By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Editor
Baylor women’s basketball embraced a strong core that entered the program with head coach Nicki Collen in 2022. Jana Van Gytenbeek, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and Bella Fontleroy anchored the program for the last four years.
Once their time at Baylor came to a close last year, it was time for a changing of the guard. Collen and the Bears looked to senior guard Taliah Scott.
“It’s definitely weird not having them because they were all natural-born leaders,” Scott said. “They were on the program for four years; they knew exactly what Nicki wanted.”
Scott arrives at the 2026-27 season at the top of Baylor’s seven returners. Being on that list, the newcomers are looking to her to guide them into their first season in Waco.
“[I’m] having to take that leadership role, whether it’s by example or by being more vocal about stuff and helping them through stuff and helping them see through stuff or saying what Nicki wants and helping put that out in the air,” Scott said. “It’s been very different because I wouldn’t say I’m like a vocal leader.”
Scott has found a home with the Bears. She is staying at the same school for the first time in her collegiate career after spending her freshman season at Arkansas and sophomore at Auburn. She finds herself in a position to lead a group of transfers rather than being one of them.
“I’m really happy to be back,” Scott said. “[I] love Baylor so much, so I’m so excited to be back with a whole bunch of new faces. And just this year, just to continue to keep winning and stuff, to go farther than we did last year.”
Scott is not the typical outspoken leader. While she leads by example on the court, she also tries to foster one-on-one connections with her teammates to help them grow.
“Taliah’s doing a great job this year stepping up and filling that leadership role,” junior guard Tianna Thompson said. “She said she’s not vocal, but I hear her … As we get into official practice too, we’ll all get to see our roles, and we’ll really start to go into specifically how we can each individually help out this team.”
She has served as an illustration of success for a Power Five program. She led the team with 19.7 points per game en route to earning an All-Big 12 First Team selection.
Scott has also received more recognition heading into the year as a unanimous preseason All-Big 12.
Those accolades didn’t come without trials and setbacks. Scott shot under 30% from the floor in six of the last 10 games of the season as the season‘s grind continued to wear her down. She has taken up more of an effort to remain an elite scorer into March.
“[It’s] just the little lessons I learned throughout the year last year, especially when we got to the end, and seeing my body break down a little bit,” Scott said. “Seeing how important it is for the physical part of the game to how important it is for the conditioning, the strength, the nutrition part.”
Scott started in 32 of the 33 games she played last season — the most she has appeared in a season since entering college. She competed in 20 games as a freshman and only three as a sophomore, but contributing throughout a whole season has taught her how to help the team down the stretch.
“Not only will I be able to make the season healthy, I’ll still be able to perform at top level as I was at the beginning of the year,” Scott said. “Learning those little lessons, just the discipline, just seeing where we lacked in some areas and what could have pushed us over the hump, and be able to take that into this new year.”
The women’s game has shifted to benefit players like Scott, who relies on speed and skill to generate offense. While the Bears had to make a concerted effort last year to get Scott the ball, having a strong front court can open up the floor for her to shoot from different levels.
“The game isn’t about size,” Collen said. “It’s about skill. It’s about spacing. So, if you’re going to have size, you have to be able to utilize them. We wanted someone when plays break down, when we had to run floppy side-to-side to get shots for Taliah.”
Scott will get to command an offense supported by fifth-year forward Kyla Abraham and junior forward Kate Koval, who transferred from LSU.
Scott has been one of the top scorers in the country since she was a freshman, but she is now taking a new step as an impact returner for the first time in her career.
