The Lady Bears cruised past Kansas Saturday at the Ferrell Center, 81-59.
With the fans out in support for “Family Day”, the Bears had the crowd and their families behind them.
The Bears (23-1, 10-1) were coming off a solid win against Kansas State, 87-52. With their confidence built up, the Bears extended their win streak to 10.
“Look it’s family day. You can’t hide the fact that the kids keep up with wins and losses and I just knew I was going to sub a lot,” said head coach Kim Mulkey. “I knew that doing that was going to take you out of rhythm and out of sync, but hey we won.”
The Jayhawks (5-18, 0-12) have struggled in conference play this season, continuing that losing against the Bears.
With the Bears leading from the start, there was no going back.
The Bears came out attacking the paint, taking advantage of their size down low and on the perimeter.
“Baylor is obviously extremely talented and very well coached,” said Jayhawk head coach Brandon Schneider. “I think Baylor’s size is a problem for a lot of people, and not just in the inside.”
Although the Bears found themselves up 16-7 at the end of the first quarter, Mulkey was visibly unhappy with her teams play thus far.
“I think it was us trying to make a home run instead of making the single,” Mulkey said. “I think its more of what we did to ourselves than what they did to us.”
Going into the second, both teams struggled to connect with the net from the field.
However, in the paint was a different story for the Bears. Coming off the bench freshman post Kalani Brown recorded 18 points and 7 rebounds, her presence a threat to the Jayhawks.
“First thing that comes to my mind is to finish,” Brown said. “We’ve been working in practice to gather ourselves, draw contact, and to finish.”
The Bears recorded a field goal shooting percentage of 54.2 and 20 rebounds to end the half on top, 36-18.
With the Jayhawks shooting at 26.9 percent at the half and only recording eight defensive rebounds, while producing 17 turnovers, the stats showed their struggle.
Coming back from the half, the Bears attempted to get the momentum going and appeared to be playing down to their competition.
With the Bears making careless turnovers and missing open looks, Mulkey was forced to call a timeout with just over four minutes of play remaining in the third quarter.
Junior guard Alexis Prince came out of the timeout to make a three to put the crowd on their feet, however the Jayhawks immediately responding making a three of their own.
“When Alexis prince is playing at 100 percent it makes us better because she can spread the floor offensively and they can’t crowd our bigs down there,” Mulkey said.
Although shooting at 53.7 percent to end the third quarter, the Bears were able to extend their lead to, 58-33, with the Jayhawks shooting at 29.5 percent from the field.
Going into the fourth the Bears looked to get their style of play going again.
Prince came up big for the Bears, making three shots from behind the arc to end the game with 14 points.
“It was big for my confidence, it showed me that I could still play and get better every game,” Prince said.
“I feel good, just taking it day by day. Each practice just getting better and getting more reps.”
Not playing at their peak, it was the 50 points in the paint for the Bears that allowed them to overcome the Jayhawks, 81-59.
“Good thing, it’s a win,” Mulkey said. “We took care of business and now we go on the road.”
“Our goal right now is to win a big 12 championship.”
The Lady Bears head to Forth Worth 7 p.m. Wednesday to take on Texas Christian University.
