By Carson Vercoe | Sports Writer
Baylor women’s basketball struggled to click offensively against Central Arkansas Thursday night, shooting 37.1% from the floor and failing to make more than half of its shots in any quarter.
The Bears showed their offensive ceiling Sunday afternoon after an early-season dry spell.
Baylor (3-0) put up 112 points on 62.5% shooting and 60% from three to cruise past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-1) 112-40.
The Bears had six different scorers record at least 10 points, while they relied on the guard trio of senior Taliah Scott, junior Tianna Thompson and junior Trinity Turner last game.
Head coach Nicki Collen appreciated her team’s ability to break down the Islanders’ defense across the roster.
“It’s very nice to see a team zone us and not be able to zone us because we can play both inside and outside,” head coach Nicki Collen said.
Thompson led the charge for Baylor with 23 points and shot 7-for-8 from three. He paces the squad with 15.7 points per game in her first three games as a Bear.
“After the first four went in, I knew,” Thompson said. “Some days the rim looks huge, and that’s just how it was for me tonight.”
Thompson took over the first quarter. She added 14 points in the quarter, coming off a 12-point performance against Central Arkansas. She shot 5-for-5 from the floor, with four coming from beyond the arc to account for more than half of Baylor’s 27 first quarter points.
“If I’m open, my job is to shoot it,” Thompson said. “They’re doing a great job of feeding me the ball inside-out in that zone.”
On the other end, the Bears overwhelmed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Baylor held the Islanders to a lowly 10 points on 31.3% shooting from the field, along with two blocks and steals.
The Bears’ hot offense continued into the second. Thompson continued to display her impressive shooting, adding a pair of threes in the quarter.
Turner and junior center Kate Koval, who finished with a double-double, added six points each as the Bears shot 54.8% from the field. The efficient offense allowed the Bears to extend the lead to 34 points by the end of the first half.
The Baylor defense continued to shine throughout the game. After allowing only ten points in the opening quarter, the Bears did it again, holding Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to seven points in 10 minutes. The Islanders managed to shoot 17.6% from the field.
The Baylor offense looked unstoppable after the first half, but it ascended to another level in the second half.
The Bears shot 80% and a perfect 4-for-4 from three. The high-energy offense outscored the Islanders 34-17, extending the lead to 51. The team scored 34 points in the third quarter, with eight different players contributing.
Collen wants to continue spreading the production behind the arc, with junior guard Ines Goryanova and senior guard Skylar Jones hitting a three in the second half.
“We have to just continue to be good at what the defense is giving us and take it,” Collen said. “We’ve got players on both wings that can make threes.”
Baylor didn’t slow down the pace despite the seemingly insurmountable lead. It closed out the fourth quarter, outscoring the Islanders 27-6.
The game was the Bears’ first win by over 70 points since 2024, when the Bears beat Texas Southern 101-29.
Baylor will take on Prairie View A&M at 7 p.m. Thursday at Foster Pavilion.
