Mobile menu icon
Mobile menu icon
Share Your Story

  • Women’s basketball enters stretch run tied for Big 12 lead, ranked 14th nationally

    // Posted In Athletics

    A Baylor women's basketball player runs past the BU at center court

    We’ve hit the midpoint of the Big 12 basketball season, and March is only a month away — meaning college basketball’s stretch run is here.

    Ranked 14th nationally and tied for first in the Big 12 standings, Baylor Women’s Basketball is poised to make the next two months memorable, thanks to a strong start, top scorers and rebounders, and an elite defense.

    Head coach Nicki Collen’s squad heads into February with a 19-3 overall record — their best record at this point in Collen’s five seasons. Those three losses have come against No. 4 Texas, No. 8 Iowa, and No. 21 Texas Tech — three teams that have combined to lose only seven games all year. (And two of the Bears’ three losses were by five points or less.) With nine games to go, the Bears sit atop the Big 12 standings with an 8-1 record, tied with preseason favorite TCU.

    Fans have four more chances to see this team at Foster Pavilion in the regular season — more on that in a minute — and to cheer on some of the nation’s elite players who just happen to wear the green and gold.

    Any discussion of Baylor’s offense starts with sophomore Taliah Scott. Averaging 20.6 points per game, Scott has placed herself in the top-15 in the nation in scoring (second in the Big 12). She leads the Big 12 in free throw percentage (and ranks top-15 nationally), and she gets to the free throw line a lot as opposing defenses struggle to contain her multi-faceted game.

    Senior Darianna Littlepage-Buggs has become one of the top rebounders in program history, and is averaging a double-double on the season with 10.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. She’s the only player in the Big 12 to average a double-double, and one of only six across the Power 4 conferences to display that kind of versatility this late in the season. She recently became just the ninth player in program history to reach 1,000 career rebounds, alongside elite names like Brittany Griner, Sophia Young-Malcolm, Kalani Brown and NaLyssa Smith.

    Fans of defense have plenty to like as well: Baylor has shut teams down on the perimeter all season long, and leads the nation in three-point defense by nearly a full percentage point. It doesn’t get any easier for opponents as they get closer to the basket, as the Bears are No. 3 in the nation in blocked shots. Overall, Baylor is No. 7 in the nation in field goal percentage defense.

    As the push for a Big 12 title and NCAA tournament positioning intensifies, Baylor fans have four more chances to cheer on this team in person in the regular season — pivotal Big 12 games against Arizona State, TCU, Arizona and Kansas State. Three of those games are on national television, giving Baylor fans a chance to provide a raucous home court advantage for the nation to see. Tickets are available online at BaylorBears.com.

    Sic ’em, Baylor Women’s Basketball!