By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Despite four-straight losses in conference play, Baylor women’s basketball head coach Nicki Collen said she doesn’t care what the haters have to say. In the aftermath of the Bears’ 81-77 double-overtime loss to No. 22 Iowa State University Saturday evening in the Ferrell Center, Collen said she’s just going to keep coaching.
Collen added that she had an exchange with Cyclones head coach Bill Fennelly that meant more than anything a cynic has to say.
“The exchange I had with Bill will always mean way more than the 15,000 people that don’t think I’m good enough,” Collen said. “So, for all the people that think I should be fired and have a lot to say, A) I don’t read it, and B) people that know, know, and people that don’t, don’t. And I’m just going to keep coaching my butt off, and we’re going to keep getting better.”
In Collen’s playing days, Fennelly actually recruited her coming out of high school when when Fennelly was coaching at Toledo University, but Collen ended up playing at Purdue University. When Collen got married to her husband Tom, Fennelly was invited and went to the wedding.
Collen didn’t expand on the interaction with Fennelly, but she made sure to let it be known that their bond runs deep.
In terms of the action on the court, the Bears (16-9, 7-6, Big 12) took part in their first double-overtime game of the Collen era. Feb. 1, 2003, was the last time Baylor was part of such a game, when it ironically beat the Cyclones 95-83.
Iowa State (16-7, 8-5, Big 12) had five players in double figures to the Bears’ three. The freshman forward duo of Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and Bella Fontleroy secured 19 points apiece, and Littlepage-Buggs snagged 12 rebounds to Fontleroy’s 11.
Littlepage-Buggs secured her team-leading 12th double-double of the year and eighth in conference play. That eighth double-double ties her with Brittney Griner for the most in league games by a Baylor rookie, dating back to the 2009-2010 season.
Fifth-year senior forward Caitlin Bickle was one rebound shy of matching a career best in that category. Bickle finished with 12 boards to add on to 13 points, and she finished 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to the tune of her sixth double-double of the year.
Kenneth Prabhakar | Photo Editor
The Bears’ guard trio of junior Sarah Andrews, senior Jaden Owens and graduate student Ja’Mee Asberry finished a poor 10-of-46 from the floor on Saturday.
“We didn’t make shots,” Collen said. “But that was the story of the night. I think there were multiple opportunities for us to go from two to five or four to seven, with shots from players who we’re all used to seeing make shots. I just thought eventually one of those wide-open threes was going to go for Ja’Mee or Sarah or Jaden.
“You think about why we were able to win up at Iowa State, Sarah and Ja’Mee down the stretch made plays. And that was the big part of it.”
As a whole, the team shot 33% from the field and just 19% from 3-point range.
Fontleroy scored the game’s first points just 17 seconds in, but it took four missed shots and three minutes before Baylor scored again. It was a pair of Bickle free throws that ended the scoring drought, yet Iowa State led 8-4.
The Cyclones hit a 3-pointer at the 1:21 mark to make it 13-8, but the Bears scored four-straight to close out the quarter. Fontleroy made a free throw, and Bickle hit a buzzer-beating bucket from beyond the arc. Iowa State had 2.4 seconds left and tried to launch an inbounds pass near midcourt, but Bickle intercepted it, took two dribbles and fired away from the top of the key, sinking it off the glass.
Iowa State controlled the first two and a half minutes of the second quarter, but Baylor exploded to a 9-2 run over the final five to take a 25-22 lead into the halftime break. Andrews and Littlepage-Buggs combined for nine of the Bears’ 13 second-quarter points.
It was a back-and-forth offensive onslaught from both squads as the teams combined for 35 points in the third quarter. Fontleroy scored seven points in the period on 3-of-5 shooting as the two teams were all tied up at 41 apiece.
The fourth quarter was another neck-and-neck battle, as Littlepage-Buggs’ team-leading eight points weren’t enough to tip the score in Baylor’s favor. The Bears led by four at the 7:36 mark, but the Cyclones never let it extend to worse than a three-point deficit the rest of the way. Bickle committed her fifth foul of the contest early in the quarter and was forced to watch the rest of the game from the sideline.
Trailing by one with 2:11 to go, Littlepage-Buggs corralled a board off an Andrews missed 3-pointer and finished through contact for an and-one. She missed the free throw but made up for it with two successful ones 13 seconds later.
However, ISU’s redshirt freshman guard Denae Fritz drilled a wide-open 3-pointer to tie the game. Neither team was able to generate offense, and regulation ended with the game knotted up at 59-59.
Both squads chipped away in the first overtime, as the game stayed tied halfway through it. But Fontleroy fired away a shot from deep and cashed in to give the Bears a 67-64 lead with 2:17 to go.
Kenneth Prabhakar | Photo Editor
Both teams traded twos until Fennelly called a timeout with 29 seconds remaining, his team trailing by three points. The Cyclones walked back out and executed his play design, as this time junior guard Lexi Donarski made a clutch triple to even it at 71 points each.
Collen had her team hold for the last shot, but Asberry was unable to connect on her 3-pointer, and the buzzer sounded, ending the first overtime session.
More basketball ensued, but this time Iowa State dished out its lethal blow. Donarski sank a jumper in the lane before senior guard Ashley Joens swished home a shot from behind the arc, giving Iowa State a 76-71 lead near the halfway point in the second overtime.
The teams traded baskets once again before the Cyclones saved the ball under their own basket. The ball fell into Owens’ hands, and she kissed the ball off the glass to cut Baylor’s deficit to just three points.
The Bears were able to get a pair of stops and had a chance to tie it, but Asberry scooted into the lane for an easy layup to make it 78-77 in favor of Iowa State with 10 seconds remaining. Baylor then fouled Joens, who made both of her free throws, and the Bears had another chance to even the tally.
But the inbounds pass was too hot for Owens to handle, and the ball fell into Joens’ hands as she was fouled again, now with four seconds left. She made 1-of-2 from the line to give her a game-high 27 points, and Baylor watched as the clock hit zero, resulting in the 81-77 loss.
“I think we might have let fatigue hit a little bit,” Bickle said after the game. “I think [it was] just mental lapses. We’re up three, we give them a three, we’re up three, we give them a three. They were hitting shots that of course they always hit; they’re Iowa State. And I think we were settling a little bit down the stretch when our best chance was getting downhill.”
The Bears have an opportunity to avoid a five-game skid when they play Texas Christian University at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth. Fontleroy said the group is going to approach this one with the same intensity as the others in hopes of a win.
“As awesome as it would have been to win this game tonight, I think we made strides tonight,” Fontleroy said. “I think the energy and the effort and everything that we’ve been working on, from a growth perspective all season, especially this past week of practice, has really started to show. So I think we approach it the same as any other game. We scout them the same as we scout every other team. And just come out and learn from tonight and carry that over with us to that game.”
