By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor
Baylor women’s basketball is off to its best start in conference play under head coach Nicki Collen through eight games, but the Bears find themselves needing a pick-me-up when they take on UCF at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando.
On the heels of an 80-75 loss to No. 9 TCU on Sunday and a double-digit defeat in a nonconference bout against No. 1 UCLA earlier in the week, Collen feels the Bears (16-5, 6-2 Big 12) are where they need to be. The green and gold sliced down a 22-point deficit to a one-score game in the fourth quarter against the Horned Frogs, something Baylor aims to translate.
“I don’t think it’s the time of year where you get into, ‘How are you feeling today?’” Collen said. “It’s kind of like, ‘Here’s what we do to move forward.’ I don’t think in either of those games, we didn’t show that we’re not capable of playing with anyone in the country.”
The Bears are undefeated in four all-time meetings against the Knights (7-11). The squads met for the first time as Big 12 foes on Jan. 20, 2024, in Waco, where the green and gold edged out the visitors, 77-74.
UCF head coach Sytia Messer spent eight years on Baylor’s staff under former head coach Kim Mulkey before taking over in Orlando in 2022. Messer’s squad is off to its worst start under her leadership, still winless in Big 12 Play. However, Collen’s ties to Messer won’t let the Bears underestimate the opponent.
“Most people probably don’t know, but Sytia was recruited and coached by my husband (Tom Collen),” Nicki said. “ I tried to keep Sytia when I got this job, I worked really, really hard to try to get her to stay. I thought she was a big part of the recruiting success here and an elite human… They’ve done a good job recruiting. I think they play hard.”
Senior guard Kaitlin Peterson paces the Knights, averaging 20.7 points per game, ranking 17th in the nation and third in the Big 12. UCF has struggled to stay healthy in conference play, something Collen said has forced Messer to get creative and move away from her signature man-to-man pressure defense.
“We might see the first big chunk of zone that we’ve seen in months because I think the last time we saw zone, really, was at Kansas,” Collen said. “UCF mixes their defenses and plays a lot of zone.”
The Bears are looking for a bounce-back performance from senior center Aaronette, “Netty,” Vonleh, who combined for 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting against the Bruins and Horned Frogs. Vonleh fouled out against UCLA in 10 minutes and struggled to finish in the paint against TCU (4-for-10).
“We have to get more out of Netty,” Collen said. “Regardless of the opponent, we need more rebounding. And I think Sedona (Prince) is a hard player to play against. Lauren Betts is a hard player to play against. But we’ve got to find ways to roll behind them. We’ve got to find ways to cut behind them and not necessarily score on post-ups but on the move better than we did so that we can neutralize those positions.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
