Baylor
Northwestern State
WBB in Search of 60th-Straight Home Win Friday vs. NWST
12/17/2020 8:58:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lady Bears & Demons to square off on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+
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#7/7 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (5-1) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
#7/7 BAYLOR (5-1) vs NORTHWESTERN STATE (0-2) December 18, 2020 | 2 PM (CT) Waco, Texas | Ferrell Center (10,284)  WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+Talent: Lincoln Rose (PBP), Jim Haller (Analyst) RADIO: 1660 AM/92.3 FM DIGITAL RADIO LINK: ESPN Central Texas Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Analyst) LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast Baylor Social Media:    ** Due to COVID-19, there will be no physical copies of stats, media almanacs, rosters, please use the following link for MEDIA RESOURCES ** |
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NORTHWESTERN STATE (0-2) Location: Natchitoches, La. Conference: Southland Head Coach: Anna Nims (Pittsburg State, 2007) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Playing back-to-back games against winless teams from the Southland Conference, the seventh-ranked Baylor Lady Bears (5-1) will host Northwestern State (0-2) on Friday and McNeese State (0-6) on Saturday, with both tipping at 2 p.m.
"I haven't had time to look at film, I've had time to work on us," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, whose team is coming off an 86-52 win over Southern after beginning the four-game home stand with a 91-45 blowout of Texas Tech on Monday. "We'll do a scouting report, but right now mainly just to do the same preparation we did for Southern and the same preparation we'll do for McNeese State – what do we need to do better. That's both offensively and defensively."
Even in Wednesday's 34-point win that seemed pretty routine, Mulkey found plenty of things to fix. The Lady Bears got off to a slow start, turned it over 19 times and missed 11 of 26 shots from the foul line.
Through the first six games, Baylor has averaged 17.7 turnovers per game, with seven of the 10 players coughing it up at least 10 times.
"You can live with a block-charge turnover if they call it a charge," Mulkey said. "But some of the turnovers are just bad passes. And it's not just one or two payers, it's just about everybody on the team. I don't know, other than to show them on film and keep talking about it."
With a blanket waiver from the NCAA that covers all players who transferred before the start of the fall 2020 semester, sophomore transfer Jaden Owens from UCLA is immediately eligible and will suit up for Friday's game. Senior guard Kamaria McDaniel also would have been eligible to play, but the Penn State transfer is rehabbing from a Nov. 30 ACL knee injury.
"She's been on the scout team for the most part," Mulkey said of the 5-8 Owens, who averaged 2.5 points and 1.2 assists in limited minutes last year at UCLA. "As we started hearing that this could possibly happen, I would tell her, 'Do extra work. I need you on the scout team because of numbers right now. But, in order for you to contribute, I need you to work on this, this and this on your own.' And she would do it."
Owens, a five-star recruit out of Plano West High School, joins a backcourt rotation that includes seniors DiDi Richards (6.4 ppg, 5.8 assists) and Moon Ursin (7.8 ppg, 6.0 rebounds), grad transfer DiJonai Carrington (12.3 ppg), junior Trinity Oliver (7.3 ppg), sophomore Jordyn Oliver and freshman Sarah Andrews.
"She's going to have to handle the ball, like all the guards, take care of it and not have turnovers," Mulkey said. "She doesn't have a problem opening her mouth and leading her team. She will be one of those that won't be quiet, she'll be out there directing traffic."
Trinity Oliver, who had never started before this season, has scored in double figures three times in the last five games and is shooting 51.3 percent from the field. But, she had three turnovers in the win over Southern and has eight assists with 11 turnovers for the season.
"I told her when she came to the sideline, 'Don't turn the ball over, unless it's great defense, and make them make a spectacular play to create that turnover,''' Mulkey said. "I thought she shot the ball confidently, she rebounded the ball for us and was just solid. That's all you want Trinity to do is just be that glue out there, that solid player that you know what you're going to get from her every night."
Northwestern State, which had its first three games canceled because of COVID-19 concerns, is coming off a 73-55 loss at UTSA after falling to UL Monroe, 68-55, in a delayed season opener last Saturday. First-year head coach Anna Nimz, who led Kilgore College to three-straight winning seasons, brought in four junior college transfers among six newcomers.
