By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
HOUSTON – Baylor coach Nicki Collen calls junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs her personal "security blanket."
 
Not that she necessarily needed a security blanket in the Bears' dominant 45-point road victory over the Houston Cougars Wednesday night at the Fertita Center, but Littlepage-Buggs certainly delivered.
 
Scoring her 1,000^th career point just 17 seconds in, she finished with a game-high 19 points to go with seven rebounds, six assists and three blocks to lead Baylor (19-5, 9-2) to its third win in a row, routing shorthanded Houston, 92-47.
 
"She's someone that keeps us in action," Collen said. "She doesn't take bad shots, she works at both ends of the floor, she plays hard all the time. She's a mover for us, so really important to our success."
 
 Matching the most lopsided Big 12 game in the Collen era, Baylor outscored a Houston team that was down to just six available players, 54-25, in the second half after getting off to a slow start.
 
"Yeah, yikes," Collen said of the Bears committing seven of their 16 turnovers in the first quarter and leading by just one point, 14-13. "We just didn't have a lot of intentionality. We weren't posting very hard, we weren't running as hard. We just looked like we were cross-messaging."
 
Apparently, the message came through loud and clear at halftime. Sarah Andrews and Florida transfer Aliyah Matharu combined to hit three 3-pointers and score 13 points in the second quarter, stretching the lead to 38-22, but Collen was not happy with the 11 turnovers.
 
"A big part of it was, let's all get on the same page," Collen said. "Let's run hard, let's post hard, let's cut hard. And I thought the game because easy once we did those things, because it was one of those games where I felt like no matter what I called, we were going to get a layup or an open 3."
 
After a quiet first half, Colorado transfer Aaronette Vonleh scored eight of her 12 points in the first three minutes of the third quarter and also assisted on a Jada Walker 3-pointer, quickly pushing the lead to 49-27. Walker added another trey and a layup off an assist from Yaya Felder in an explosive third quarter that saw Baylor take a comfortable 66-35 lead into the final period.
 
"It's so great to have so much versatility on this team," said Walker, who had 14 points, five assists and three boards. "Anyone can score, anyone can pass, everyone can step up and defend. From the first player in to the last player in, we can count on everybody. And that's what we're going to need going into March and the rest of February."
 
That included Felder scoring 15 points off the bench and matching her season high with eight assists. Matharu rounded out the Bears' double-digit scorers with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor.
 
After matching a program record with 17 made 3-pointers in Sunday's 98-59 win at home over Cincinnati, Baylor was 11-of-24 from outside the arc Wednesday night and shot a sizzling 57.8% overall in the 45-point victory. Six different players made 3-pointers, including freshman forward Kayla Nelms hitting her fourth of the season and scoring seven points in nine minutes.
 
"When you get everybody an opportunity to play, it's a good thing as a coach," Collen said. "But at the same time, you've got to own those minutes. Every minute you play, you're showing me what you're capable of in games that matter, and every game matters at this time of the year. I'm just as frustrated if we're up 30 and making mistakes as I am if it's a four-point game."
 
With the win, Baylor is now tied for second in the Big 12 with ninth-ranked TCU (21-3, 9-2) and a game behind 12^th-ranked Kansas State (22-2, 10-1) after the Wildcats' 59-50 win over the Frogs Wednesday night. The Bears' final two games of the regular season are Feb. 24 at K-State and March 2 at home against TCU.
 
"Any win is big," Littlepage-Buggs said. "We're getting to the end of our season. We don't take anything for granted. We just have to take these games and push forward and learn from them. Even though we did win, we've got to learn from the little things that maybe we didn't do so well, those things that will help us in the future."
 
One of those things will be limiting the turnovers. But Baylor more than offset the turnovers by outrebounding the Cougars 49-29 and scoring more points in the paint (49) than Houston's final point total (47).
 
Houston was led by Kierra Merchant and Eylia Love with 13 points apiece and Gia Cooke with 11. Laila Blair, the Cougars' leading scorer at 13.2 points per game coming in, was held to just eight points on 3-for-17 shooting overall and 2-for-10 from 3-point range.
 
The Bears return home to host BYU (12-10, 3-8) at 7 p.m. Saturday in the back end of a doubleheader at Foster Pavilion, with the BU men hosting UCF at 1 p.m. The Cougars have strung together back-to-back wins over Arizona State and UCF after losing eight of their first nine conference games.
 
"This is ramp-up time," Collen said. "We're right there with an opportunity to compete for a championship, and we need the fans every game. (BYU) beat us last year, so we're definitely not taking BYU lightly."