By Mackenzie Grizzard | Assistant News Editor
The No. 15-ranked Baylor Bears declawed the Arizona Wildcats in Saturday’s Senior Night matchup, 74-60, after a slow first-quarter start turned into an explosive performance from the 3-point line.
This Bear-Cat matchup was the fifth in program history, with the Bears topping the Wildcats in overtime last January in Tucson, Ariz.
Coming off a dominating 87-56 road loss to Texas Tech on Wednesday, Baylor looked to its seniors. Kiersten Johnson, Jana Van Gytenbeek, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and Bella Fontleroy, who were all honored in both ceremony and victory.
“All four of those kids have totally different stories, but culturally, they’re like the backbone of the program,” head coach Nicki Collen said.
Baylor (23-6, 12-4 Big 12) struggled both in the paint and from the 3-point line throughout the first quarter, going 7-for-20 on field goals and 0-for-6 on 3-pointers. These early struggles kept the Bears under the claws of Arizona (11-16, 2-14 Big 12) for most of the first quarter.
Just under the five-minute mark, Collen looked to take advantage of a media timeout to snap the Bears out of an almost four-minute scoring drought. In the first five minutes, the Bears had missed all six field goal attempts and struggled with a turnover almost every minute.
“I think it was kind of clear, in a sense, we knew what we needed to do, and we kind of took ownership of that,” Littlepage-Buggs said. “We just had to change momentum. We knew we had to get back on defense and get back to us.”
Fresh out of the timeout, sophomore guard Yuting Deng sunk a 2-point jumper off a turnover to bring the Bears back within two.
Inefficiency from the 3-point line continued to plague the Bears throughout the first quarter.
Arizona guards Noelani Cornfield and Molly Ladwig accounted for 11 of the Wildcats’ 22 points in the first quarter, with freshman Baylor guard Marcayla Johnson accounting for five of the Bears’ 15.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Johnson drove for an easy layup to bring the Bears back within three. While Van Gytenbeek had a slow start offensively, the graduate guard accounted for a game-high five assists in the first quarter alone.
“We had to take the right type of shots,” Collen said. “I thought she did a good job understanding what I wanted.”
Back-to-back fouls on Arizona at the five-minute mark allowed the Bears to bring the score within one at the free-throw line.
In the bottom of the second, Deng blocked a jumper by Arizona guard Sumayah Sugapong, driving back down the court for her — and the Bears’ — first 3-pointer of the game. Redshirt sophomore guard Taliah Scott followed suit with a three of her own, bringing the Bears to their largest lead of the game, 31-28.
Despite six turnovers and a 3-for-13 mark on three-pointers, the Bears took an eight-point lead at halftime, with Johnson sinking her first 3-pointer of the game at the three-second mark — bringing the score to 38-30.
“I thought they did a good job adapting, and I thought the second quarter was the change,” Collen said. “We got stops, and then we started scoring pretty easily.”
Johnson led the Bears at halftime with 10 points, with Arizona forward Daniah Trammell and Cornfield tied with six points.
“We gave up a three to end the half and got ourselves in foul trouble to end the second quarter, which is just something that’s plagued us all season,” Arizona head coach Becky Burke said. “I’m just proud of our group’s resilience and ability to just never quit.”
The Bears did not leave the momentum behind after halftime, securing a 14-point lead just two minutes into the third.
Answering her slow start in the first half, Van Gytenbeek sank back-to-back threes to bring the Bears up 50-34, forcing Arizona to call its first timeout of the game. With a 16-point lead halfway through the third quarter, Baylor was shooting 39% from the field and 29% from three, as the Wildcats struggled with a 14.3% turnover rate and 10% shooting from deep.
Back-to-back turnovers by Arizona solidified Baylor’s 15-point lead, closing out the third quarter 58-43.
Despite going neck-and-neck from the field throughout the fourth quarter, the Bears out-shot Arizona by 10% from three. Scott dominated the fourth with back-to-back threes and 8 total points in the quarter.
With less than a minute on the clock, an offensive rebound-turned-layup by junior forward Kiera Pemberton would bring the Bears to victory 74-60.
“I just think they know how to win,” Collen said. “I think they’ve been on a lot of these games and even when they’re not making shots … I saw Buggs pulling them together multiple times to kind of get the energy up.”
The Bears will take on Kansas State (15-14, 8-8 Big 12) at 6 p.m. Monday at Foster Pavilion. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
