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Baylor Women's Basketball

Gameday Thread: No. 12 Baylor WBB Heads West to Face Oregon

November 10, 2024
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EUGENE, Oregon — No. 12 Baylor (1-0) will head west for a Sunday showdown against Oregon (2-0) at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on Big Ten Network.


Massey Prediction: Baylor 70, Oregon 63


Coaches

  • Baylor (Nicki Collen): 74-28 Record; 3 NCAA Tournaments; Sweet 16
  • Oregon (Kelly Graves): 607-273 Record (225-100 at UO); 13 NCAA Tournaments; 7 Sweet 16s; 3 Elite 8s; Final Four

Baylor Starters

  • Guard Jada Walker (Sr.): 6 PPG, 1 RPG, 10 APG, 0% FG, 100% FT
  • Guard Sarah Andrews (5Sr.): 5 PPG, 2 RPG, 4 APG, 33% FG, 20% 3-PT
  • Forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (Jr.): 25 PPG, 6 RPG, 1 APG, 61% FG, 40% 3-PT, 100% FT
  • Forward Bella Fontleroy (Jr.): 9 PPG, 14 RPG, 0 APG, 28% FG, 12% 3-PT, 0% FT
  • Center Aaronette Vonleh (Sr.): 16 PPG, 3 RPG, 0 APG, 75% FG, 100% FT

Baylor Bench

  • Guard Yaya Felder (Sr.): 5 PPG, 5 RPG, 2 APG, 20% FG, 20% 3-PT, 100% FT
  • Forward Kyla Abraham (Jr.): 6 PPG, 4 RPG, 0 APG, 67% FG, 100% FT
  • Forward Kayla Nelms (Fr.): N/A

Top Quotes

Head coach Nicki Collen on facing Oregon in the second game of the season instead of playing them on opening night:

  • "It was important to get a look at them. I wouldn’t have wanted to play them in the first game because their entire roster is totally different. As a coach, you don’t like to go in blind. Last year, they were big but not as active and played zone. Now they’re pressing and being aggressive on their ball screen coverage."

Head coach Nicki Collen on what challenges Oregon brings:

  • "Lots of transfers. A lot of pieces. They can go nine-deep and have people who can score. It’s going to be a challenge. They’re bringing Sabrina [Ionescu] back to celebrate the [New York] Liberty’s championship. I’m anticipating a really good crowd at 7 p.m. on a Sunday night."
Discussion from...

Gameday Thread: No. 12 Baylor WBB Heads West to Face Oregon

7,315 Views | 102 Replies | Last: 39 min ago by historian
ImABearToo
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Tied
ImABearToo
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And the ball

BearFan33
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1 min 30 sec left
ImABearToo
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Dang it!
bawitdaball
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With Bella this game is a 20 point lead. Just shows the impcact one player can make. I also find it interesting that the announcers haven't mentioned anything about Bella at all. Just odd.
Baylorwbbb12
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The refs did us bad
BearFan33
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Bella is our best defender too

I'm proud of the ladies to keep fighting
bawitdaball
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That wasn't very good coaching the last 15 seconds of the game. Hopefully CNC learns from that but why do yo uhvae all your players with four fouls on the court? You sub in and foul before the ball is even inbounds. Just not great decision making there. But a solid come back. Hopefully they learn from the game and Bella's injury proves to be not too serious.
BearFan33
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We did foul there but refs swallowed their whistles for that last 7 seconds.
But would have been real tough to tie it up.
Brusinbear2001
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Can't help to think Bella and Jana would have made a huge difference. The fight back to make this a game is something to take as a positive. We have to work on our shot layups and from 3. We cannot have those slow starts. Long season ahead just gotta continue growing and learning from this.
bawitdaball
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Baylorwbbb12 said:

The refs did us bad
I think the fact that we couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for extended stretches is what did us bad. We also need to improve our conditioning. We finally played our style of basketball for the last ten minutes and outscored them by 14. This game should not have been close.
12au
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Looked like Jada had a chance to foul and went for steal instead
blackie
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Does anyone know if there is a way to hear the postgame radio show? Really concerned about Bella. She never came back out.
Bear3
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Losing Bella in early first quarter really hurt us. We would have won with her on the floor. I hope her injury is not serious.
ctxbear
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Really hope Bella is ok. Without her, I think our ceiling is 5th in conference.
bawitdaball
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In reality - we missed about 12 - 15 layups. You make one of those and the ladies are still playing. Just gotta focus on the fundamentals.
Brusinbear2001
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i think that adds to the bright spot like a lot of those shots were things we make any other time. We looked off in the first half and losing Bella didn't help. Like i promise the game plan was not to have Jennings guarding Kelly. But Bella hurt, Jada and Yaya foul trouble it had to happen. We will get it together. But two injuries in one week it's gonna switch somethings but overall i think we will bounce back
12au
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bawitdaball said:

In reality - we missed about 12 - 15 layups. You make one of those and the ladies are still playing. Just gotta focus on the fundamentals.
Yep, stat sheet says 15-29. We were very sharp on layups against IW, unfortunately not tonight
BearlyNose
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Missing layups was a problem for last year's team. I kept asking if the ladies knew the importance of laying the ball up into the rectangle. It didn't seem to be important last year and is apparently not important this year, either. Fundamentals of layups are lacking on this team; otherwise, i think the final score may have been different.
Scottdye
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This team has a lot of potential. Very excited for this season..Do we know what happened with Bella? She is a very important cog to this wheel. Prayers for Bella and Jana.
Polarbear
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Another game, another key injury. Prayers to Bella, who now joins Jana with unknown and potentially serious injuries. Those two are critical to this team's season. Let's hope for the best.

