Dec. 15, 2003
Box Score
WACO, Texas - The Baylor women's basketball team coasted to its seventh win of the year Monday night, beating Southeastern Louisiana 79-46 at the Ferrell Center.
Two long Baylor runs - one to start the game, and the other to begin the second half - accounted for nearly the entire margin of victory. The Lady Bears (7-1) opened the night on a 15-0 run over the first 6:30, then started the second half by outscoring SLU (2-2) 17-1 over the first eight minutes.
All this, despite the Lady Bears suffering their worst shooting night of the season. Baylor shot 41.2 percent from the floor Monday, marking only the second time this year that the team has shot less than 50 percent.
Sophomore all-America candidate Sophia Young led Baylor in scoring for the fifth time this year, putting down 18 points and adding six rebounds. Big 12 Freshman of the Week Emily Niemann had 16 points (including four 3-pointers), while junior Steffanie Blackmon added 12 points and eight rebounds.
Senior Dionne Brown led all players with a career-high-tying 11 rebounds, while fellow senior Jessika Stratton had a Baylor season-high seven assists to lead both teams. Senior LaSha Stover led the Lady Lions with 12 points.
All 12 Lady Bears saw action Monday, and 11 of them scored, the most since 11 Baylor players scored in a 104-38 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff last season.
The Lady Bears led 39-18 at the half Monday night, their third-largest halftime lead of year. Baylor has led at halftime in all eight games this year, averaging a 17-point lead at intermission.
Baylor tied its season best with 19 steals and had a season-high 19 turnovers, but the Lady Bears also forced 29 turnovers, their best defensive total of the year. Baylor also held the Lady Lions to just 20.7 percent shooting, also the worst total by a Lady Bear opponent this season.
The Lady Bears now hit the road, heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a three-game tournament before hitting the Christmas break. Baylor plays host school UPR-Mayaguez at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday.
NOTES: Niemann was named Big 12 Rookie of the Week Monday after scoring 14 points last week against No. 7 Penn State... Baylor improved to 41-2 in regular season non-conference games and 48-8 at home under head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson... After redshirting as a freshman and sitting out the first seven games of 2003, Abiola Wabara played eight minutes and scored five points in her first game as a Lady Bear.
