By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
All eyes were on Baylor and TCU for the final game of the regular season. The matchup featured two squads vying for the top spot in the Big 12.
The game ended up with the Bears shooting 34% from the floor and 5-for-27 from beyond the arc. The defeat put a sour note on a difficult final stretch for Baylor’s regular season; the Bears finished 5-5 with a conference tournament loss to Colorado.
“Disappointment is the biggest motivation, and while we’re all disappointed with how the regular season ended, I think we’re coming out with a new vengeance,” redshirt sophomore guard Taliah Scott said after the Bears’ 65-53 loss to TCU.
Despite the lackluster finish, Baylor finished third in the Big 12, boasting a 13-5 conference record while going 24-8 overall. The season marked the third time the Bears finished in the top three of the Big 12 under head coach Nicki Collen.
“This team is hungry, and we’re all ready to go and step up to whatever challenge we have,” Collen said.
Finding consistency was not an issue for most of the Bears’ season. They went 12-2 in nonconference play with a signature victory over No. 7 Duke in Paris.
Their only losses came against No. 19 Iowa — by five points — and No. 2 Texas.
“The challenge right now is, you don’t want to get complacent and you don’t want to get comfortable because anyone in this league can beat you,” Collen said in January after the Bears improved to 7-1 in Big 12 play with a win over UCF. “You’re trying to hold serve at home and stay tied for first place. There’s a lot on the line every night we step on the court when it comes to our goals and aspirations to become conference champions.”
The Bears continued that momentum against Big 12 opponents. They rattled off eight straight wins with a victory over No. 10 Iowa State after dropping the conference opener to Texas Tech.
“When you get ranked and you’re on a win streak, everyone’s going to try to knock you off,” Collen said. “So you don’t get to take days off — not if you really want to be a conference champion.”
Scott burst onto the scene in her first season in Waco. The Auburn transfer led the Bears with 20 points per game. She has never finished a season under 20 PPG. Scott recorded 20.3 in her three games at Auburn in 2024-25 and 22.1 as a freshman at Arkansas in 2023-24.
The Big 12 turned out to be a different beast for Scott compared to her time in the SEC, but she was ready to rise to the occasion.
“Every night you come in, you’re playing a really good team, and it’s big-time,” Scott said. “There are a variety of styles in this league. I feel like in other conferences, it might be about physicality or straight skill, but here [in the Big 12] we have that variety that makes this league so tough to play in.”
While Scott led the way for her team as a member of the All-Big 12 First Team, a trio of veterans followed suit. Senior forwards Bella Fontleroy and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs as well as graduate guard Jana Van Gytenbeek found themselves receiving regular-season honors.
“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.”
Littlepage-Buggs and Fontleroy were named to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team. Littlepage-Buggs finished on the conference’s second team while Fontleroy and Van Gytenbeek were honorable mentions.
The Bears will now turn their attention to Durham, N.C., where they’re scheduled to play No. 11 seed Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday on ESPN.
