THIS ONE SHOULD HURT

THIS ONE SHOULD HURT

12/22/2025 1:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Despite Deng’s season-high 22-point outing, Bears lose fourth-quarter lead

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – With leading scorer Taliah Scott limited to less than two minutes because of an ankle injury, and Bella Fontleroy missing all eight of her shots, Nicki Collen had to "play through" Auburn transfer Yuting Deng more in Sunday's conference opener versus Texas Tech at Foster Pavilion.

The 6-foot-2 sophomore guard certainly delivered, matching her career high with four 3-pointers, scoring a season- and game-high 22 points and knocking down a go-ahead 3-pointer from the corner with 53.5 seconds left.

But the Lady Raiders (14-0, 1-0) hit four-consecutive free throws in the last 40 seconds to pull out a 61-60 win, snapping a 31-game losing streak against the 15^th-ranked Bears (11-3, 0-1), and Deng missed a short jumper in the lane as time expired.

"This one should hurt," said Colen, who was 7-0 versus Tech. "And it should hurt because you could hear them cheering, and you knew what it meant for Texas Tech. We just have to decide that this is motivation, that we don't like the way we feel right now. And if we're okay with how we feel right now, then they shouldn't be putting on a Baylor uniform, because I know how I feel. My stomach hurts."

For Tech, it was a breakthrough win for a program that broke into the Associated Press poll on Monday for the first time in 13 years.

"We've had top-25 wins before," said Tech coach Krista Gelrich, "but not like where we have positioned ourselves like we have in non-conference, to really build up and compete consistently. It gives us that little push to get over the hump, confidence-wise, to know that anytime we step on the floor, we can play with anybody."

The Lady Raiders took control early and led by as many as eight with 3 ½ minutes left in the first half, 21-13. But Deng hit a pair of buckets in transition and two free throws in an 11-0 run that helped Baylor take a 27-25 lead into the break.

"Bella was struggling, so we needed scoring from that spot," Collen said. "Bella's kind of our defensive captain and super valuable to us, but she couldn't put the ball in the basket today. I thought (Deng) ended up with a lot of the shots that Bella normally gets. . . . It's reading the moment. You go to the players that are making shots, and I thought (Deng) was making shots. We needed to play through her a little bit more."

Darianna Littlepage-Buggs scored nine of her 13 points in a pivotal third quarter that saw the Bears take a two-possession lead, 43-38, on a Deng corner trey with 1:20 left in the period. But Deng was called for an offensive foul before Genna Nunez hit one of two free throws that made it a four-point game going into the fourth.

"I think it was just want-to," Littlepage-Buggs said of the Bears coming back from the first-quarter deficit. "I know we can score on offense, and Coach Nicki is going to set us up. But our main message in our huddle was, we have to get stops in order to come back. It was defense, it was communication. You have to let the little things go."

Defense was the biggest issue in the fourth quarter, though, as Tech's Snudda Collins and Bailey Maupin combined for 18 of the Lady Raiders' 22 points. After Deng's go-ahead bucket, Collins hit a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game, then Maupin hit the game-winning free throws after a questionable foul call on Fontleroy with 3.4 seconds left.

"I could sit here and argue all day, I don't think that was a foul in the last possession," Collen said, "but I thought it was an evenly called game. Fortunately, we have the challenge rule now, so we could get those right, at least. But it was just one more stop, one less foul, finishing possessions with defensive rebounds. I just thought we had key turnovers in bad moments."

Injured in the second quarter of last Sunday's loss to second-ranked Texas, Scott didn't even suit up for Thursday's 77-60 win over Southern and didn't enter Sunday's game until the 3:08 mark of the fourth quarter. Despite missing her only two shots, Scott made the most of her 1 minute and 49 seconds on the court, taking an offensive charge and assisting on a Kyla Abraham layup and Deng's 3-pointer.

"The doctors had okayed her playing, and it was just a matter of pain," Collen said. "The question was just, 'Hey, if we need you in the last minute and it's a close game, even if it's as a decoy, can you go?' I looked down, and she was checking in. No one even asked me. So, I guess she was ready to go. Maybe it didn't work on the one possession, but the totality of that minute, 49 seconds was worth it."

Returning from a nine-day Christmas break, the Bears will face Oklahoma State (12-2, 1-0) at 2 p.m. Dec. 31 in Stillwater. The Cowgirls opened league play with a 91-63 road win at Cincinnati.

"I know Buggs is going to lead them. I know Bella's not going to be afraid every game. I know that we're going to get Taliah back. So, there's a lot to look forward to," Collen said. "But this one should hurt."