By Pranay Malempati | Sports Writer, Video by Nate Smith | Broadcast Reporter
Baylor women’s basketball defeated Kansas 97-44 in a dominant win Wednesday night in the Ferrell Center.
Baylor started out hot, ending the first quarter with a 28-7 lead. Graduate guard Te’A Cooper had 10 points in the frame, including two three-pointers.
After taking a 46-17 lead into halftime, the Lady Bears didn’t relent to start the second half, going on a 14-0 run in the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter.
Sophomore forward NaLyssa Smith finished the game with a double-double, grabbing 23 points as well as 10 rebounds. After missing and then being limited in games for a few weeks with a high-ankle sprain, Smith said she was happy to be back in full swing.
“It felt good,” Smith said. “The last two games, I didn’t score a lot, I didn’t defend a lot or get a lot of minutes. So just coming back to the normal, like I know how to play, it just feels good.”
Sophomore forward Queen Egbo had a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 11 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass. The backups had a solid performance as a whole, as Baylor had 41 points off the bench.
Head coach Kim Mulkey said Egbo and junior guard Moon Ursin specifically are huge pieces to the team off the bench.
“I just think Moon and Queen, those two kids are playing excellent basketball,” Mulkey said. “They just give me a rotation that we don’t miss a beat. . . [Queen] and Moon are playing good, and it’s just good to see.”
Mulkey also said that it’s important to her to coach the backups like the game matters, even if Baylor has a massive lead.
“I’m going to coach from the tip to the time that clock is on zero,” Mulkey said, “and I’m going to coach hard and I’m going to get on you and I’m going to develop you. If it’s not even for this year and it’s for the future. You have to take advantage of minutes and make it very difficult for me to take you off the floor.”
Another aspect of the game that stood out against Kansas was that the Lady Bears did not allow even one second chance point to the Jayhawks. Kansas only had three offensive rebounds for the whole game.
Baylor dominated on the glass as a whole, out-rebounding the Jayhawks 53-24 with 16 of its rebounds coming on the offensive glass.
The Lady Bears continue Big 12 play against Kansas State at 2 p.m. Saturday in Manhattan, Kan.
