No. 3 Baylor women win 14th in row, 79-47 over Iowa State

WACO, Texas (AP) - Nina, Niya and the No. 3 Baylor women are quite a roll.

Iowa State never had a chance for consecutive comeback victories against third-ranked teams.

Nina Davis scored 18 points, Niya Johnson had 12 assists and the Lady Bears led throughout in a 79-47 victory Tuesday night that stretched their winning streak to 14 games. All 11 players who got in the game played at least 10 minutes, everybody scoring and getting a rebound.

"It was just a game where everybody has to leave here tonight feeling good about themselves," coach Kim Mulkey said. "Because everybody played significant minutes, everybody scored."

Kristy Wallace had 13 points and Imani Wright had 11 points, all of hers coming in a 19-1 run for Baylor (15-1, 4-0 Big 12) in the first half. She started the spurt with a 3-pointer with about 12 minutes left, and when she hit another shot from long range eight minutes later, the Lady Bears led 27-5.

Johnson, who entered the game as the nation's assist leader with 8.5 per game, had assists on six of the eight baskets in that run. Khadijah Cave converted three passes from Johnson into layups.

The Lady Bears had 31 assists on their 34 field goals.

"We don't try to have one pass and then shoot," said Johnson, who had 11 assists by halftime. "We try to move the ball and get the defensive moving, then attack and find the open player and make great plays. As long as we score, I can't complain."

Iowa State (11-4, 2-2) was coming off a 59-57 comeback victory Saturday over then-No. 3 Texas, when the Cyclones overcame an 18-point deficit for their first win over a top-five team in 11 years. They never recovered at Baylor, where they haven't won since 1997.

"It's pretty simple. We just got our butts kicked, royally," Cyclones coach Bill Fennelly said. "You kind of lose your will to defend when you're not scoring, and that's pretty much what happened."

That big Baylor run ended when Nicole Blaskowsky made a 3-pointer, after the Cyclones had missed their first 14 shots from long range. They finished shooting 20 percent overall (12 of 60) and 21 percent on 3-pointers (7 of 33).

Blaskowsky had 20 points with six 3-pointers for Iowa State. Bryanna Fernstrom had 14 points.

Baylor moved up two spots this week for its highest ranking since the final poll of the 2012-13 regular season. That was the Lady Bears were defending national champions before the NCAA tournament when Brittney Griner was a senior.

"We're going to be pretty good one day," Mulkey said.

TIP-INS

Iowa State became the only team so far this season to play top-three teams in consecutive games. ... The Cyclones made only two of their first 25 shots, with both makes layups by Fernstrom in a 33-second span - after they missed their first nine shots, and before missing the next 14.

After consecutive Big 12 road games, Baylor started a four-game stretch with three home games.

ABSENTEE SENIORS

Nikki Moody and Brynn Williamson, the senior starters for Iowa State, were a combined 1-of-17 shooting. Moody had four points, Williamson was scoreless but had nine rebounds. They usually combined for more than 25 points a game. "You need seniors to bow up and get us through some things," Fennelly said.

BAYLOR MUCH MORE EFFICIENT FROM LONG RANGE

Iowa State came in making a Big 12-best 10 3-pointers a game. Baylor matched Iowa State with seven made 3s, though the Lady Bears made theirs in 12 attempts (a season-high 58 percent).

UP NEXT

Iowa State is at Kansas State on Saturday.

Baylor plays Saturday at Kansas.