Baylor
West Virginia
No. 25 WBB Readies for Ranked Bout on Tuesday Versus No. 18 West Virginia
2/10/2025 2:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball
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25/RV BAYLOR BEARS (20-5, 10-2 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Nicki Collen (Marquette, 1998) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
25/RV BAYLOR (20-5, 10-2 Big 12) vs 18/18 WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS (19-4, 9-3 Big 12) Feb. 11, 2025 • 7 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Foster Pavilion (7,500) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN+ TALENT: John Morris (pxp), Jordan Lewis (analyst) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Media Network via FOX Sports Radio 93.9FM in Central Texas and worldwide at centexsportsfan.com. Talent: Derek Smith (pxp), Lori Fogleman (analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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18/18 WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS (19-4, 9-3 Big 12) Location: Morgantown, W. Va. Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Mark Kellogg (Austin, 1998) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Since the moment last season ended with a Sweet 16 loss to USC, the Baylor women have had their eyes on the prize of a Big 12 championship ring and an even deeper run in the NCAA Tournament.
And with six games left in the regular season, the 25th-ranked Bears (20-5, 10-2) are in position to do just that with a challenging closing schedule that starts with Tuesday's 7 p.m. showdown with No. 18 West Virginia (19-4, 9-3) at Foster Pavilion. Five of Baylor's last six games are against other teams in the top half of the league standings, including three ranked teams.
"I think what's put us in this situation is really a one game at a time mentality," said Baylor coach Nicki Collen, whose team has won four in a row. "We've had these opportunities in the past, and we haven't taken advantage of them. This is just another opportunity to prove that we've gotten better and that we're ready to compete against another elite team."
Including early-season losses to Oregon and Indiana, Baylor has struggled to beat upper-echelon teams. The Bears got blown out at home by Oklahoma State and lost to top-ranked UCLA and No. 9 TCU in back-to-back games in a six-day stretch in January.
The one win they can hang their hat on is beating then-No 23 Utah, 70-61, in a game when junior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (14.4 ppg, 10.3 rebounds) was suspended after getting hit with a fighting technical foul in the previous game at Arizona State.
"We've been tested. We've played a lot of great teams," said senior guard Jada Walker, who's averaging 10.8 points and 5.7 assists per game. "We've played the No. 1 team; we've played everyone you can think of. So, I think we're very prepared going towards the end of the season. Just another test, another big game. We play a very good team and can prove ourselves and show why we're one of the top teams in the country."
Colorado transfer Aaronette Vonleh (13.6 ppg, 5.1 rebounds) says the Bears don't "treat the game any differently or treat it differently now that we're ranked . . . (but) we have to finish stronger than we started."
"We took some early losses, but we're still in the position win the conference and get a ring," she said, "so we're just going to focus on doing that."
The 6-3 Vonleh, who ranks fourth in the Big 12 in field goal shooting percentage at 59.1%, is coming off a rare off night shooting the ball. She was just 4-of-16 from the floor in Saturday's 83-71 win over BYU but contributed eight points and eight rebounds in just 19 minutes with a plus-minus of plus-10.
"I hate that she was inefficient, because I loved how she played," Collen said. "I thought her energy was elite. I thought she was getting to the glass. I thought she was posting up hard. I thought she stayed out of foul trouble. . . . I hope it's almost like a catalyst more than, 'Okay, she was 4-for-16.' If she's taking good shots, do I want her to make them? Yes, but we need her to be that aggressive."
Vonleh, the 6-1 Littlepage-Buggs and 6-foot junior guard/forward Bella Fontleroy (9.1 ppg, 5.9 rebounds) give the Bears a distinct size advantage over a West Virginia team that starts only one player taller than 5-10. Kylee Blacksten (7.5 ppg, 3.0 rebounds), a 6-3 fifth-year forward, is more of a "pick and pop" shooter who's fourth on the team with 24 made 3-pointers.
"We're not going to play outside of who we are and put a bunch of new stuff in," Collen said, "but we have actions to get (Fontleroy and Littlepage-Buggs) touches. This is a game where we're going to have to play through the paint. Our latest statistics are that we shoot 59% with a paint touch. . . . We shoot 29% without. So, we should touch the paint on every possession."
Baylor's bigger issue is handling West Virginia's full-court press well enough to get shots. The Mountaineers are first in the league in scoring defense, allowing just 52.7 points per game, while averaging more than 25 forced turnovers.
They have four players ranked in the top 10 in steals per game, led by senior guards JJ Quinerly and Kyah Watson with 3.4 and 3.2, respectively. Quinerly also leads the Mountaineers in scoring at 19.0 points per game, while 5-6 junior guard Jordan Harrison is averaging 13.3 points and a team-high 4.7 assists per game.
