NO FEAR
11/3/2025 4:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Auburn transfer Scott's hard work pays off in 24-point performance
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
This is why Taliah Scott is at Baylor.
Playing for her third team in as many seasons, the Auburn transfer scored six points in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter and outscored the seventh-ranked Duke Blue Devils, 12-9, in the period to lift the No. 16 Baylor Bears to a 58-52 win in Monday's season-opening Oui-Play Game at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France.
"Down the stretch, you saw why Taliah is at Baylor," coach Nicki Collen said of Scott, who hit her first eight free throws before missing her last two with 9.1 seconds left. "Until those last two free throws, she was rolling. Really good game to kick off the season and super proud of how these guys battled against a really, really good team."
An experienced team that came within a game of the Final Four last year, Duke jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 2 ½ minutes and held the lead through most of the first three quarters. But the Bears used a 10-0 second-quarter run to go up 29-25 on a driving layup by Scott and tied it up at 43-43 at the end of the third quarter on a free throw by Kyla Abraham.
"Once we got a score up, then I relaxed," Collen said. "Coaching without a score is very stressful for me. . . . The beauty of this situation, and as good as Duke was, we've been prepping in some ways since the summer with some of the things that we've worked on. Oftentimes, when we play tournaments, we're playing three games in three days. This allowed us to just relax a little bit more and really enjoy the stuff off the court."
The Bears, who had led for all of 65 seconds through the first three quarters, went back on top just 22 seconds into the fourth quarter. Scott, who had a game-high 24 points to go with five rebounds and three assists, picked off a Jordan Wood pass and drove in for a layup to give Baylor the lead for good, 45-43.
Far from done, Scott drove inside for another layup 30 seconds later and pushed the Bears' lead to 49-43 on a baseline jumper at the 8:37 mark.
"I'm just happy to be back," said Scott, who played only three games last year at Arkansas. "This has been a long year, sitting out, injuries, all that stuff. I'm just so happy to be back, and I'm so happy to be with his team and this group of people. I feel like with a win like this, we can see what we can be and it's only the first game of the season. We're only going to get better from there."
Even after Scott gave the Bears that six-point cushion, they kept the clamps on defensively, holding Duke to just 4-of-21 shooting from the field and 0-for-6 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
Collen gave credit to current Kansas State men's head coach and former Baylor assistant Jerome Tang for "something we put in this year."
"We felt like we needed to be tougher down the stretch of games," Collen said. "And we kind of took it from Coach Tang, honestly. Tez Dumars on our staff worked for him last year, and they had this five-minute drill. When we get to the last five minutes, it's our 'Sic 'em Five.' That's when we're not tired anymore. It's when we know that we have to execute, and we're focused on winning that last five minutes."
Scott said the Bears played with intensity throughout the game. "We played hard, we played with toughness, and I think that was the key to winning this game."
That, and a heavy dose of Taliah Scott. She was 7-of-18 from the floor, hit two 3-pointers and was 8-of-10 from the line, scoring 15 of her 24 points in the second half.
"I credit (my confidence) to the work that I put in," she said. "I put so much blood, sweat and tears to able to get to where I'm at right now. If you work, then there's no reason to be scared, no reason to be nervous. But then also, I credit my teammates and my coaches. They put me in the best positions to be successful. Coach Nicki drew up some amazing stuff, called some amazing actions to get me where I'm good at and where I can score from."
Senior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs recorded her 31st career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while the 6-foot-3 Abraham had five points, six boards and four of Baylor's nine blocks.
"Honestly, you get wins like this, and the target just gets bigger," Collen said. "I didn't look at the ESPN predictor, but I was pretty sure we weren't going to be picked to win this game. Some people don't even have us in their top 25. But it's also about proving it, and we don't want anything handed to us. We were fine working from the underdog role. I just think that's gone now. From here on out, we're going to get chased. And if you're going to get chased, you've got to keep working to get better."
The Bears return home to host Lindenwood at 2 p.m. Sunday at Foster Pavilion. Based in St. Charles, Mo., Lindenwood was the runner-up in the Ohio Valley Conference last season and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the WNIT.
