Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Aaronette Vonleh knows the clock is ticking on the end of her collegiate basketball career, but the 6-3 Colorado transfer probably wishes she could just run it back one more time at Bramlage Coliseum.
 
After leading the Buffaloes to a 63-50 upset of Kansas State in last year's NCAA Tournament and back to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 22 years, "Nettie" recorded her third double-double of the year with a season-high 24 points, career-high-tying 12 rebounds and three blocks to lead the 17^th-ranked Baylor women to a 79-62 win over No. 14 K-State Monday night.
 
"I thought Nettie saved her best game of the year for this big, big, big stage," said Baylor coach Nicki Collen, whose Bears (25-5, 15-2) handed the Wildcats (25-5, 13-4) their first home loss of the season (17-1), eliminating them from the Big 12 title race. "I thought her ability to finish around the rim was really important to us."
 
Baylor's ninth-consecutive victory sets up a showdown for the conference championship with 10^th-ranked TCU (26-3, 14-2) at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in the regular-season finale at Foster Pavilion. The Horned Frogs host last-place Houston on Wednesday before coming to Waco.
 
"That was my main thing for coming to Baylor. I want to win a championship," said Vonleh, who earned All-Pac-12 honors at Colorado last year. "Nationally, conference, the Big 12 tournament, I know we're capable of doing all those things."
 
Already playing without leading scorer and rebounder Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, who suffered a knee injury in the Feb. 15 game at Texas Tech, the Bears lost 6-0 junior guard/forward Bella Fontleroy two minutes into the third quarter with a shoulder injury. .
 
"I'm not sure if I've ever been as proud of a team," Collen said. "I thought it was a really solid performance by us, in particular when they had that run early in the third quarter and the crowd got involved, and we just found a way to bounce back and make plays."
 
For the second game in a row, the Bears beat one of the country's best 3-point shooting teams at their own game. Baylor was 11-of-28 (39.3%) from outside the arc, with senior guard Sarah Andrews knocking down 4-of-7, while the Wildcats were just 2-of-15 (13.3%) from 3-point range.
 
"That was the goal – two by two by two," Collen said. "That team shoots almost 50% from 3. And in their last five, what (Taryn) Sides, (Jaelyn) Glenn and (Temira) Poindexter have done is remarkable.
 
"(Serena) Sundell is, arguably, the Player of the Year in our league. But I think they're at their best when she can mix scoring with kicking it out and getting her teammates involved. I thought today, we turned her into, you've got to score. And she certainly did. But I thought taking away the 3 was the most important thing we had to do today."
 
With Fontleroy out and Vonleh picking up her second foul, K-State was able to cut a 10-point halftime deficit to just four, 41-37, on a pair of free throws by Kennedy Taylor with six minutes remaining in the third period.
 
After getting a quick breather, Vonleh came back and scored six points in an 11-2 run that pushed the Bears' lead back to double digits, 54-41.
 
"I thought we did a better job of driving in there, playing off two (feet), making the one more pass, feeding Nettie when we could," Collen said. "But I just thought we took a lot of really good 3's tonight. Aliyah (Matharu's) 3's were big. Even (Waiata Jennings) coming in and giving us a 3 was important, just to create that separation. After they got it to four, it was never that close again."
 
Leading by 11 going into the fourth quarter, Baylor went up by as many as 19 and was able to put this one away by knocking down three more 3-pointers in the final period.
 
Matharu and Yaya Felder scored 15 points apiece and both hit three 3-pointers. Andrews scored all 12 of her points from distance, while senior point guard Jada Walker narrowly missed a double-double of her own with eight points and 11 assists.
 
"Jada does a lot for us," Vonleh said of Walker. "She's a very good facilitator, really good at finding people in the right spots. I think she does that every night, so I'm not surprised she had that many assists. And I think we do a good job finishing the looks that she gets for us."
 
Playing without 6-6 All-American center Ayoka Lee for the ninth time in the last 10 games with a fractured foot, the Wildcats were led by Sundell and Taylor with 20 and 16 points, respectively. Baylor also scored 16 points off K-State's 16 turnovers and had a 13-11 edge in second-chance points despite being outrebounded 38-34.
 
Sunday's 5:30 p.m. matchup against TCU is a "White Out" game that will be broadcast by FS1.