The Lady Demons are led by sophomore guards Anessa Dussette (13.5 ppg) and Tristen Washington (12.5 ppg).
Originally scheduled for the opening weekend of the season, the Baylor-Northwestern State game was squeezed in between the Lady Bear games against Southern and McNeese State.
"The way that Coach Mulkey and (Assistant AD Johnny Derrick) worked with us, they know how important it is for us," Nimz said. "How fun is it to play one of the best teams in the nation. We want our girls to approach the game without any fear or hesitancy. But, how cool to say I'm going to go get a bucket on the best player in the nation. It should only be a positive."
Friday's game will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and former Baylor basketball coach Jim Haller calling the action.
OWENS DECLARED ELIGIBLE AFTER NCAA INSTATES BLANKET WAIVER; MCDANIEL STILL SIDELINED WITH INJURY
The NCAA announced Wednesday a blanket waiver for transfer students at the NCAA Division I level, which activated Baylor's Jaden Owens and puts the Lady Bears active roster at 11 players. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Division I basketball players will not have the 2020-21 season count against them, which prompted the NCAA Division I Council to make an exception Wednesday for Division I transfers who arrived at their current institution before the Fall 2020 term began. The blanket waiver would have also made eligible senior guard Kamaria McDaniel. However, the former Penn State standout was sidelined with a left-knee injury earlier in the fall and underwent successful surgery, Nov. 30 to repair an ACL and meniscus tear. She will miss the 2020-21 season.
Owens came to Baylor after one year with UCLA as a backup point guard. In her freshman season with the Bruins in 2019-20, she averaged 9.6 minutes per contest in 28 games off the bench. She averaged 2.5 points, 1.2 assists and 0.6 steals per contest. Her assist-to-turnover ratio was 1.8:1, and she backed up All-Pac-12 point guard and recent WNBA draft pick Japreece Dean. Owens will dress out for Friday's contest between Baylor and Northwestern State at 2 p.m. in Waco.
TRINITY OLIVER SURGING THROUGH SIX GAMES; FRESHMEN SHOWING MOXIE
Prior to 2020-21, Trinity Oliver had played two full seasons and a partial season in 2017-18 as a freshman before tearing her ACL in the seventh game of her career. Through six games this season, Oliver has 44 points, which is just 15 points shy of her career best 59 points last season as a sophomore. Entering into the year she had just one game with double-digit points, but this season has three in six contests. She leads all non-post players at Baylor with 16 offensive rebounds, which ranks third on the team overall. Her 26 boards are just 14 shy of her career best when she had 40 last season as a redshirt sophomore. Her 7.3 points per contest has nearly quadrupled her previous output of 2.0 points per game in her first three seasons.
Freshman Hannah Gusters is second on the team in points-per 40 minutes at 24.5, second only to DiJonai Carrington's mark of 25.3. Gusters has had three games in double-digit scoring, and she has 46 points in just 75 minutes of play while shooting an astounding 72.4 percent from the floor. After missing her first six 3-point attempts, freshman Sarah Andrews has nailed 5 of her last 8 from beyond the arc. Her nine points Wednesday vs. Southern was a season-best, and she's had at least four assists in three of her six games.
LADY BEARS HOME WIN STREAK COULD REACH 60 VS. NORTHWESTERN STATE FRIDAY
Baylor has two separate home winning streaks on the line Friday when the Lady Bears take on Northwestern State, and both equal 59-straight wins. Baylor has the nation's longest-active home-win streak at 59 games. It marks the 11th-longest home win streak in NCAA history, and the second-longest streak in Baylor history. In addition, Baylor has 59-straight non-conference home wins entering into Friday's contest.
The Lady Bears have three-straight wins over Northwestern State in the series that will reach seven meetings Friday. All three of those wins are under Kim Mulkey, and Baylor took each of those contests by a minimum of 34 points in win margin. Baylor's only loss to the Demons came Feb. 9, 1980 in Houston with NWST taking a 72-63 win.
