Jan 30, 2002

Box Score

WACO, Texas (AP) - Tenth-ranked 10 Baylor set the tone early Wednesday night, forcing 18 first-half turnovers and coming away with 17 steals en route to a 74-62 win over Nebraska.

"Baylor took it to us early," Nebraska coach Paul Sanderford said. "With (Nicole) Collins, (Sheila) Lambert and (Chanelle) Fox in the lineup, they have tremendous quickness, and they made us look like we didn't know what we were doing."

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson liked what she said.

"Defense sets the tone in a game," she said. "Nebraska really had trouble getting shots early in the game and that allowed us to take the big lead."

After K.C. Cowgill's 3-pointer gave Nebraska (12-9, 2-6 Big 12) its only lead at 5-2 with just under 17 minutes remaining in the first half, Baylor (17-3, 5-3) used a 21-0 run to go in front 23-5. The Lady Bears held the Cornhuskers scoreless for more than eight minutes with reserve Steffanie Blackmon to scoring six points. Blackmon finished the first half with 12 points.

Lambert led the scoring with 18 points. Blackmon added 15 and Danielle Crockrom 11.

"Steffanie is playing hard-nosed and aggressive right now," Mulkey-Robertson said. "She gives us an added dimension and provides a spark coming off the bench."

Stephanie Jones led Nebraska with 16 points, all in the second half. Cowgill and Keasha Cannon finished with 10 points each.

The game's big difference occurred at the free-throw line with Baylor connecting on 27-of-33 attempts, while Nebraska managed only 6-of-9.

Trailing 38-17 at the half, Nebraska outscored Baylor, 45-36, in the second half and outshot the Lady Bears 41 (26-of-63) to 36 percent (23-of-63) for the game.