By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor
Senior center Aaronette Vonleh dropped a career-high 37 points to pull No. 2 Baylor women’s basketball past No. 3 Oklahoma State 84-74 in overtime in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship semifinals Saturday night at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Behind Vonleh’s first career game with 30 or more points, the second-seeded Bears (27-6) punched their ticket to the Big 12 tournament finals for the first time since 2022. The Cowgirls (25-6) won the only regular-season contest between the two teams, 84-61, on Jan. 1 in Waco. Similar to that contest where there were 43 personal fouls, the teams combined for 46 fouls in a physical affair.
“[Vonleh] was awesome,” head coach Nicki Collen said. “She knows I probably believe in her more than she believes in herself — 37 [points], I really don’t expect that every night, I promise… I always say it doesn’t matter what we run. If she wants the ball, our guards are going to get it to her.”
Senior guard Jada Walker (12 points) and graduate guard Sarah Andrews joined Vonleh as the only other Bears to finish in double figures. Andrews picked up a double-double, scoring 11 points and dishing out 11 assists.
Cowgirls sophomore guard Stailee Heard, hot off a 34-point performance in the quarterfinals, torched the Bears early. Heard scored 11 of her 25 points in the first quarter, and helped Oklahoma State open the game on a 7-0 run, forcing Collen to call a timeout two minutes in.
“We got off to a slow start, had to call an early timeout, but we rebounded,” Collen said. “We found ways to get downhill, get paint points. We didn’t have a lot of threes for a long stretch, but we were getting it down in the paint. And I thought once we started rebounding and scrapping, turned into a really good game.”
Vonleh missed her first four shots before finding the scoreboard to stop the Cowgirl run. But Heard’s three first-quarter triples and a 14-6 Oklahoma State rebound advantage led them to a 19-12 lead heading into the second quarter.
The green and gold punched back with a 7-0 run to open the quarter and tie the game 19-all with 6:56 on the clock. Vonleh scored 15 of her 19 first-half points in the second quarter and gave the Bears their first lead, 27-25, four minutes later. Baylor forced 12 turnovers in the half, keeping the lead under its belt at halftime, 32-29.
“I didn’t know it was a career high until the end of the game,” Vonleh said. “I was just trying to be useful for my teammates, and they were really good at finding me when I was open. So it was just making layups, really.”
The Bears picked up where they left off in the third quarter as junior forward Bella Fontleroy hit her first shot of the game and drew one of five charges at the 7:17 mark to force Cowgirls head coach Jacie Hoyt to call a timeout as they trailed by seven.
Junior guard Waiata Jennings, who played 24 minutes, stepped up amid foul trouble. Jennings scored six points and led the team in plus/minus, with Baylor winning her minutes by eight points. After the Cowgirls pulled the game within striking distance, Jennings knocked down her lone triple of the game.
But as soon as Jennings created more separation, the Cowgirls woke up and went on a 9-2 run with three triples to even the game 52-all with 45 seconds left in the third quarter. Jennings then assisted on a layup from junior forward Kyla Abraham to give the Bears a two-point cushion moving into the fourth quarter.
Heard, who played just three minutes in the third quarter after picking up her third foul, immediately made an impact when she checked back in. She scored a team-high five points in the final quarter and forced Fontleroy’s fifth foul with 6:55. The Cowgirls took their first lead of the second half 30 seconds later, 57-56.
After Vonleh opened the quarter with a bucket, the Bears went without points for 5:07 before Walker drilled a 3-pointer to put Baylor back in the driver’s seat. The teams went tit-for-tat down the stretch, staring down a 66-all tie with less than a minute left.
After the Cowgirls missed a 3-pointer to take the lead, the Bears were set up with one final shot; the game clock reading 30.1 seconds. Playing hot potato against Oklahoma State’s zone blitz, the green and gold never found open space.
The Bears ran around trying to create an open shot and the clock kept ticking. With three seconds left, Walker found Andrews, but unable to set her feet, Andrews lofted up a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The shot grazed off the rim, keeping the teams deadlocked. Overtime.
“Wow, what a game,” Collen said after joking about losing her voice. “[I’m] just happy to be in the championship.”
The green and gold ran away with the extra period. Vonleh scored the first four points in overtime before the Cowgirls found a one-point advantage with 3:18 left. But then came the triples.
Andrews, Walker and Jennings each unloaded from long range, extending Baylor’s lead to seven points and sealing an 84-74 overtime victory. With the win, the Bears are set for their third matchup against the No. 1 TCU Horned Frogs, this time in another Big 12 championship decider.
“Third time is the charm,” Vonleh said about facing TCU. “I think we’re going to be very prepared, and I hope that we carry the momentum that we had in this game right into that one.”
The Bears will take on No. 1 TCU (30-3) in the Big 12 Championship finals at 4 p.m. Sunday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
