Dec. 7, 2003
Box Score
HOUSTON - The Baylor Lady Bears claimed the championship of the Gene Hackerman/Rice Invitational by defeating tournament host Rice 79-55 on Saturday night on Autry Court.
The victory gave the Lady Bears their fifth regular season tournament title in six tries under head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson and raised their season record to 6-0. The loss dropped Rice to 2-4 on the season.
Tournament MVP Steffanie Blackmon led the Lady Bears with 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, four steals and a blocked shot on the night. Junior point guard Chelsea Whitaker tied her career-high in scoring with 15 points. She was an impressive 5-of-7 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Sophia Young, a sophomore forward/post matched Whitaker's point total with 15 points. Young and Blackmon shared rebounding honors with seven apiece. Freshman guard Monique Jones collected eight points and six rebounds, going 3-of-4 from the floor, including 3-for-2 from 3-point range.
Baylor posted some impressive shooting on the night. For the fifth time n six games the Lady Bears shot over 50 percent as a team, including from 3-point range. They sank 32 of their 64 shots and were 5-for-10 from beyond the arc. In addition, they were 11-for-14 from the charity stripe for 78.6 percent.
Baylor's defense forced 21 Rice turnovers and limited the Owls to a .356 shooting percentage. However, for the first time this season, the Lady Bears lost the battle of the boards as the Owls outrebounded them 39-36.
Rice took the lead early in the game and led by as much as six midway through the first half, but Baylor took the lead for good at the 5:55 mark on a 3-point bucket by Jessika Stratton. That basket began an 8-0 run for the Lady Bears. Baylor held a 44-33 lead at halftime. Rice was held to just 22 points and a 22 percent shooting percentage in the second half and the Lady Bears lengthened their lead to as much as 26 points.
Joining Steffanie Blackmon on the all-tournament team were Baylor's Sophia Young and Dionne Brown, Anne Peck and Michelle Woods of Rice and Eastern Kentucky's Katie Kelly.
Baylor will hit the road again on Monday morning as they travel to State College, Pa., to take on eighth-ranked Penn State. The game is at 6 pm (CST) on Tuesday, Dec. 9 in the Bryce Jordan Center.
