By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor
Aaronette Vonleh walked into Addition Financial Arena for the final game of a three-game road trip looking for consistency on offense so that Baylor women’s basketball could bounce back from a shaky week. The senior center did just that, tying a season-high with 22 points in a 75-64 win over UCF Wednesday night in Orlando.
Vonleh’s signature preference came one week after scoring just 11 total points against No. 9 TCU and No. 1 UCLA. In the top-10 matchups, she shot a combined 4-of-14 and fouled out against the Bruins. Against the Knights (7-12, 0-9 Big 12), the Colorado transfer shot 11-for-12 and executed well when staring down both zone and man defenses.
“I thought we needed Netty’s (Vonleh) presence out there. She was the one person consistently scoring for us,” head coach Nicki Collen said on the Baylor Sports Media Network. “When we were able to play early into Netty, that was our best offense against man.”
Junior Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and senior guard Sarah Andrews (12 points) joined Vonleh as the only Bears (17-5, 7-2 Big 12) in double figures. Littlepage-Buggs finished with her ninth double-double of the year, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. The forward brought down four of Baylor’s 16 offensive boards.
“I think this is just a really good game to get us up onto our feet and get our confidence back up,” Littlepage-Buggs said. “We had to rebound; they’re really long. They got a lot of the rebounds, so we had to really box out and find those open gaps.”
The green and gold sliced through the UCF defense, forcing Knights head coach Sytia Messer to bounce between zone and man-to-man looks. Baylor assisted on 12 of 16 made baskets in the first half, with 18 points coming in the paint, 12 of which came from Vonleh. Andrews dished out five of her seven assists in the first half and drilled three 3-pointers before halftime.
Leading 43-30 to start the second half, head coach Nicki Collen drew up more plays to free up Vonleh in the post. Each time down the floor, Vonleh sprinted to the low post, battled her defender for the position and called for a pass before tossing up open layups under the bucket. Vonleh was perfect from the floor in the second half (5-for-5) as the Bears maintained a double-digit lead for the final 20 minutes.
The Knights were led by graduate guard Nevaeh Brown, who scored 25 points on 6-for-15 shooting from the floor and a 12-of-12 day at the charity stripe. Led by Brown, the home team hit 20 of 27 free throws off of 18 Baylor fouls. Senior guard Kaitlin Peterson was the only other UCF player in double figures, with 18 points in 29 minutes.
“I just don’t think we played with a lot of mojo at the defensive end, and I think that was where it started,” Collen said. “I don’t think we executed at a high level. I thought our defense let us down most of the night, and we were fouling needlessly.”
Baylor was outscored 18-13 in the fourth quarter and struggled to extend the lead enough for Collen to make mass substitutions. Brown scored 19 points in the second half, living in the paint and midrange around light Bear pressures. Despite the struggles, the green and gold didn’t allow the Knights to trim the deficit to fewer than 11 and secured a 75-64 win.
“[I’m] not really pleased with our performance, but pleased with the win. And I would rather play poor and win than play poor and lose,” Collen said. “We need to get better. We weren’t good today.”
The Bears will be back in action against Cincinnati at 2 p.m. Sunday at Foster Pavilion. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
