By Jakob Brandenburg | Reporter
The Baylor women’s basketball team trailed at the end of the first quarter for only the second time all season on Sunday night. Unfortunately for Oklahoma, facing a deficit only seemed to fuel the number two team in the country.
The No. 20-ranked Sooners took advantage of poor Baylor shooting to run up an eight point lead in the first quarter, and were winning 20-15 at the end of the first quarter. Then the floodgates seemingly opened, and the Lady Bears rolled to their third consecutive win over a ranked team, winning 92-58.
Senior guard Alexis Jones was unstoppable for Baylor. The 5’9” Jones scored 24 points, while adding 12 rebounds and 10 assists to record the first points/rebounds/assists triple-double in Lady Bear history.
Fellow senior guard Alexis Prince had a season high 10 rebounds to go along with 10 points, giving her a double-double. Yet another senior, post Khadijiah Cave, came off the bench to add 16 points and nine rebounds, and played a key role in the Lady Bears second quarter outburst.
Cave prides herself on doing the dirty work and motivating her teammates.
“I just try to go out there and be that spark player and that energy player,” Cave said. “Crashing the boards is what I do best, and running the floor, and just giving that spark and give the team the energy they need.”
The win takes Baylor’s record to 21-1, and 9-0 against Big 12 opponents. The Lady Bears also extended their 54-game home winning streak.
In the first quarter, the Lady Bears, ranked No. 3 in the country in shooting percentage, shot a lowly 30 percent. Meanwhile, Oklahoma shot only slightly better at 33 percent. Yet with two minutes left in the period, the Sooners had scrapped their way to an 18-10 lead. A Nina Davis make and 3-point play from Kristy Wallace brought the Lady Bears back to down 20-15 at the end of first quarter.
However, Coach Kim Mulkey knew there wasn’t much she needed to say.
“It’s almost like coaching a professional team, even though I never have,” Mulkey said. “It’s kind of like we’ve got this coach, you don’t have to get upset, you don’t have to get on us, we hear everything you’re saying.”
The Lady Bears responded, opening the second quarter with a 13-0 run. One of the nation’s best defenses showed itself, forcing six Oklahoma turnovers and holding the Sooners to four of 15 shooting in the quarter. On the other end Baylor shot a blistering 70.6 percent to outscore Oklahoma 30-12 in the period, and entered the locker room with a 45-32 halftime lead.
The Lady Bears’ hot shooting continued in the second half, making five of their first six shots. The Sooners on the other hand had a streak of eight straight misses at one point, on their way to shooting six of 22 for the third quarter.
Even while bringing players off the bench in the fourth quarter, Baylor ran the lead up to as much as 34 points. While the Lady Bears continued to score, the Sooners field goal percentage continued to plummet. Oklahoma finished the game having made only 20 of their 77 shots, which equates to 26 percent.
Mulkey credited the Lady Bears defense and deep rotation for Oklahoma’s poor shooting.
“Look at the field goal percentage every quarter we held them to,” Mulkey said. “I attribute that to our defense and our depth. You hope that depth has worn down the opponents.”
Every healthy Baylor player got into the game. Sophomore post Beatrice Mompremier missed the game to due injury.
At halftime freshman post Lauren Cox was honored with the Type 1 Diabetes Hero Award as part of Baylor’s first ever Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Game. Cox was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was seven years old. Cox stuffed the stat sheet with five points, five rebounds, six assists and a career high five blocks.
The Lady Bears take the floor again at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum.