COVID-19'S EFFECT ON THE LADY BEARS
All are having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Lady Bears are no exception. Baylor lost four games scheduled for the Preseason WNIT in Waco in November, along with a Thanksgiving week game vs. Oregon in Las Vegas. Originally scheduled for Nov. 27, Baylor and Northwestern State's game was postponed due to COVID issues within the NWST program and was rescheduled for Dec. 18. Moon Ursin, lost her grandmother, Ruby Alexander, to the virus in April after a swift and brief battle with COVID. Kamaria McDaniel, a transfer from Penn State that is having to sit this season, lost her grandfather, Johnny Webster, Sr., in April as well.
RICHARDS RETURNS TO FLOOR AFTER SPINAL INJURY, FEATURED ON ESPN'S SPORTSCENTER
Oct. 24, Moon Ursin and DiDi Richards collided in mid-air during a practice scrimmage, leaving Ursin with a concussion and Richards with a Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality
(SCIOWRA). Ursin returned to practice after clearing concussion protocol in mid-November while Richards' rehab began immediately after she briefly lost feeling below her knees. Richards was first confined to a walker to assist her in walking, but by mid-November she was completing individual drills and workouts with medical and strength & conditioning staff. Richards shocked doctors, team
medical staff and coaches with the rate of her rehab. Thirty-eight days after the injury, she played 30 minutes off the bench at South Florida Dec. 1. She scored a bucket 13 seconds into her entry, and picked up where she left off last season by leading Baylor with seven assists. Sunday in Fayetteville, Ark. she resumed her starting role, getting her first start at point guard and finished the contest with a game-high eight assists. She led the Big 12 in assists per game in 2019-20, ranked 13th in the nation and had the NCAA's sixth-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9:1.
Her return to the floor sparked interest from ESPN with Mechelle Voepel writing a feature on her recovery, and Scott Van Pelt led off his Tuesday edition of SportsCenter, covering Richards' return with the "Best Thing I Saw Today" segment.
BAYLOR WINS 1,000TH WIN AS A PROGRAM; LADY BEARS BECOME 15TH PROGRAM IN D1 HISTORY TO REACH 1,000 VICTORIES
Baylor's win at South Florida Dec. 1 marked the program's 1,000th victory. Baylor became the 15th program in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,000 victories joining Tennessee, UConn, James Madison, Louisiana Tech, Stanford, Texas, SFA, Old Dominion, Ohio State, Maryland, Western Kentucky, Wisconsin-Green Bay, South Dakota State, and Notre Dame. Kim Mulkey has 606 of those wins as head coach for Baylor. At Louisiana Tech, she was either a player, assistant or associate head coach for 560 victories, which makes her a direct contributor to 1,106 wins between the two programs on the prestigious list.
BAYLOR FINISHED 2019-20 RANKED FIRST IN FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE DEFENSE FOR FOURTH-STRAIGHT YEAR
For the fourth-straight year and the fifth in Kim Mulkey's history as head coach at Baylor, the Lady Bears ranked No. 1 in the NCAA in defensive field goal percentage in 2019-20. Mulkey's Lady Bears are known for their tough-nosed defense, and last year's team was led by Richards who earned the national defensive player of the year award from both Naismith and the WBCA. The team held opponents to a .310 shooting mark, which tied with the 2011-12 squad for lowest opponent field goal percentage. Baylor has ranked in the top five in that category in each of the last six seasons and in 9 of the last 10. Baylor also won the category in 2010-11.
MULKEY JOINS STAR-STUDDED 2020 CLASS WITH NAISMITH HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
The Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments were cancelled, but Kim Mulkey did get some good news in April when she was announced as a member of the 2020 induction class to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She and her class' peers are virtually peerless as she joined a star-studded class, including Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Tamika Catchings, Rudy Tomjanovich, Eddie Sutton, Barbara Stevens and Patrick Baumann.
Her induction ceremony was delayed due to COVID-19 and the 2020 class has yet to be enshrined. Her induction will be as a coach, although she has been nominated as a player on numerous occasions. She was also a finalist in 2018. Mulkey's many accomplishments earned her the honor, but among them are three NCAA titles, 21 Big 12 championships, and she was the fastest NCAA Division I head coach, man or woman, to reach 600 career victories (700 games).
