By Dylan Fink | Sports Writer
While “Stranger Things” was the fan theme Monday night at Foster Pavilion, No. 18 Baylor’s 80-54 beatdown of Kansas State was anything but strange, as the Bears ended their 2025-26 regular season home tour with their 16th double-digit win of the season.
Redshirt sophomore guard Taliah Scott got the scoring going for the Bears (24-6, 13-4 Big 12) immediately, draining a three from the corner. The early score lit an energy under the team that led to a 10-2 run before the Wildcats (15-15, 8-9 Big 12) called their first timeout.
“I don’t think people realize how much pressure Taliah can take off of our team,” head coach Nicki Collen said. “When you run a first play and you execute it perfectly with her making a good read … the ball gets a lot of energy.”
At the end of the first quarter, the Bears led 19-13.
Senior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (10 points, 11 rebounds) became the captain of the momentum for Baylor early. An and-one putback under the basket got the home crowd on their feet, as she marched her way to her 12th double-double of the season.
Five minutes into the second quarter, Littlepage-Buggs was taken off the court following a hard fall in the paint. The senior forward was led back to the locker room with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath.
The first-half leader in points (eight) and rebounds (10), returned to the floor with three minutes left in the half.
“She [Littlepage-Buggs] has gotten so much stronger since her freshman year,” Collen said. “She’s always going to give her all for the team ... Look at where she’s at in all-time rebounds here and the people that are around her. Nobody on that list is built like Buggs. It’s sheer energy and effort from her.”
The conference battle began to get heated, with four straight hard fouls committed in a two-minute span, spread evenly between the two teams. Foster Pavilion briefly turned into a professional wrestling ring as bodies were aggressively thrown to the floor.
“People want to win in this league and people are willing to dive on the floor at this point,” Scott said. “Our bodies are already broken down, so there’s not much more breaking down you can do by just diving about and stuff.”
Scott cemented the Bears with a nine-point lead with a three as the clock ticked down, putting the team up 35-26 at halftime. The 1,000-point scorer’s deep ball brought Baylor fans to their feet to the tune of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.”
Baylor struggled to take care of the ball, racking up 10 first-half turnovers while forcing nine. Poor ball control has been a recurring flaw for the Bears this season, winning the turnover battle in just five of their past sixteen conference games.
“The game just got sloppy,” Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie said.
The Bears continued their defensive attack in the second half, forcing the Wildcats to take multiple amiss shots from beyond the arc. Kansas State was held to just 21.1% from the three-point line on 19 attempts by the end of the third quarter.
The green and gold in turn shot 48% from the three-point line in the first three quarters. Seven of the 12 makes from deep came in the third from the hot hands of Scott and senior guard Bella Fontleroy.
Fontleroy sunk her 16th point of the evening at the buzzer of the third, giving the Bears a 60-40 lead going into the final quarter.
“I like the phrase that I was in a flow state,” Fontleroy said. “We were just having fun. We talked about some adjustments that we needed to make after the second quarter … I think we came out with good energy and so just built off of that.”
With three minutes left in the matchup and a comfortable 25-point lead behind her, fifth-year guard Jana Van Gytenbeek made her way to the bench. The tenured Bear sat down to the sounds of a standing ovation from the Foster Pavilion crowd, thanking Van Gytenbeek for her four years of contributions to the program.
“Bella, Buggs and Jana have been here four years and they’re the ones that built our culture,” Collen said. “They’re the ones that saw us through this transition and saw us figure things out. I’m just lucky to have coached all of them.”
The Bears performed an offensive show for their final home game of the year, shooting 52.6% from the floor and 50% from beyond the arc. Scott, Fontleroy and Littlepage-Buggs all scored in double digits on the night. Scott led the way with 20.
The Bears will travel to Fort Worth next to face No. 11 TCU in the regular season finale at 3 p.m. Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
