By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Another season begins for the Baylor women’s basketball program, welcoming a roster full of fresh faces, amended expectations and even a new arena in January.
After falling short of a Big 12 title last season for the first time since 2010, the Bears find themselves in a liminal space. Only one player, senior guard Sarah Andrews, remains from the 2022 title team. No other active player has spent more than a year in the program.
But head coach Nicki Collen has pivoted quickly, hitting the transfer portal hard this offseason to keep the firepower prevalent.
The class headliners are both from the state of Kentucky, and it all starts with graduate student forward Dre’Una Edwards. When Edwards transferred to Baylor last year, she did not see any game action. She instead became the center of controversy when University of Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy refused to sign a waiver that would have allowed her to play immediately. As a second-time non-graduate transfer, Edwards needed her former coach to sign an NCAA No Participation Opportunity form to be eligible without sitting out a season.
Edwards is now eligible, and she’s expected to be a force for the Bears. In her final season at Kentucky, she finished sixth in the SEC in scoring, putting up 16.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game on 52.1% shooting. The Las Vegas native continually encounters success, winning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at the University of Utah and dropping 29 points and a game-winning shot against the University of South Carolina in the SEC title game for Kentucky. She’ll play a key role for a Baylor team that’s losing two of its top three scorers.
Edwards didn’t come alone. Enter another Wildcat transfer in junior guard Jada Walker, a former SEC All-Freshman Team member and defensive specialist who finished third among major-conference players at 2.61 steals per game last year. Pair that with 12.9 points, 3.1 boards and 3.1 assists per game, and you get a player who should make an instant impact in Waco.
The Bears raided the Big 12 too, ushering in sophomore guard Denae Fritz, a Big 12 All-Freshman Team member, from Iowa State University. Fritz is a willing shooter (4.0 3-point attempts per game) who averaged 8.8 points and 4.6 rebounds last season for the Cyclones. But for Collen, what stood out most about Fritz was her clutch factor.
“Even though she wasn’t a high-volume shooter or scorer [at Iowa State], she hit big shots,” Collen said. “She was fearless. She hit big shots against us, against Texas, and she brought a toughness and a little bit of a swag to her that we felt like we needed.”
The Bears recruited outside of power conferences, too. Junior guard Yaya Felder was a bona fide star at the University of Ohio, dropping 22.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game. She led the Mid-American Conference in scoring by four points per game. Felder earned Second Team All-Conference honors, and likely would’ve competed for MAC Player of the Year if the Bobcats — who finished 6-23 — had found more team success.
At 6-foot-3, Belmont University transfer Madison Bartley brings a powerful inside scoring presence to the Bears. Bartley earned First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors last season after averaging 14.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game for the Bruins. She’s the 34th 1,000-point scorer in Belmont history and has a chance to play significant minutes for Baylor in 2023.
Bartley said the “family environment” at Baylor drew her in and that fitting into the team dynamic has been a seamless transition.
“I remember meeting Sarah [Andrews] for the first time, and she was so welcoming, and we went bowling,” Bartley said. “But just having that family feeling and knowing that everyone has the same goal here. We want to win, and we want to be in the Final Four, and we want to win a championship. So being able to come to a program like that and to where everyone [within] the first week bought into what we want to do is just something really special.”
Felder and Bartley didn’t come from big brand schools, but Collen said she thinks their skills can be translated to the highest levels of college basketball.
“I love the idea that maybe a Madison or a Yaya didn’t play in a Power Five league, but they’re out to prove that they deserve to — and should’ve, maybe, from the beginning,” Collen said. “There’s a hunger in all of [the transfers] to show they belong [at this level at Baylor].”
The Baylor women’s basketball team hasn’t announced its non-conference schedule yet, but stay tuned with @BULariatSports on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the latest news.
