No. 4/5 WBB Rolls to 100-39 Victory in Season Opener

Tuesday, November 6

Waco, Texas

6 p.m.

Baylor

1-0

100

Nicholls State

0-1

Nicholls

Baylor

100

No. 4/5 WBB Rolls to 100-39 Victory in Season Opener

11/6/2018 9:01:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Moon Ursin scored a career-high 13 points for the Lady Bears.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

Seven players scored in double figures, led by career highs from sophomores Moon Ursin and DiDi Richards, as the fourth-ranked Baylor Lady Bears got out to a 24-0 lead in the first eight minutes and rolled over Nicholls State, 100-39, in Tuesday's season opener.

"I have a lot of weapons," said Kim Mulkey, who won her 540^th game as Baylor's head coach and 1,100^th combined as a collegiate player, assistant and head coach. "Just remember, I told you that, we have a lot of weapons. But, those weapons aren't any good if we don't have consistent point guard play."

That was certainly the case in Tuesday's opener, with the point guard combo of Chloe Jackson and Juicy Landrum combining for 10 assists and no turnovers.

Jackson, a grad transfer from LSU who earned second-team All-SEC honors last season, is making the transition to point guard look seamless. Including the Lady Bears' two exhibitions, she's had 16 assists to just four turnovers.

"Chloe has instincts that you've got to watch the game and see," Mulkey said. "She sees a post player, and it's a simple pass. Just feed them. She helps a lot on the defensive end when you really don't even know that she's doing it. To do what that kid is doing for our basketball team, I'm just telling you, it's pretty amazing. She hasn't played that position."

With only one player at 6-foot tall, the visiting Colonels from Thibodaux, La., simply couldn't match up with Baylor's size. The Lady Bears dominated the boards, 48-25, had 48 more point paints (64-16) and seemingly scored at will.

"I like games like that, we were all gelling," said 6-7 senior All-American center Kalani Brown, who had 13 points on an efficient 5-of-7 shooting from the field. "Our team chemistry is just as great as it was last year, and it took us a long way. So, this year, I think it's going to take us a long way, too. To see that unselfishness, it goes a long way."

Brown scored five in that opening 24-0 run that was capped by freshman Honesty Scott-Grayson's 3-pointer at the 2:07 mark in the first quarter. Nicholls missed its first seven shots before Cassidy Barrios hit a jumper to end the scoring drought with 1:23 left in the opening period.

"I thought we started the game very good," Mulkey said. "It starts with Chloe Jackson. I can't tell you how impressed I am with her. Point guard is the most difficult position on the floor. For her to come here and just grasp everything I'm throwing at her every day and to lead our basketball team, it's really remarkable.

"We got out quickly. I think we shot 71 percent that first quarter. And then the new ones, and the kids that didn't get a lot of minutes late in the year last year, they came out more confident."

That group included Ursin, a sophomore guard from Destrehan, La., who hit her first three 3-point attempts and set her scoring career high with 13 points in the first half.

"It's different from last year," Ursin said. "I'm trying to be more confident day by day, and I'm just taking it a shot at a time. Tonight, I was open, my teammates found me on the perimeter. I saw one fall, then I saw the second one fall, and after that I saw the third one fall. It just felt good to be able to knock those shots down."

Richards, who sat out the last exhibition game, hit 6-of-8 from the field and scored 12 points in the first three quarters before re-aggravating her ankle injury. Freshman Caitlin Bickle hit two treys and scored 12 points, while Jackson and freshmen NaLyssa Smith and Queen Egbo chipped in with 10 apiece.

Junior forward Lauren Cox had nine points, seven boards and six assists, coming a point shy of giving the Lady Bears a program-record eight double-digit scorers.

"I would have left Cox in if y'all had told me, I would have gotten her one more bucket," Mulkey said.

That wouldn't have even been necessary if Cox had made more than one of her five attempts from the free-throw line. As a team, the Lady Bears shot just 45 percent from the charity stripe, missing 11 of 20.

"We've got to quit missing that many free throws," Mulkey said. "A free throw is nothing but get up there and have a little rhythm. I don't even think it's confidence with this bunch. I just think they don't focus as much. We've got to fix that."

Baylor wraps up a two-game home stand with a matchup against Saint Francis (Pa.) at 7 p.m. Thursday before traveling to face Arizona State at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in the "Showdown on the Rez" in Fort Defiance, Ariz.