylor faces its second consecutive top-10 opponent in No. 9 TCU at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth.
• Baylor has its best start to conference play in the Nicki Collen era with a 6-1 record. The Bears are riding a five-game conference winning streak split 3-0 at home and 2-0 on the road.
• The Bears got their first ranked win of the season in the first attempt against 23rd-ranked Utah, defeating the Utes by nine points in Waco and are 1-1 versus opponents in the AP Top 25 after a 15-point loss to the No. 1 UCLA Bruins.
• Back in the AP Top 25, the Bears reentered the rankings on Monday, January 20. Placed at No. 25 in its fourth appearance of 2024-25, BU received votes in six editions while being left out twice.
• Baylor and TCU are facing off for the 53rd time in a series that dates back to the 1975-76 season.
• Once crosstown rivals, TCU and Baylor were both Waco-based universities from 1895-1910.
• Baylor is the winner of 36-straight over the Horned Frogs, last dropping a contest on Feb. 28, 1990, in Fort Worth.
• TCU's roster boasts three that average more than 15 points a game, with Sadona Prince's 19.1, Hailey Van Lith's 18.2 and Madison Conner's 15.5. In the paint, Prince is head and shoulders above the rest of the Frogs with 9.1 rebounds per game.
• Suffering its first conference loss of the season to Oklahoma State in Stillwater, TCU is 19-2 with a trio of ranked wins against No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 13 NC State and No. 23 Utah.
• Fifth-year senior Sarah Andrews, who has spent all five years in a Baylor uniform, is No. 2 all-time in games played for Baylor, the most in the NCAA era, and No. 6 in games started.
• 152 games played is the second-most in the program, and the most in the 43-year span of WBB as an NCAA-sponsored sport. The overall record of 162 is held by Suzie Snider Eppers from 1973-77 while the Bears competed in the AIAW. Andrews could break the all-time record and be at 163 games in Baylor's March 2 matchup against TCU.
• 120 games started puts her behind Jessica Morrow (2005-09) at 122. National champion Brittney Griner holds the games started record at 148.
• Junior Darianna Littlepage-Buggs averages a double-double (14.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg) in 19 games this season with 14 double-digit performances, three with 20+.
• Baylor faced UCLA in the inaugural Coretta Scott King Classic on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Prudential Center in Newark. In the program's 14th game against the top team in the nation, BU fell 72-57.
• After a 15-point scoring run in the first from UCLA, Baylor answered with seven unanswered to get as close as five points from the lead.
• Yaya Felder led the scoring efforts for BU with 10, the only Bear in double figures, while Darianna Littlepage-Buggs was once again the leading rebounder with 10.
• BU got its fifth straight win in a Friday night contest against the Houston Cougars at Foster Pavilion in the first of two games played against the two squads this conference season.
• Baylor held UH to just 27.3% from the floor while the Bears had their worst performance at the arc in the Collen era at 14.3% (3-21).
• Aaronette Vonleh led scoring for the second-straight game with 18 and nine rebounds.
• Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and Aliyah Matharu each scored double figures.
• Freshman Kayla Nelms had her best game against a Big 12 foe so far, scoring six in eight minutes.
