Whether junior guard Waiata Jennings is sitting on the bench, standing at the scorer’s table, or playing tight defense, “Waiz” (sounds like ‘wise’) has a smile on her face.
Browsing: Nicki Collen
In her first season with No. 4 Baylor women’s basketball and her last in college, senior center Aaronette Vonleh stole the show during the weeks leading up to March Madness. With the help of head coach Nicki Collen and her teammates, Vonleh averaged a career-best 14.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and will declare for the WNBA Draft following the semester.
Early on No. 4 Baylor women’s basketball junior forward Bella Fontleroy’s career head coach Nicki Collen quickly identified her unique defensive poise. From taking charges to blocking shots Fontleroy set out at the beginning of the year to strengthen her defensive game and better understand opponent tendencies.
The fourth-seeded Bears (27-7, 15-3 Big 12) will open the 2025 NCAA Tournament at 2:30 p.m. Friday against No. 13 seed Grand Canyon (32-2, 16-0 WAC) at Foster Pavilion.
Overcoming a 13-point second-half deficit, No. 2 Baylor women’s basketball had a 3-point look with three seconds left to force overtime in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship finals Sunday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Senior center Aaronette Vonleh dropped a career-high 37 points to pull No. 2 Baylor women’s basketball past No. 3 Oklahoma State 84-74 in overtime in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship semifinals Saturday night at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Nicki Collen picked up her 100th win as the head coach of the second-seeded Bears as her team led for 38 1/2 minutes. The green and gold turned the seventh-seeded Cyclones over 22 times which led to 20 points off turnovers and countered sophomore center Audi Crooks’ 32-point outburst.
After falling in a winner-take-all regular-season finale, No. 2 Baylor women’s basketball is set on claiming the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship. Earning a double bye, the Bears will start the journey in the quarterfinals against No. 7 Iowa State at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Unable to overcome their worst shooting night of the season at 27.7% from the floor, the Bears lost the top spot in the Big 12 and saw their nine-game winning streak snapped in a 51-48 loss to the 10th-ranked Horned Frogs on Sunday evening.
Riding a conference-best nine-game winning streak, No. 17 Baylor women’s basketball is rolling into a rematch with No. 10 TCU. With the regular season title on the line, the Bears are looking to secure the top spot in the Big 12 when they tip off at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Foster Pavilion.
Senior center Aaronette Vonleh tallied a season-high 24 points as No. 17 Baylor women’s basketball never trailed, handing No. 14 Kansas State its first home loss of the season 79-62 Monday night at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.
Behind eight more made 3-pointers than Iowa State and 21 forced turnovers, Baylor women’s basketball extended its winning streak to eight, downing the Cyclones 67-52 Saturday afternoon at the Foster Pavilion.
No. 19 Baylor women’s basketball won their seventh straight game, the longest active streak in the Big 12, taking down Colorado 84-62 Thursday night at the CU Events Center in Boulder. The win keeps the Bears in a two-way tie for first place in the conference with No. 9 TCU.
“My identity is through Christ, so I don’t feel like my identity has changed much after making this decision,” Bartley said. “I think that I’ve just had a change in my life and my path, and that’s okay.”
The 25th-ranked Bears picked up their second ranked win of the year and led for the final 35 minutes of the game. They assisted on 19-of-26 made baskets and shot 50% from the floor as the starting lineup accounted for 70 points.
On the same night she was honored for scoring 1,000 career points, junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs picked up her 10th double-double of the year, leading all players with a season-high 26 points and 15 rebounds to push Baylor women’s basketball past BYU 83-71 Saturday evening at the Foster Pavilion.
Baylor women’s basketball rattled off its third straight win Wednesday night, rolling past Houston 92-47 at the Fertitta Center. The Bears’ 45-point victory matches their largest margin of victory over a Big 12 opponent since Feb. 9, 2022.
Behind junior forward Bella Fontleroy’s career-high 29 points and seven 3-point field goals, Baylor women’s basketball shot 61% from long range to down Cincinnati, 98-59, Sunday afternoon at the Foster Pavilion.
When graduate guard Aliyah Matharu joined Baylor women’s basketball as a mid-year transfer in the fall, she not only accomplished a long-time goal of joining the Bears but also integrated within her team and the community leaving her with a feeling of unity.
Aaronette Vonleh walked into Addition Financial Arena for the final game of a three-game road trip looking for consistency on offense so that Baylor women’s basketball could bounce back from a shaky week. The senior center did just that, tying a season-high with 22 points in a 75-64 win over UCF Wednesday night in Orlando.
Baylor women’s basketball is off to its best start to conference play under head coach Nicki Collen through eight games, but the Bears find themselves needing a pick-me-up when they take on UCF at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando.
“I think it’s definitely a lesson learned. We maybe didn’t do so well for this game, so we just took it to the next game and went here and out,” Littlepage-Buggs said. “We do have these next couple games coming up, and we are probably going to get really detailed about what things we could’ve done better and how to, because they have somebody tall, move with them and move the ball and where we could score at.”
With nothing to lose, No. 25 Baylor women’s basketball put No. 1 UCLA on the ropes early, but dominant post-play by the Bruins kept them undefeated, taking down the Bears, 72-57, in the inaugural Coretta Scott King Classic Monday afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs racked up a game-high 21 points and 20 rebounds, while senior center Aaronette Vonleh added 20 points as Baylor women’s basketball knocked off UNLV, 71-63, Sunday afternoon at Foster Pavilion.
Baylor women’s basketball sealed third place in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, scoring 40 points in the paint and shooting 58.7% from the floor to knockout Villanova, 73-62, Monday afternoon at Atlantis’ Imperial Arena in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
No. 18 Baylor women’s basketball’s trip to paradise took a sour turn Sunday afternoon as the Bears allowed a 17-point Indiana run in the first quarter that was too much to overcome, eventually falling to the Hoosiers, 73-65, in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal at Atlantis’ Imperial Arena in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Behind its best shooting day of the season, No. 18 Baylor women’s basketball shot 57.4% from the floor to blitz past Southern Miss, 101-55, in the Battle 4 Atlantis quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at Atlantis’ Imperial Arena in Nassau, Bahamas.
The Bears (3-1) honed in on the defensive side of the ball, where junior forward Bella Fontleroy had a career-high five blocks. Head coach Nicki Collen’s team finished with 23 points off turnovers after forcing 11 steals and swatting away nine shots.
Just three games into the season, junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs is having a career year as the team’s leader in points and rebounds. Littlepage-Buggs led all players with 22 points and 11 rebounds as No. 17 Baylor women’s basketball dropped East Texas A&M, 104-55, Thursday night at the Foster Pavilion.
No. 12 Baylor women’s basketball graduate guard Jana Van Gytenbeek will miss the rest of the 2024-25 season after suffering a torn ACL in the season opener, she announced on Monday.