By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
No. 19 Baylor women’s basketball won their seventh straight game, the longest active streak in the Big 12, taking down Colorado 84-62 Thursday night at the CU Events Center in Boulder. The win keeps the Bears in a two-way tie for first place in the conference with No. 9 TCU.
Senior guard Jada Walker took the first quarter by storm, scoring 10 of her 17 points in eight minutes, helping the Bears take a 22-14 lead. Walker rolled her ankle with 6:02 in the quarter and was helped to the locker room. Just 29 seconds later, she checked back into the game.
With three seconds left on the clock in the first quarter, Walker made a half-court shot, immediately lighting up the court in the Buffaloes home town.
Add this to the highlight reel @jadawalkr11 #SicEm | #GreaterThan https://t.co/mCWfBSTbL9 pic.twitter.com/uxlbaSs1bP
— Baylor Women's Basketball (@BaylorWBB) February 20, 2025
Head coach Nicki Collen said that keeping Walker on the floor after she returned from the locker room was an intentional move.
“I liked kinda leaving her in there because, in some ways, if you roll your ankle and you sit too long, that’s when it starts to kind of tighten up,” Collen said on ESPN. “I thought Jada did a good job orchestrating what we were doing. There was a lot of high ball screen, and honestly, what we’ve put in is kind of an open style.”
Baylor (23-5, 13-2 Big 12) was in control, as Colorado (17-9, 8-7 Big 12) only led for the first minute of the game. Senior center Aaronette Vonleh grabbed six of her team-leading eight rebounds in the first quarter against her former team. Vonleh finished with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 18 minutes.
Junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs was inactive for the second time this year due to a day-to-day injury suffered during Baylor’s 66-60 win over Texas Tech on Saturday. Without their leading scorer and rebounder, the green and gold picked up the energy as junior forward Bella Fontleroy led the team with 21 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
The green and gold started the second quarter strong, taking a 32-17 lead with seven minutes left on the clock. Shortly after, graduate guard Sarah Andrews picked up her fifth assist, feeding the post for Vonleh. Andrews was the only other Bear to score in double figures, with 12 points and a team-high three steals.
While Walker rested, graduate guard Aliyah Matharu helped the Bears gain an enthusiastic 20-point lead over the Buffaloes. In 24 minutes off the bench, Matharu scored eight points and captured a season-high seven rebounds.
Baylor took a 47-24 lead into halftime, shooting 44% from 3-point range while holding Colorado to just 1-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Heading into the third quarter, the Bears already had three players in double figures and assisted on 10-of-16 made field goals.
The Buffs scored the first four points out of the break, but Fontleroy quickly closed the gap with a corner 3-pointer, and a minute later, she drilled another. Baylor’s hot streak from deep continued as Matharu scored her first 3-pointer with 6:34 left on the clock, bringing the Bears’ lead to 59-30.
Colorado cut the deficit to 21 points, but with a large part of the crowd favoring Baylor, cheers echoed through the arena when Fontleroy made another 3-point shot. Fontleroy finished with six made triples, one shy of her career-high.
Andrews tacked on to the advantage, making a quick mid-range jumper with seven seconds on the clock to give Baylor its largest lead of the game 76-38.
Doubling up Colorado with a 38-point lead, Collen rested her starters for the fourth quarter. The mass substitution helped the Buffaloes pick up momentum, as the Bears made just 1-of-10 field goals in the final 10 minutes. Matharu scored the lone bucket, but Baylor failed to make a shot for the final 7:07.
The Buffs drilled their last seven shots and ended the game on a 13-3 run but fell short 84-62. This win marked Baylor’s seventh straight victory and kept them in a two-way tie for first place in the Big 12.
“I thought we were really good, pretend the fourth quarter didn’t happen as we were load managing,” Collen said.
The green and gold will return home to face Iowa State at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Foster Pavilion.
