By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor
Baylor senior guard Kristy Wallace joined an elite club on Sunday afternoon in Norman, Okla.
The Australia native became the 35th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 career points mark.
Needing just four points to reach the milestone entering Sunday’s showdown with the Sooners, Wallace crossed the threshold with her layup at the 6:30 mark of the second quarter, putting Baylor in front 41-32.
Wallace acknowledged the special moment after the game, but was quick to give her teammates the credit for putting her in position to contribute on the offensive end.
“It’s pretty special,” Wallace said. “But it’s just a credit to my teammates and the way we played tonight. I think it was a messy win, but we were able to reverse the ball and move it to both sides of the floor.”
Wallace closed out the game against the Sooners with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes of play for head coach Kim Mulkey.
Mukey praised her senior guard, saying that Wallace has been the epitome of what it means to wear a Lady Bear uniform not only on the court, but also throughout the Baylor community.
”She has had a remarkable career, and she’s such a great ambassador not just for our program but for all of Baylor,” Mulkey said. “What you see in the game is what we see every day in practice. That’s how she plays.”
This milestone is another feather in the cap in Wallace’s decorated career at Baylor. Wallace has made 78 starts in 121 career games at Baylor, averaging 8.2 points per game, while shooting 42 percent from the floor and 38 percent from three-point distance.
Wallace, who averages just under 11 points game this season, has played in three straight trips to the Elite Eight, while earning Big 12 Conference All-Freshman honors in 2015, 2017 Gulf Coast Showcase Tournament Most Valuable Player and 2017 Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team.
Wallace was also part of the Australian U23 National Team, taking second place in the U24 Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo in August as well as Australia’s Emerging Opals, which won the Gold Medal at the 2017 World University Games in Chinese Taipei.
Wallace is the second Lady Bears to join the club in the last two seasons. In the final regular season game in 2017, it was senior guard Alexis Prince, now of the Phoenix Mercury, who joined the club, ironically against the Sooners as well.
On Sunday, Wallace checked off another box in her Baylor career. However, as she and the Lady Bears move forward, a top the Big 12 standings, there is still one box that remains unchecked—advance to the Final Four and compete for a National Championship, something the Lady Bears have not done since completing a perfect 40-0 season in 2011-12.
Wallace and the Lady Bears remain on the road as they take on Iowa State at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Ames, Iowa. The game will air on Fox Sports Southwest.
