Nov. 23, 2008
Box Score | Notes
HOUSTON (AP)-- When Baylor's initial shots weren't falling, the Lady Bears didn't panic. They just started to crash the offensive boards harder.
Rachel Allison scored 16 points and pulled down 14 rebounds for Baylor (No. 9 ESPN/USA Today, No. 10 AP) in an 83-58 win over Rice. She had her second double-double of the season by halftime. Melissa Jones added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Bears (4-0).
"Today I just fed off my teammates, and I think we all really played well today," said Allison, whose Bears had five players record at least 10 points for the third time in four games overall. "The rebounds, I thought, were more important today than anything. We weren't making our first shots, so it was important to get those second and third chances."
Jessica Morrow scored 14 points, Danielle Wilson had 13 and Jhasmin Player 12 for Baylor.
Baylor finished with 52 rebounds.
D'Frantz Smart led the Owls with 14 points. Megan Elliott added 11 for the Owls (2-1).
"We're just not playing smart basketball right now," said Rice coach Greg Williams. "We played scared today. That is going to happen sometimes with your younger players, but I thought even our veterans looked like that."
The Bears had a 20-point lead at halftime led by Allison's 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
After Baylor started the game on a 16-5 run, the Owls used a 9-1 run to make it 16-14 with 9:30 left in the first half.
Rice's Memri Carmon hit a long 3-pointer with 3:11 left in the half, but Baylor closed out the half with a 14-2 run.
"I thought our players, especially when Rice kept it close early in the game, really kept their focus," said Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey. "We just never got rattled today."
