By Pranay Malempati | Sports Writer
The Baylor Lady Bears went into Stillwater, Okla., Saturday night and dominated the Oklahoma State Cowgirls by a score of 69-42.
Baylor improved its record to 23-1 and stayed undefeated in the Big 12 for the season. The Lady Bears also picked up the season sweep over the Cowgirls, as Baylor won the first matchup in Waco earlier in Big 12 play.
The Lady Bears defense was on lockdown mode once again, as they held the Cowgirls to single digit points in every quarter except for the fourth.
Baylor was up 17-9 after the first quarter. The Lady Bears took control of the game in the second frame, as they outscored Oklahoma State 24-9 and took a 41-18 lead into the locker room at halftime. They were outscored in the fourth quarter 15-12, but the game was well out of reach for the Cowgirls at that point.
Graduate guard Te’A Cooper, who is normally in the starting lineup, came off the bench for the first time all season and led the team in scoring. The transfer finished the game with 15 points on 6-10 shooting from the field. Cooper also added eight rebounds and four steals.
Cooper wasn’t the only Lady Bear to rack up the steals this game. Junior guard Didi Richards also had four steals, while sophomore forward NaLyssa Smith and senior guard Juicy Landrum had two steals each. As a team, Baylor piled up a total of 14 steals and 19 total takeaways.
Senior forward Lauren Cox did went 4-11 from the field. However, she was an enforcer inside, with four blocks for the game.
Landrum, with 12 points, and sophomore center Queen Egbo, with 10, had double digit points as well. Baylor did all of their damage on the inside, withonly hit one three, on just six attempts. The Lady Bears have hit nearly five threes per game on average this season.
Baylor only had 14 assists this game on 27 made field goals, which is lower than their normal average of 23 assists per game. On the other hand, Baylor did shoot 82.4% from the free throw line (shooting 14-17), much higher than their season’s average of 67.8%.
The Lady Bears continue their season at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Texas Tech in Lubbock.
