Buggs Scores 30, Bears Beat Tennessee State 93-27 in Blowout
WACO, Texas — The No. 18 Baylor Women’s Basketball team (8-2) rolled past the Tennessee State Tigers 93-27 Thursday in the Ferrell Center.
With a raucous crowd of local elementary school kids raising the roof, the Bears put on a dominant display. Darriana Littlepage-Buggs led all scorers with 30 points and Baylor out-rebounded TSU 53-18.
In fact, Buggs outscored the entire TSU team.
Buggs and the Bears got things started quickly, with a 12-5 lead including six points from the star freshman.
After that, the home crowd was treated to the return of Aijha Blackwell from injury. The Mizzou transfer netted 11 points in just nine minutes of game action on the day, all coming in the first half.
After the game, Blackwell said of her time on the sidelines, “It was frustrating because I never had an injury like this, but it was good to be back”
By halftime, the green and gold were up 45-19 and had won a 28-11 rebounding advantage, thanks in large part to 12 offensive boards from seven different Bears.
The second half was much of the same. Quarter three was a 26-4 romp by Baylor with Ja’Mee Asberry scoring 10 of her 16 points in the frame.
By the end of the night, Bella Fontleroy joined the double-digit scorers club with 12 of her own.
Despite the apparent ease of the game for Baylor, head coach Nicki Collen was locked in after the game saying “I don’t think we played very well… I think we were fortunate that this team [TSU] did not turn our turnovers into points.”
There are worse ways to return from finals week than a 93-27 blowout win though, especially with a good opponent like No. 20 Arizona looming on a neutral court up in Dallas on Sunday evening.
That game tips off at 6:30 PM CT and will be televised on ESPN 2. Tickets are still available for this doubleheader with the Baylor Men playing Washington State at 9 PM on the same court that night.
As far as Blackwell’s availability goes for Sunday, Collen said “Ideally we can get into the 20-some minutes against Arizona, but we’re really taking it day by day.”