The Good, The Bad & The Ugly from Baylor's Week of Sports
Senior Day was memorable for both basketball squads for all the wrong reasons. Elsewhere, softball continues to shine, and baseball keeps battling, plus plenty more around the spring slate.
Here's a look at The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from the past week in Baylor Athletics.
The Good
WBB Topples Texas — WBB scored a significant victory over No. 12 Texas in Austin to start the week. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs led the Bears with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Sarah Andrews and Ja'Mee Asberry also contributed on the boards and scored in double-figures as the team earned a fun and unexpected Top 25 win.
MBB Honors — The week didn't end on a high note, but there were many positives initially. For one, there was an important win over a scrappy Oklahoma State squad. But there were also All-Big 12 accolades aplenty. Adam Flagler was named unanimous All-Big 12 First Team, and LJ Cryer garnered a Third Team selection. Keyonte George was a big winner, too, earning multiple accolades, including Freshman of the Year, All-Big 12 2nd Team, All-Freshman Team, and All-Newcomer Team honors.
Softball — No. 19 Softball went 4-1 overall, including a 3-1 record as hosts of the Ode to Joy Invitational. An event that finished with the Bears earning a walk-off win against No. 25 Texas A&M to end the weekend. The Bears dropped their Saturday opener against the Aggies, 3-0, before walking off Sam Houston State, 9-8, thanks to Emily Hott's 3 RBI double and Josie Bower's walk-off single. Then on Sunday, the Bears took down the Bearkats 6-1 before sophomore Amber Toven's RBI-single game-winner in the 8th inning moved the Bears to 17-2 on the year. Beginning on Wednesday, they'll head to California for five games in the Long Beach/Fullerton Tournament. First baseman Jaylon Govan earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors.
Men's Golf — The No. 22 Bears enter Monday morning in a three-way tie for third place at the Cabo Collegiate event in Mexico. Round two action will see the Bears in a group with No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 2 Arizona State, and Ole Miss.
Men's Tennis — The Bears split their Sunday doubleheader at the Hurd Tennis Center, falling to Arizona State 3-4 but rebounding with a 6-1 victory over Furman. The Bears will take on USC this Friday in Los Angeles.
Women's Tennis — Saturday started with a shutout loss to No. 25 Arizona State in Tempe but ended with a 5-2 win over Grand Canyon that night in Phoenix. They'll begin Big 12 play this week, hosting Oklahoma State on Friday and Oklahoma on Sunday.
Track & Field — The Bears are sending six entries to this week's NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, NM. Hasani Barr, Matthew Moorer, and Nathaniel Ezekiel all qualified individually in the quarter-mile after sweeping the podium at the Big 12 Championships. Dillon Bedell will also join the trio for the 4x400m relay. In addition, Big 12 silver medalist Demar Francis will run in the 200-meters. Mariah Ayers was the program's lone entry on the women's side, earning a spot in the 200m.
The Bad
EQ Finale — The No. 8 Bears lost to No. 3 TCU in their regular-season finale. They'll head to Stillwater later this month for the Big 12 Championships.
Women's Golf — Thanks to a strong back-nine, the No. 9 Bears made up ground to finish in seventh place at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in Hilton Head, SC. Junior Rosie Belsham led the way with a third-place finish.
Baseball — It was a tough 2-3 week record-wise for Mitch Thompson and the gang, but they're battling, and the process continues. They'll host DBU on Tuesday and Mercer for a weekend series beginning Friday.
SB No Hit — Softball's only blemish was a real lowlight as the Bears were no-hit by Texas A&M on Saturday. Thankfully, revenge was sweet on Sunday.
The Ugly
Basketball Senior Daze — So much for sending everyone home happy on Senior Day. Both basketball teams entered Saturday with plenty of confidence and motivation. Still, for whatever reason, each was severely lacking in too many other areas of importance as each home finale went from celebration to slaughter. Iowa State again had MBB's number, and now, a third matchup to kick off the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City on Wednesday. An early exit is a possibility for the 4-seed Bears. Meanwhile, WBB got outlasted by the Mountaineers, finishing 0-2 against West Virginia, and as the Big 12 6-seed, they'll be underdogs facing 3-seed Iowa State on Friday in KC. They split the regular-season matchups.
