By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor, Braden Murray | LTVN Sports Director
WACO, Texas — No. 4 seed Baylor women’s basketball suffered a Round of 32 upset on its home court for the second time in the Nicki Collen era as the fifth-seeded Ole Miss Rebels dominated on the offensive glass and forced 21 turnovers en route to a 69-63 win Sunday at the Foster Pavilion.
LTVN’s Braden Murray has the highlights from Baylor’s loss to Ole Miss.
Before Baylor’s (28-8) second-round loss to South Dakota in 2022, the team had advanced to the Sweet 16 eight straight times when the path ran through the home court. Collen’s Bears suffered a different fate against the Rebels (22-10), though, trading baskets from start to finish and never trailing by more than eight.
“I thought down the stretch both teams made plays, one play after another, to keep it tied, take a two-point lead, tie it up, take a two-point lead,” Collen said. “I just think they made one more play than us. As much as the offensive rebounds hurt us in key moments, the turnovers hurt us. When you look at the breakdown of the points off those, it wasn’t as significant as it sometimes felt.”
In their final game with the Bears, senior center Aaronette Vonleh (16), senior guard Jada Walker (15) and graduate guard Sarah Andrews (14) all scored in double figures. The Rebels were led by freshman guard Sinu Thienou, who dropped 16 points.
With five offensive rebounds in the first five minutes, Ole Miss jumped out to a 10-4 lead before Walker and Andrews combined for six points in 50 seconds. Constantly out-bodied in the post, the Rebel’s size allowed them to take a 20-16 lead into the second quarter with neither team making a 3-pointer in the first half.
“[A dogfight is] exactly what I expected, both teams fighting to go to the Sweet 16,” Andrews said. “The refs were going to let us play through some of the fouls they don’t call, and know that the adversity hits. Even when we got some fouls we thought weren’t fouls, and we got some fouls, too. Just knowing it was a game to go to the Sweet 16 and that’s what it was about.”
When junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs checked in for the Bears in the second quarter, Baylor’s fate changed. A diving steal in transition was the start of four forced turnovers in three minutes, capped off by a driving layup by junior guard Waiata Jennings to trim the Ole Miss lead to 26-21 with 5:10 on the clock.
Following a missed double dribble call that left Collen and the Baylor bench irate jumping off the bench, a roaring crowd forced Rebels head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin to call timeout.
The moment play resumed, Jennings jumped another pass, and the Bears didn’t allow Ole Miss to score again in the half. Baylor closed the half on a 10-0 run in the final five minutes, as the Rebels shot 1-for-14 from the floor in the last 7 ½ minutes before halftime.
With both teams scrapping in the paint, they combined to go 0-for-13 from beyond the arc. Vonleh, who led all players with 10 first-half points, capped off a dominant second quarter with a layup to give Baylor a 29-26 lead at halftime.
“Honestly we were calling each other soft,” Rebels graduate forward Madison Scott said. “We were at the point where we lose, we go home, so it was very important to be honest with each other. You have to give the hard truth. To end the second quarter, we were being very soft, including myself.”
The Bears came out of halftime strong, drilling their first three field goals — but Ole Miss matched the effort. Andrews made the first 3-pointer of the game at the 6:35 mark. Just 18 seconds later, the ice-cold 3-point shooting Rebels made their first. It was tit-for-tat. Back and forth. Tied 38-38 with six minutes left in the quarter.
Neither team led by more than three points for the remainder of the quarter, with Ole Miss forcing six Baylor turnovers. Littlepage-Buggs, who scored five of her 10 points in the third, knocked down back-to-back jumpers to take a 47-44 lead. But once again the Rebels clapped back and evened the game 48-all heading into the final 10 minutes.
“After halftime [we] were so riled up,” McPhee-McCuin said. “They were just going nuts in there. I was like, ‘I really want y’all to think about it, it’s a one-possession game. They made their run, and now let’s make our run.’ When we got to the fourth quarter and it was, in my opinion, 0-0 because it was a tie game, we felt confident.”
Despite a chilly shooting night from 3-point range, Ole Miss drilled a triple to open the fourth and rallied off a 6-0 run that forced Collen to use a timeout and regroup. As the Bears tried to chip away at a two-possession lead, they fed their senior core of Vonleh, Andrews and Walker. The trio responded to each Rebel blow, evening up the game 59-all with 1:36 remaining.
“We started the quarter getting them to take shots we wanted and not finishing with rebounds,” Collen said. “We made some mistakes that were not what we were supposed to be doing. There is game slippage and these are young people.”
Within 30 seconds, Andrews matched a layup from Ole Miss graduate guard KK Deans to keep the game even. The rally of buckets extended to four in a row as Scott drilled a jumper and swatted her wrist in celebration as Collen called timeout.
“I think I could have just been more aggressive and posted up in better spots to keep getting the ball,” Vonleh said of her second-half adjustment. “But they weren’t doing anything special.”
Looking for a response, Collen subbed in senior guard Yaya Felder, who had four fouls, and drew up a play for her. Felder broke free in the corner but airballed a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left — forcing Baylor to foul. Felder grabbed Dean, leading to a scuffle that resulted in a normal foul rather than a technical for either side.
After Walker made a layup, the Bears missed follow-up attempts, and Deans sealed the Rebels’ 69- 63 win by knocking down all six free throws she took in the final 29 seconds.
“They made one more play than us tonight [and] made it at the right time,” Collen said. “If Yaya’s three goes in we’re maybe celebrating instead of a really sad locker room. But [I’m] really, really proud of this team, [I’m] proud of their resilience.”
The Bears enter the offseason looking to replace six seniors. The 30-day spring transfer portal window opens on Monday.
