By Marquis Cooley | Sports Editor
Seven sports were in action playing a total of 12 games this past Friday through Sunday. Here’s a quick rundown of all that went down in Baylor Athletics during Super Bowl weekend.
Softball opens season with four straight wins for first time since 2018
Baylor softball (4-0) competed in the Lady Demon Classic in Natchitoches, La., over the weekend, notching four victories to open the season. Their first match was on Friday against the University of Tennessee at Martin where the Bears scored eight runs in the first inning to win 8-6.
Baylor followed up with a double-header sweep of Northwestern State University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Saturday. The Bears started the day by shutting out Northwestern State 5-0 before racking up 10 runs against Chattanooga in the afternoon to best them 10-5.
Baylor capped off the weekend with a 10-0 route of the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a five-inning run-rule on Sunday to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2018.
No. 7 MBB faced with injury, prevails over No. 20 Texas 80-63
Brittany Tankersley | Photo Editor
No. 7 Baylor men’s basketball program protected home court with an 80-63 victory over No. 20 University of Texas Saturday afternoon in the Ferrell Center.
The Bears (21-4, 9-3 Big 12) stuck with a seven-man rotation after junior forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua suffered a season ending knee injury in the first half and were able to propel themselves to victory against the Longhorns (18-7, 7-5 Big 12).
The injury-riddled Bears get a couple of days off before heading to Lubbock to square off against No. 11 Texas Tech University (19-6, 8-4 Big 12). The contest is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Wednesday in the United Supermarkets Arena and can be viewed on ESPN2.
Fourth quarter explosion boosts No. 7 WBB over WVU, 75-57
Joshua McSwain | RoundUp
No. 7 Baylor women’s basketball (19-5, 9-3 Big 12) churned out a 75-57 win over West Virginia University Saturday night in the Ferrell Center, thanks to a fourth quarter eruption in which the Bears scored 29 points.
Senior forward NaLyssa Smith matched a career-high with 30 points, while also grabbing 12 rebounds, two blocks and a steal. It was Smith’s 16th double-double of the season, a mark that ties her for No. 10 all-time in program history for double-doubles in a single season. It was also the 44th double-double of her career, which is fourth in program history.
Next up Baylor will face Texas Christian University (6-15, 2-10 Big 12) in a pair of back-to-back games, hosting the first meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Ferrell Center. The Horned Frogs are currently on a seven-game losing streak.
Track & field etches name into history books in final indoor regular season meet
Photo courtesy of Baylor Athletics
Baylor track and field ran into history and captured multiple medals during their last indoor meet of the regular season on Friday and Saturday at the Texas Tech Shootout in Lubbock.
On the first day, sophomore sprinter Ackera Nugent once again broke her own school record in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.89 seconds.
Freshman hurdler Johnny Brackins jumped up Baylor’s all-time list in the 60-meter hurdles recording 7.77 seconds, third fastest in school history.
On day two in the men’s 600 yards, freshman hurdler Nathaniel Ezekiel recorded the fastest time for Baylor since 2000 with a time of 1:08.41 which propelled him to No. 2 all-time at Baylor.
The Bears get a week off to prepare for the Big 12 Indoor Championship meet on Feb. 25-26 in Ames, Iowa.
No. 3 men’s tennis racks up two victories to continue hot start
No. 3 Baylor men’s tennis (11-0) took over Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center this weekend, conquering Tulsa (4-3) and No. 7 University of Virginia (5-2) on Friday and Saturday.
After a shaky start in singles on Friday, Baylor recovered to beat Tulsa 4-1. The Bears followed that up by commanding the court Saturday against No. 7 UVA winning 4-2 in front of a record-setting attendance of 431 fans.
Baylor will next head to the ITA Division I National Indoor Tournament starting Friday. It’s possible the Bears will have to face UVA again during the tournament.
No. 25 women’s tennis goes 2-0 on the road
Photo courtesy of Baylor Athletics
No. 25 Baylor women’s tennis (4-3) secured back-to-back road victories over the weekend, besting the University of Denver and the University of Colorado Boulder. Baylor opened the road trip with a 5-2 win over Denver Friday afternoon at the Denver Tennis Park in Denver.
The Bears continued their winning ways on Saturday, defeating Colorado by a score of 5-2 at the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center in Boulder, Colo.
Baylor returns home to face Southern Methodist University at noon on Friday and Mississippi State University at noon on Saturday at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
No. 4 EQ falls to No. 8 TCU in tiebreaker
No. 4 Baylor equestrian (4-5, 2-3 Big 12) fell short in their meet against No. 8 Texas Christian University (7-5, 1-3 Big 12) by way of a tiebreaker Saturday at the Willis Family Equestrian Center.
After finishing the field events, the Bears and Horned Frogs were tied at 9-9. The judges added up the total amount of points earned in the raw score tiebreaker format, where they declared TCU the winner by a score of 1489-1481.5.
Next, Baylor welcomes the University of South Carolina (0-7, 0-4 SEC) at 11 a.m. Friday for senior day at the Willis Family Equestrian Center and will be looking to get back in the win column.
