By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Back in November, Baylor women’s basketball head coach Nicki Collen said if she were on the opposite sideline, she would’ve run a zone defense against this Bears squad because they were so bad at defending it early in the season.
On Wednesday, that same squad turned the tables as it picked apart Kansas State University’s zone defense to the tune of a 69-48 win in the Ferrell Center.
“It’s about finding the seams against the zone,” Collen said. “And there were times when they had no answer. We go short and drop, we go high post and drop and we’re shooting uncontested layups. And so, when you have 28 assists and 29 baskets, you’re being pretty unselfish.”
Coming from the WNBA, Collen had to adjust to defending against a zone because that isn’t something she was accustomed to seeing at the professional level.
“A year ago in November, I just thought I was a terrible zone coach,” Collen said. “I felt good about what we were running, but we just weren’t very good. We weren’t a good execution zone team in November.
“So, I was searching. I was in the weeds of, am I running the wrong zone offense? Is there something we can do better? But really it came down to working on it. Really getting them to understand the spacing and when you can attack and what the zone looks like and what they’re going to cover up, what they’re not going to cover up.”
The Bears (13-5, 4-2 Big 12), led by a trio of double-digit scorers, had no problems on Wednesday against the Wildcats (12-7, 1-5 Big 12). Freshman forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs recorded a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. 17 of her 19 game-high points came in the second half.
Graduate student guard Ja’mee Asberry followed with 18 points on a scorching hot 50% shooting night beyond the arc. Junior guard Sarah Andrews was the only other Bear in double figures, as she secured 12 points to go with six rebounds and three assists.
Fifth-year senior forward Caitlin Bickle did the dirty work, snagging 10 rebounds and dishing out a career-high eight assists.
After scoring the first five points of the game, Baylor let up a 12-4 run that crept into the early part of the second quarter, capped off by a KSU three-pointer. The Bears responded with a 20-4 run to take a 30-18 advantage into the halftime break. In that 9:28, Baylor hit three-straight shots from behind the arc, two of them courtesy of Asberry and one from Andrews.
Grace Everett | Photographer
Coming off a road loss to West Virginia University, Asberry said the team had to dig deep and not allow KSU to continue its strong start in the first quarter.
“Just telling ourselves, ‘We can’t let this happen again,’” Asberry said. “When you have seniors on the court, it’s like, ‘We got this, y’all.’ It’s easy to pull everyone along because we’re all upperclassmen except Darianna [Littlepage-Buggs]. We can tell her, ‘You’ve got this.’ It’s very easy for us to pull together and pull the lead back up.”
Grace Everett | Photographer
The third quarter was owned by Littlepage-Buggs, as she scored nine points to push into double digits. She was wide open for several layups, thanks to Collen’s offense and the guards dismantling the Wildcats’ zone.
“I think it was great, especially emphasizing on [the] high post and [the] look down,” Littlepage-Buggs said. “It was so open, and we just trusted it and went back to it every time. I think we moved the ball really well on offense. I think it was really important to keep doing that and find the ins and outs. If teams use zone on us, it’s not a problem. We have other options.”
Just as the Bears seemed to be in control for good, the Wildcats cut their deficit to as little as 11 points with four minutes, 22 seconds remaining. Collen brought her group together to refocus and finish strong.
“That wasn’t a very friendly timeout,” Collen said. “Because it’s that idea of, you can’t take your foot off the accelerator. You just can’t. And a team [like KSU] that gets to the free throw line at a high rate and a team that is capable of going off from three is the scariest kind of team with a three or four possession lead.”
Baylor only gave up three points the rest of the way, and the team got back in the win column following a two-game skid.
Baylor will stick around for a home contest against No. 25 University of Texas. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. Sunday in the Ferrell Center. Collen said she expects a different challenge from the Longhorns (13-6, 4-2 Big 12).
“Stylistically, it’s like night and day,” Collen said. “Texas isn’t going to play a zone. They sure as heck aren’t going to pick us up at the three-point line. They’re going to be even a little edgier when they come in here.”
Collen urged the Baylor fanbase to give the Bears a home court advantage against the Big 12 foe.
“We really need this to be our best crowd so far this season,” Collen said. “And I mean our best crowd by 30 or 40%. We need people, this team needs people, this team deserves people cheering them on. Because I promise you they’re going to be there at Moody [Center] when we go down there. So, we have to show them that we’re still there, one game out of first place and clipping along and we just have to play one game at a time.”
