No. 4 Baylor women win 14th straight, 75-50 over K-State
WACO, Texas (AP) - Those missed shots by No. 4 Baylor just meant more opportunities for its big post players to grab some more rebounds.
Kalani Brown scored 33 points and Lauren Cox had 16, and they became the first Big 12 teammates to both have 19 rebounds in a conference game as the Lady Bears outrebounded Kansas State by 45 in a 75-50 victory Saturday to stretch their winning streak to 14 games.
"Baylor didn't shoot the ball real well for what they normally do, but all that did for them, for us, is just give them a chance to play volleyball against the glass and rebound it more," Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. "That really didn't help us as much as we needed it to."
Led by the 6-foot-7 Brown and 6-4 Cox, the Lady Bears finished with a 69-24 rebounding margin. They combined for 19 of Baylor's 32 offensive rebounds. Baylor missed eight of its first 10 shots and shot 42 percent (31 of 74) for the game, well below its season mark of 52 percent coming into the game that led the conference.
Kayla Goth had 22 points for Kansas State (11-8, 3-5), which has lost 28 straight games against Baylor.
Freshman Alexis Morris added 12 points for the Lady Bears.
Brown had three turnovers before her three-point play tied the game 9-all. She reacted emphatically by slapping her hands together after making the basket before the tying free throw, and made a tiebreaking layup to put the Lady Bears ahead to stay.
"I guess I just had to figure their defense out," Brown said. "I played a little rattled in the beginning, and coaches pulled me aside. It was like, calm down and play your game, and I just went out there more relaxed."
BIG PICTURE
Kansas State: Like most teams, the Wildcats could only contain Baylor for a short time. Kansas State's last win over Baylor was on Jan. 27, 2004. Baylor won by 30 in the Big 12 opener between the schools on Dec. 28.
Baylor: Now 7-0 in Big 12 play for the sixth time in eight years, the Lady Bears have won their conference games by an average margin of nearly 33 points. The closest was 22. Their most significant test is coming up in their next game, when they host No. 9 Texas (15-3, 6-1) in a matchup of the conference's top teams.
"I imagine they better be ready Thursday or they're going to get blown out because Texas is that good," coach Kim Mulkey said when asked if her team was ready for a close game. "Texas has the most talent in the league. They have the most depth in the league. We've got our hands full."
RARE DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Brown became the third Big 12 player with at least 33 points and 19 rebounds in a conference game. The last was Oklahoma's Courtney Paris, who had 33 points and 21 rebounds against Missouri on Feb. 25, 2007.
FINISHING STRONG
The Lady Bears went ahead to stay with a 10-0 run to end the first quarter. Then they finished the first half by scoring the last 10 points.
UP NEXT
Kansas State is home on Wednesday night to play TCU, Mittie's former team. The Horned Frogs (13-5, 4-3) have won four straight Big 12 games for the first time ever.
Baylor has that big game Thursday night at home against Texas, coming off a 90-39 win over Texas Tech.