TUCSON, Ariz. – Baylor forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs' foul trouble kept her on the bench for all but seven minutes through the first three quarters of Wednesday's game at the McKale Center.
 
But that actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Baylor Bears.
 
With the freshest legs on the court, the 6-foot-1 junior scored eight of Baylor's 10 overtime points and outrebounded the Arizona Wildcats, 3-2, in the five-minute period to help the Bears pull out an 81-76 victory before a crowd of 6,398.
 
"I thought what Littlepage-Buggs did in the overtime was incredible," said Baylor head coach Nicki Collen, whose team improved to 13-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12 with its second conference road win.
 
"She did a good job of getting on the glass and finishing around the rim in overtime. And maybe it was because she was a little less tired because she sat on the bench so much in foul trouble. She's just such an engine for us."
 
One of five double-digit scorers for the Bears, Littlepage-Buggs recorded her eighth double-double of the season and 27^th of her career with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Picking up two fouls in the first four minutes of the game and then a third just 2 ½ minutes in the second half, she had five points and three boards in seven minutes through the first three quarters.
 
Even without her, Baylor was in control for most of the game, going up by as many as 17 in the second quarter on back-to-back 3-poiners by Florida transfer Aliyah Matharu and Bella Fontleroy and a Jada Walker free throw.
 
"I thought the second quarter, we were really elite defensively," Collen said of holding the Wildcats (11-6, 2-2) to 13 points and 28.6% shooting (4-of-14).
 
Down 13 at the half and still trailing by 14 late in the third quarter, Arizona closed the periodon a 7-0 run to get back within seven, 56-49, going into the fourth.
 
After Baylor pushed the lead back to nine, 69-60, on a 3-pointer by Sarah Andrews, the Wildcats reeled off nine unanswered points and tied it up on a layup by Isis Beh with 11 seconds left in regulation.
 
Fouled on a drive to the basket, Walker knocked down a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left that pushed the Bears back on top, 71-69. But on a sideline out-of-bounds play after a timeout, Beh caught a lob pass on the backside from Mailien Rolf and made a buzzer-beating layup over Fontleroy to send the game into overtime.
 
Looking each player in the eye before the overtime period, Collen told them, "We can hang our heads here, or we can understand that we're here because we played really good basketball on the road to put ourselves in position to play five more minutes."
 
"We can either look at it as a blessing, or we can be frustrated that we messed up on the defensive assignment or we missed the free throws or whatever it was that got us to that point. Or we can look at it as this is going to be our best five."
 
Baylor, and particularly Littlepage-Buggs, responded the way Collen had hoped.
 
Arizona matched the Bears bucket-for-bucket through the first three minutes of overtime, but a Littlepage-Buggs layup gave Baylor the lead for good with 1:41 left. Walker scored on a driving layup to make it a three-point game, and the Wildcats scored only one point in the last two minutes.
 
Needing a 3-pointer on another out-of-bound play with 12.2 seconds left, Arizona's Jada Williams couldn't connect on a contested trey over the 6-0 Fontleroy.
 
"We actually got switched out," Collen said. "Jada (Walker) got caught up and pushed Bella out. All of a sudden – and in a good way – she was guarding Jada Williams. Jada was on one of their bigs, which at that point doesn't matter because you're up three. You just can't give up a 3. I think Bella's length actually impacted the step-back 3 as much as anything."
 
Fouled by Beh after grabbing her 11^th rebound of the night, Littlepage-Buggs drained both free throws with one second left for the final margin.
 
"We could have hung our heads because we had this big lead and now it's tied," Collen said. "But we did what we needed to do, and I thought Buggs really shined in overtime."
 
Walker narrowly missed a double-double of her own with 16 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Aaronette Vonleh who started her career at Arizona, had 15 points and six boards and helped limit Arizona to just one offensive rebound.
 
Rounding out the double-digit scorers for the Bears, Yaya Felder and Sarah Andrews had 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Fontleroy had nine points and five boards. Baylor dominated the rebounding battle, 46-30, and outscored the Wildcats, 15-2, in second-chance points.
 
Beh led five Arizona players in double figures with 18, with Breya Cunningham recording a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Williams and Lauryn Swann chipped in with 16 points apiece, and Paulina Paris scored 14 points off the bench.
 
Continuing their tour of the Grand Canyon State, the Bears will face Arizona State (8-8, 2-2) at 4:30 p.m. CT Saturday at the Desert Financial Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils had a three-game winning streak snapped in a 90-83 loss at home to Iowa State.