Mobile menu icon
Mobile menu icon
Share Your Story

  • Lady Bears open 2016-17 season ranked No. 2 in the nation

    // Posted In Athletics, Honors

    Baylor Lady Bears No. 2 in the nation

    For the fourth time in seven years, the Baylor Lady Bears will open the season ranked among the top two teams in the nation.

    Head coach Kim Mulkey’s squad is ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP poll released Tuesday, just four points behind Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish received 14 first-place votes, while the Lady Bears received 12; four-time defending national champion UConn received six first-place votes and ranks third in the AP poll.

    The preseason ranking is Baylor’s highest since 2012, when the Lady Bears were coming off their second national championship and were ranked No. 1 for the second straight year. Baylor has begun the season ranked in the top 10 nationally every year since 2008.

    So besides their history, what has the expectations of experts (and Baylor fans) so high this year? Plenty.

    The Lady Bears return 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year’s squad that went 36-2, swept the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles for the sixth straight year, and advanced to the Elite Eight for the seventh time in eight years.

    They’ll be led on the court by two-time All-American Nina Davis, the Preseason All-Big 12 Player of the Year, and honorable mention All-American Alexis Jones, another Preseason All-Big 12 first-team selection. The veteran team returns almost 80% of its rebounds and nearly 90% of its scoring from last year.

    All that experience will be boosted by a trio of freshman that gave Baylor the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. No. 1 overall recruit Lauren Cox, a 6-foot-4 forward from Flower Mound, Texas, was the WBCA High School Player of the Year last year, and was named the 2017 Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. She’ll be joined by two other top-40 recruits in guards Natalie Chou and Calveion Landrum.

    As always, the Lady Bears will face a tough road to the championship. This year’s schedule includes a home game against No. 9 UCLA and road contests at No. 3 UConn and No. 13 Tennessee, plus the usual home-and-home matches against Big 12 foes such as No. 8 Texas, No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 22 West Virginia. It all begins tonight with the first of two exhibition matches in the Ferrell Center; the regular season begins Nov. 11 at home against Houston Baptist.

    Sic ’em, Lady Bears!