By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer, Braden Murray | LTVN Sports Director
PORTLAND, Ore. — Rooted in an underdog mentality, it was seemingly No. 5 seed Baylor women’s basketball versus the world.
LTVN’s Braden Murray has the story from Portland
Despite trailing by six at halftime, the Bears hit seven of their next nine shots and had No. 1 seed USC on the ropes. However, Baylor missed its first eight shots in the fourth quarter, which allowed the Trojans to stomp back and end the Bears’ run in the Sweet 16 by a score of 74-70 on Saturday at the Moda Center.
NO. 1 USC TAKES DOWN BAYLOR
Trojans advance to their first Elite 8 since 1994 👏 pic.twitter.com/ItlAq3Z7Zl
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 31, 2024
In head coach Nicki Collen’s Sweet 16 debut, the Bears (26-8) finished with more rebounds, assists and field goals than the Trojans (29-5). The only grand discrepancy was USC’s 10 more made free throws (17) that fueled the top seed’s rhythm.
“I just felt like I had zero doubt that we had what it took to beat that team,” Collen said. “I think we were the better team. And I think we had moments that they couldn’t guard us and moments that we looked so fluid and so special, and we competed.
“I just wanted this one for those kids. I wanted to coach another game.”
Senior guard Sarah Andrews led the Bears in scoring for the ninth time this season with 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting from the floor, five of which were 3-pointers, and she led the team with three steals. With the game on the line in the final minutes, the senior hit two 3-pointers to bring the game within one but missed a deep 3-pointer that would have tied the game with 11 seconds to play.
“I took that shot with confidence, and I knew the team was behind me when I took that shot,” Andrews said. “There was no doubt in my mind when I shot it. Basketball, you win some, you lose some. I shot a confident shot, and I’m OK with that.”
Sophomore forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs tallied her fifth double-double of the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Jada Walker rode the momentum from her career-high night last week and notched 15 points to go with a team-high seven assists. Graduate student forward Dre’Una Edwards led the team with 12 rebounds and added nine points off the bench.
The focus was on USC freshman guard JuJu Watkins, who finished with 30 points on 8-for-28 shooting. Baylor’s defense held Watkins to her third-lowest shooting percentage (28.5%) this year.
“I thought we were great [on JuJu],” Collen said. “I thought Bella [Fontleroy] did an unbelievable job.”
For reference, Watkins went 8-for-28 (28.5%) from the floor tonight. That is the third-lowest shooting percentage for her this season.
The only other two:
March 10 vs Stanford – 2-for-15 (13.3%)
Feb. 18 @ Oregon St. – 6-for-32 (18.8%)Great defense on Watkins by the Bears. https://t.co/r5xmxl5rti
— Foster Nicholas (@FosterNicholas_) March 31, 2024
Baylor trailed 37-31 at the half as the team shot just 32.4% from the floor and went 3-for-12 from 3-point range. The Bears’ shooting woes momentarily ceased as they hit as many field goals in the third quarter (11-of-17) as the entire first half (11-of-34).
“They got a heavy dose of Baylor basketball in the second half,” Collen said. “I thought we looked a little — the moment was a little big for us in the first half. And then I thought we really settled down and played really good basketball in the second half.”
Baylor went on a 13-6 run to close the third quarter as Andrews, Walker and Littlepage-Buggs combined to go 8-for-10 from the floor in the quarter. During the period, Walter dished out five assists as the Bears outscored the Trojans 26-16 and led 57-53 heading into the final 10 minutes.
“We weren’t going to go down without a fight,” Andrews said. “We were right there. They don’t want to give us five more minutes because it might be a different outcome. Buggs stepped up, and she hit big-time shots that built confidence in me. We were just playing in the moment of we’re not going down without a fight.”
The fight continued even though the Bears didn’t find their first field goal of the fourth quarter until the 5:32 mark. Baylor led by as much as three before USC mustered an 8-0 run to lead 69-64 with less than two minutes to play. Andrews answered with back-to-back 3-pointers, including a shot from the corner that kissed off the backboard, but Watkins sealed the deal with six made free throws in the final two minutes to put the game out of reach.
“Honestly, I think we shocked a lot of people,” Andrews said. “Nobody thought that we would be here. We started out 14-0. We hit adversity once we got into the conference and then hit adversity at the Big 12 tournament. I think overall we grew in a way that nobody would ever believe.”
#Baylor F @DariannaBuggs22 on #Baylor moving forward as well as silencing the doubters:
"We’ll get back. I'm ready to break a lot more [notions of] ‘Well, they can't get here. They won't be here.’ I'm ready for that next year and I'm pretty sure my team is right behind me."
— Michael Haag (@MichaelHaag_) March 31, 2024
As the Bears walked off the court for a final time with puffy, teary eyes, they went arm-in-arm to the locker room knowing their underdog mentality had nearly put them over the top.