Baylor Bear Insider
This is why Taliah Scott is at Baylor.
Playing for her third team in as many seasons, the Auburn transfer scored six points in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter and outscored the seventh-ranked Duke Blue Devils, 12-9, in the period to lift the No. 16 Baylor Bears to a 58-52 win in Monday's season-opening Oui-Play Game at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France.
"Down the stretch, you saw why Taliah is at Baylor," coach Nicki Collen said of Scott, who hit her first eight free throws before missing her last two with 9.1 seconds left. "Until those last two free throws, she was rolling. Really good game to kick off the season and super proud of how these guys battled against a really, really good team."
An experienced team that came within a game of the Final Four last year, Duke jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 2 ½ minutes and held the lead through most of the first three quarters. But the Bears used a 10-0 second-quarter run to go up 29-25 on a driving layup by Scott and tied it up at 43-43 at the end of the third quarter on a free throw by Kyla Abraham.
"Once we got a score up, then I relaxed," Collen said. "Coaching without a score is very stressful for me. . . . The beauty of this situation, and as good as Duke was, we've been prepping in some ways since the summer with some of the things that we've worked on. Oftentimes, when we play tournaments, we're playing three games in three days. This allowed us to just relax a little bit more and really enjoy the stuff off the court."
The Bears, who had led for all of 65 seconds through the first three quarters, went back on top just 22 seconds into the fourth quarter. Scott, who had a game-high 24 points to go with five rebounds and three assists, picked off a Jordan Wood pass and drove in for a layup to give Baylor the lead for good, 45-43.
Far from done, Scott drove inside for another layup 30 seconds later and pushed the Bears' lead to 49-43 on a baseline jumper at the 8:37 mark.
"I'm just happy to be back," said Scott, who played only three games last year at Arkansas. "This has been a long year, sitting out, injuries, all that stuff. I'm just so happy to be back, and I'm so happy to be with his team and this group of people. I feel like with a win like this, we can see what we can be and it's only the first game of the season. We're only going to get better from there."
Even after Scott gave the Bears that six-point cushion, they kept the clamps on defensively, holding Duke to just 4-of-21 shooting from the field and 0-for-6 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
Collen gave credit to current Kansas State men's head coach and former Baylor assistant Jerome Tang for "something we put in this year."
"We felt like we needed to be tougher down the stretch of games," Collen said. "And we kind of took it from Coach Tang, honestly. Tez Dumars on our staff worked for him last year, and they had this five-minute drill. When we get to the last five minutes, it's our 'Sic 'em Five.' That's when we're not tired anymore. It's when we know that we have to execute, and we're focused on winning that last five minutes."
Scott said the Bears played with intensity throughout the game. "We played hard, we played with toughness, and I think that was the key to winning this game."
That, and a heavy dose of Taliah Scott. She was 7-of-18 from the floor, hit two 3-pointers and was 8-of-10 from the line, scoring 15 of her 24 points in the second half.
"I credit (my confidence) to the work that I put in," she said. "I put so much blood, sweat and tears to able to get to where I'm at right now. If you work, then there's no reason to be scared, no reason to be nervous. But then also, I credit my teammates and my coaches. They put me in the best positions to be successful. Coach Nicki drew up some amazing stuff, called some amazing actions to get me where I'm good at and where I can score from."
Senior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs recorded her 31st career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while the 6-foot-3 Abraham had five points, six boards and four of Baylor's nine blocks.
"Honestly, you get wins like this, and the target just gets bigger," Collen said. "I didn't look at the ESPN predictor, but I was pretty sure we weren't going to be picked to win this game. Some people don't even have us in their top 25. But it's also about proving it, and we don't want anything handed to us. We were fine working from the underdog role. I just think that's gone now. From here on out, we're going to get chased. And if you're going to get chased, you've got to keep working to get better."
The Bears return home to host Lindenwood at 2 p.m. Sunday at Foster Pavilion. Based in St. Charles, Mo., Lindenwood was the runner-up in the Ohio Valley Conference last season and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the WNIT.
Players Mentioned
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