Travis Taylor | Lariat Photo Editor
Reporter
In the second game of the season, the No. 9 ranked Lady Bears dominated unranked Nicholls State University with a 111-58 win on Thursday at the Ferrell Center. The Lady Bears have scored more than 110 points in every game thus far, averaging 110.5 per game.
“You just have to give Baylor the credit in terms of their personnel, the depth they have, the ability to, in a good way, they can just wear you down,” Nicholls State head coach DoBee Plaisance said. “They’re outstanding. They’re not number nine in the country for nothing.”
Coming out of the first half of the game the Lady Bears led 54-29. Senior guard Odyssey Sims led the team in points with 14 at the end of the first followed by freshman forward Nina Davis with nine.
The second half of the game, however, belonged to Davis.
“I was a little nervous when it first started out, but once I started playing and my game started flowing I was a little more comfortable and I just went from there,” Davis said. “When I was younger I was a point guard. I’ve always had a dribbling ability, so I just take it and go.”
In her first start of the season, Davis was named player of the game, with 11 rebounds and 28 points, making it her first double-double in her Baylor career.
“I was very happy for her,” Sims said. “I wanted her to score as many points as she could. It’s always fun to watch another teammate get a double-double. Not to mention she was player of the game. So I think she should start all the time—or more.”
Sims wasn’t the only one happy to see what Davis brought to the court.
Head coach Kim Mulkey said Davis did a good job taking advantage of her opportunity to start, attributing Davis’ ability to rebound and difficulty to guard to her activeness on the court.
“She’s active and she is hard to block out,” Mulkey said. “She has to be because she’s a smaller post player. Nina grows on you as you watch her practice every day. She has an ugly shot, but she’s a scorer. She figures how to score. She figures out how to defend at her size. She took advantage of her opportunity tonight and boy did she.”
The Lady Bears started their season ranked No. 10. After a blowout win against Grambling State University, they moved up to No. 9
Next week, women’s basketball will face the unranked Rice Owls. Rice is 2-1 on the season with wins over Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern, with its lone loss coming to McNeese State.
“Rice is going to present a challenge for us because first of all they have more experience than we do,” Mulkey said. “They’re very well coached. They’re three-player is going to be the best player we’ve played to this point and it’s going to be a game.”
The Lady Bears play Rice University at 7 pm. Monday in the Ferrell Center.
“I hope that the fans will come out Monday because really we don’t need to see that front row empty,” Mulkey said. “It means something to us to have good fan support. I know its football season. I know its Monday night football, but we really need a good crowd Monday.”
