No. 2 Lady Bears Cruise to Win over Grambling State

Friday, November 8

Waco, Texas

6:00 PM

Baylor

2-0,0-0Big 12

120

Grambling State

0-2,0-0SWAC

Grambling

Baylor

120

No. 2 Lady Bears Cruise to Win over Grambling State

11/8/2019 8:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Baylor sets single-game record with eight players in double figures

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            When people jump to conclusions and start comparing this Baylor Lady Bear team to the one that went 37-1 and won the program's third national championship, Kim Mulkey is quick to respond with that Lee Corso quip, "Not so fast, my friend."
            But, after a month of practice, two exhibitions and a pair of regular-season blowouts, the 20^th-year head coach does know "we're good."
            "I just don't know how good we are yet."
            Good enough to blow out a Grambling State team that took Florida down to the wire.
            Sophomore forward NaLyssa Smith led a program-record eight players in double figures and posted her second-straight double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds as the No. 2 Lady Bears cruised to a 120-46 win Friday night before a Ferrell Center crowd of 7,758.
            "It's a pleasure, because I don't have to do a whole lot of teaching like I did last year," Mulkey said of a national title team that included five freshmen and a grad transfer.
            "The three freshmen from last year, they get it, they know the system, they know what's expected of them. Then, you've got two newcomers that have college experience that have just flowed with the rest of us. And then you've got Jordyn Oliver, the only freshman, who has a basketball IQ that's pretty good for a freshman. . . . It's a joy to go out there on the floor and just watch them."
            After giving up just three first-half points in a 97-29 season-opening win over New Hampshire, the Lady Bears (2-0) played lock-down defense again and forced 24 turnovers while limiting the Lady Tigers (0-2) to 24 percent shooting from the floor. After knocking down 10 treys in a 72-65 loss to Florida, Grambling was just 5-of-20 from outside the arc against Baylor.
            "We knew that one of the ways to win was to limit their 3's," Mulkey said. "They came right out of the gates and hit a 3 on (Lauren) Cox out there, and I thought, 'Oh boy, it's going to be a long night.' With our size, we're just used to seeing that, and I thought we did a pretty good job of getting out to the 3-point line and not allowing it."
            A 6-4 senior All-American, Cox also had her second-straight and 30^th career double-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Baylor's other double-figure scorers were DiDi Richards (15), Juicy Landrum (14), Queen Egbo (14), Erin DeGrate (13), Te'a Cooper 12) and Moon Ursin (10).
            Richards had a stat sheet-stuffing night, shooting 7-of-7 from the floor and adding a team-high eight assists and five steals.
            "When you're playing with people like Nalyssa and LC (Cox), it makes it easier to get those assists," said Richards, who set her career high with nine in the win over New Hampshire.
            Arguably the team's best on-ball defender the last two years, Richards said she takes her defense to heart. "I feel like if someone goes by me, it kind of hurts my feelings. It's like when you get broken up with a relationship."
            Silly and playful off the floor – she's been known to bust a move or two during timeouts – Richards keeps her game face on when she's in the game.
            "She has personality-plus," Mulkey said of the 6-foot-1 junior wing, a Big 12 All-Defensive Team pick last year. "She knows when to be silly and when to be serious. I don't worry about that. You want a locker room that's happy. You also want a locker room that can get on you, and DiDi can do a little bit of all that. As a captain, she understands."
            Of last year's fab freshmen, Smith is the one that's having the biggest impact this season. She has scored 21 points in each of the first two games and averaged 13.5 rebounds. She had 14 first-half points, knocking down 6-of-8 from the floor, in helping Baylor take a commanding 60-18 lead into the break.
            "NaLyssa, she's an offensive rebounding machine. She's a rebounding machine, period," Mulkey said. "She's playing unbelievable basketball. She's so talented, can do things athletically that a lot of girls can't do. And she gets better every day."
            In a scoring drought by Grambling that lasted almost 8 ½ minutes spanning the end of the second and start of the third quarter, Baylor reeled off 22 unanswered points and went up 71-18.
            "We really just go out there and play. Focus on us, work on us," Smith said. "Just like in practice, we work on executing little things. When you're playing and not looking at the score, you're just focusing on yourself."
            Grambling was led by Markisha Body, who hit two late 3-pointers and scored all nine of her points in the second half.
            All 11 Baylor players scored and grabbed at least one rebound, with sophomore forward Caitlin Bickle getting in the scorebook on a layup with 45 seconds left.
            "A game like this, you're going to play against every component of a championship team, from top to bottom" Grambling coach Freddie Murray said. "We knew that Baylor presents a challenge like no other. We just wanted to see how we reacted to some of those situations."
            The Lady Bears continue their season-opening five-game home stand with a matchup against Houston Baptist at 7 p.m. next Thursday, Nov. 14. Houston Baptist opened with a 67-44 win over LSU-Shreveport on Tuesday and will play Paul Quinn on Tuesday before making the trip to Waco.