Vonleh - shocking that we could never get the ball to her in the low post; she had 5 shot attempts in 29 minutes of play, and a couple of those were on putbacks. She had a physical advantage against everyone except Kyei, who only played 18 minutes. We are not good at creating angles and space for entry passes, and Vonleh needs to be more assertive in getting position and demanding the ball. I have not heard Coach NC's remarks after this game, but I'd lay money she says something about how the ball needs to touch the post, and we need to commit to playing inside/outside.

Spacing - really poor at times last night. We even had one possession when two players (Felder and Walker?) caught a pass at the same time. We have 3 excellent 3 point shooters, in Fontleroy, Van Gytenbeek, and Andrews, so it does hurt when 2 of those threats are sidelined. However, we still need to have a better feel for creating space to create driving lanes and room to work.

Walker and Buggs - real bright spots last night. The game felt like one possession after another we would attempt to work the ball within our offense, with spacing and screens and passes, but we would inevitably get sloppy and fail over and over, only to have Walker or Buggs do something individually to create a bucket and bail us out. Thank goodness for them, but that's not a winning formula against top teams.

Kayla - bright future, but last night was exposed as a Freshman in her first competitive game. She only played 4 minutes, and that included two 3 pointers that were arguably too early in the possession, and getting lost on defense which led to a layup. I believe she'll get there and be a very good player, but she needs to be in better physical condition, and her effectiveness will take time and practice reps and game film.

Abraham - the good news is she is probably the best shot blocker we've had since Lauren Cox. Not only does she have exceptional athleticism for her size, but she also has a feel for timing and angles. The bad news is she has not yet developed good touch or feel for her shot, so even when we can get the ball to her in great position in the post, she can miss layups.

Jennings - love the energy and toughness and defensive effort. She's not yet a game winner on offense, but she's got some basic skills with ball handling and passing that are a good foundation. Seems like she needs to adjust to the increased size and strength and speed of top D1 play after 2 years of Juco, but she does seem to be on a good track.

Bella and Jana - always knew they were critical pieces, but last night really proved just how important they are.

blackie
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In another thread CNC says Bella "rolled an ankle". Anyone know (in general, theorhetically) the impact of that on her return.
Polarbear
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In general, theoretically. CNC said Bella rolled her ankle, and they couldn't get access to an X-ray machine. That implies:

  • Protocol is to take an X-ray to confirm there is no fracture. Saying she "rolled" her ankle, and the fact that Bella walked off the floor on her own power, are positive signs that it's a sprain and not a fracture, but caution and complete diagnosis is the proper approach.
  • If it is simply a sprain, there are different levels. High ankle sprains take longer recovery than low ankle sprains. Was it a mild or severe roll?
  • It's conceivable that if they could X-ray last night and confirm no fracture or structural damage, Bella may have felt good enough to wrap the ankle and return to the game.
  • Generally, ankle sprains require anywhere from a week to 5 weeks for recovery.
Brusinbear2001
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and i would much rather have her later compared to now. Need her to get healthy so we can win the Big 12. This will force the other bench players to get on board. I think at the end we will be better because of this adversity early. The team did not have this until big 12 play and had a stretch of just getting exposed for a few games back to back.
blackie
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Polarbear said:

In general, theoretically. CNC said Bella rolled her ankle, and they couldn't get access to an X-ray machine. That implies:

  • Protocol is to take an X-ray to confirm there is no fracture. Saying she "rolled" her ankle, and the fact that Bella walked off the floor on her own power, are positive signs that it's a sprain and not a fracture, but caution and complete diagnosis is the proper approach.
  • If it is simply a sprain, there are different levels. High ankle sprains take longer recovery than low ankle sprains. Was it a mild or severe roll?
  • It's conceivable that if they could X-ray last night and confirm no fracture or structural damage, Bella may have felt good enough to wrap the ankle and return to the game.
  • Generally, ankle sprains require anywhere from a week to 5 weeks for recovery.

The biggest thing that concerned me was that I do not believe she ever even came back to the bench.
Brusinbear2001
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i think that is more so because they wanted/had to get an X ray. They probably just had her treating it in the locker room. At least that would make the most sense to me.
BaylorTaxman
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blackie said:

Polarbear said:

In general, theoretically. CNC said Bella rolled her ankle, and they couldn't get access to an X-ray machine. That implies:

  • Protocol is to take an X-ray to confirm there is no fracture. Saying she "rolled" her ankle, and the fact that Bella walked off the floor on her own power, are positive signs that it's a sprain and not a fracture, but caution and complete diagnosis is the proper approach.
  • If it is simply a sprain, there are different levels. High ankle sprains take longer recovery than low ankle sprains. Was it a mild or severe roll?
  • It's conceivable that if they could X-ray last night and confirm no fracture or structural damage, Bella may have felt good enough to wrap the ankle and return to the game.
  • Generally, ankle sprains require anywhere from a week to 5 weeks for recovery.

The biggest thing that concerned me was that I do not believe she ever even came back to the bench.


She came back out but was wearing a boot.
Scottdye
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Have we heard anything on Bella?
ScottyB_The_Baylor_King
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Not anything. Maybe it gets asked in next press conference.
Chibears2
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At Tip-off Club Luncheon, CNC intimated that Bella would play Thursday, just not sure how she'd look. Coach did point out Buggs had one of her best scoring games after she tweaked her ankle, so maybe Bella would follow suit.
12au
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Chibears2 said:

At Tip-off Club Luncheon, CNC intimated that Bella would play Thursday, just not sure how she'd look. Coach did point out Buggs had one of her best scoring games after she tweaked her ankle, so maybe Bella would follow suit.
Great news!
historian
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Sic 'em Bella!
 
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