"She's super quick, she's very aggressive," Walker said of Quinerly, her teammate in AAU basketball. "I know the tenacity that she has is similar to me. She's going to hit some shots, but we can't get discouraged. We've just got to limit them and make someone else score."
Tuesday's game will be streamed by ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and former Baylor men's basketball coach Jim Haller calling the action.
Game notes-
• Baylor welcomes No. 18 West Virginia to Foster Pavilion in a battle of two teams vying for the regular season league title on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+and the Baylor Sports Media Network.
• The matchup opens the doors to the highest-ranked opponent faced this season at home for the Bears and the sixth ranked foe at Foster Pavilion since its opening for women's basketball on January 3, 2024.
• Baylor has its best start to conference play in the Nicki Collen era through 12 games with a 10-2 record.
• The Bears remain the leading rebounding team in the Big 12 Conference, averaging 43.46 per game, enough for eighth in the NCAA, and hold an average margin of 10.9 boards over their opponents.
• Back in the AP Top 25, the Bears reentered the rankings on Monday, February 10. Placed at No. 25 in its fifth appearance of 2024-25, BU received votes in eight editions while being left out twice.
• A series split 4-2 in favor of the Bears under the Nicki Collen tenure, Baylor swept West Virginia in 2023-24 with a pair of wins in the month of February.
• In a memorable classic in Morgantown, BU last bested 22nd-ranked WVU by one point in a game that came down to a pair of free throws from Jana Van Gytenbeek with 4.3 seconds left on the clock.
• Baylor leads the overall series, 24-5, with the first matchup of the two teams coming in a WVU win on December 7, 1984, at the Lady Rebel-Dial Classic in Oxford, Miss.
• West Virginia's roster holds three with double-digit scoring averages: JJ Quinerly (19.0), Jordan Harrison (13.3) and Sydney Shaw (13.1). Kyah Watson's 7.6 rebounds per game is good enough for the team rebounding lead at the board.
• WVU's 9-3 Big 12 record saw losses all on the road at Colorado, Oklahoma State and Arizona.
• Through games on Feb. 8, Baylor is ranked 20th in the NET, going 1-3 against Quad 1 programs and 3-2 over Quad 2.
• BU's highest-ranked NET win is over No. 25 Utah. The Bears upset the Utes, 70-61, led by 19 points from Aaronette Vonleh and a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double from Bella Fontleroy.
• Remaining in the Big 12 slate, BU is set to face three Q1 teams, two in Q2 and one in Q3.
• West Virginia enters the contest at No. 11, with a NET-best win over No. 27 Oklahoma State.
• Baylor's roster has produced five double-digit scoring performances in 11 games this season, five coming in rugged Big 12 Conference play. Most recently, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (19 pts), Yaya Felder (15 pts), Jada Walker (14 pts), Aaronette Vonleh (12 pts) and Aliyah Matharu (11 pts) were all over 10 points at Houston on February 5.
• Among the top 20 scoring programs in the country, Baylor is one of three schools with five averaging doubles figures, joining Tennessee and SFA.
• As the highest-scoring offense in the Big 12, Baylor is the only school with five averaging 10 or more points per game, ahead of K-State's four and seven programs with three (TCU, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Utah, Colorado, UCF and Houston).
• Junior Darianna Littlepage-Buggs averages a double-double (14.4 ppg, 10.3 rpg) in 24 games this season with 17 double-digit scoring performances, four with 20+.
• With a big night against BYU, Buggs had her 10th double-double of the season with a season-high 26 points and 15 rebounds.
• After a strong week at Houston and versus BYU that averaged 22.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, Buggs was named Big 12 Player of the Week. In those two games, she scored her 1,000th career point, had a career-high six assists, recorded a 10th double-double and had her seventh 20+ point game. She also only gave up one turnover in each contest while out-offensive rebounding the opposing squad in both games.
• On February 6, Littlepage-Buggs was announced as one of 10 finalists for the Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year Award.
• Yaya Felder has been a force for Baylor, coming off the bench for the Bears in all but one contest with an average of 10.9 points per game.
• Felder is the only player in the Big 12 Conference to average double-figure points off the bench this season.
• The senior in her second year at Baylor has played 132 minutes without a turnover, dating back to Baylor's January 17, 2024, game against Houston.
• Baylor defeated BYU, 83-71, in a Saturday night contest at Foster Pavilion.
• Darianna Littlepage-Buggs had her 10th double-double of the season in the game, putting up a season-high 26 points and 15 rebounds.
• BYU shot 53.8%, the second-best from an opponent this season, but BU forced 26 turnovers and had 18 points from those turnovers.
• With the win, Baylor moved into a tie for first place in the Big 12 with K-State and TCU.
