No. 3 Baylor women win 17th in row, 68-46 over Kansas State

WACO, Texas (AP) - Alexis Prince prefers taking shots over questions for No. 3 Baylor.

That shyness Prince exhibits when talking to reporters after the game is radically different from her approach on the court during it.

Prince scored 18 points and was big in two key runs to help the Lady Bears win their 17th consecutive game, 68-46 over Kansas State on Saturday.

"She's not going to turn down a shot," coach Kim Mulkey said. "And we don't want her to."

Baylor (18-1, 7-0 Big 12) went ahead to stay with a 15-1 run over a nearly 6ˆ½-minute span in the first half when the Wildcats missed eight consecutive shots after Brianna Craig's 3-pointer gave them their only lead at 6-5.

Prince, who finished 8-of-16 shooting, made consecutive jumpers to start the go-ahead spurt, then added a 3-pointer soon after that. The Lady Bears were up 20-7 when Kristy Wallace made a move to get inside for a layup with 10:21 left in the half.

After the Wildcats were within single digits early in the second half, Baylor went on an 18-4 run during which Price had seven consecutive points - on a layup, a 3-pointer and a jumper.

When asked about her scoring surges after the game, Prince responded, "that's just what was open against their zone," answering by basically making a statement out of the question asked of her.

Haley Texada had 13 points to lead Kansas State (11-7, 1-6), scoring only two after halftime.

Khadijiah Cave and Wallace each had 11 points for the Lady Bears, who have won 20 consecutive games in the series since a loss at Kansas State 11 years ago.

"They just whipped us on the glass in stretches of this game. ... 16 offensive rebounds ended up wearing us," first-year K-State coach Jeff Mittie said. "We got them to miss enough. ... But at the end the second chances really really hurt us."

The Lady Bears were only 3-of-14 on 3-pointers, and shot 43 percent overall. But they had a 16-7 advantage in second-chance points and scored 15 points off 19 K-State turnovers.

Big 12 scoring leader Nina Davis was held to eight points, the first time this season under double figures. While 14 points below her scoring average, the Baylor sophomore had a game-high 13 rebounds.

Niya Johnson, the national assists leader, had nine assists to take over No. 2 on the Lady Bears career chart with 501. The junior is 140 assists before former All-America guard Odyssey Sims' record.

"I didn't know that. It's just a blessing, just to feed my teammates the ball and them shooting it and making it," Johnson said. "It doesn't stop here. I've just got to continue to pass the ball and shoot and play my game."

COVERING THE PAINT

Baylor had outscored Kansas State 22-0 in the paint until the Wildcats had consecutive inside baskets late in the first half, Texada driving for a layup and Ashia Woods following a missed 3-pointer with a putback layup to get them within 32-19 with 2:18 left. After Wallace hit a 3-pointer for Baylor, Breanna Lewis made a reverse layup. The 6-foot-5 Lewis, the tallest K-State player since 2004, had been 0-for-7 shooting before that. Baylor finished with a 44-12 advantage, and have outscored their opponents 828-400 inside.

TIP-INS

Kansas State lost by 30 points at home to Baylor less than three weeks ago, when Davis scored 24 points and Wallace made five 3s. "I'm trying to gauge it four minutes at a time, just trying to get this team better four minutes at a time," said Mittie, TCU's coach the past 15 seasons.

TIP-INS

Kansas State has already matched its win total from last season.

Baylor equaled No. 19 Princeton for the second-longest active winning streak, one behind the 18 in a row by No. 1 South Carolina.

UP NEXT

Kansas State is home Wednesday against Oklahoma State.

Baylor plays at TCU on Tuesday night.