Bears Lash Longhorns 85-79 in Big 12 Opener

The Bears may have had seven days off for the Christmas holiday, but they didn’t show it in their conference opener at No. 5 Texas. This game resembled a late-march tournament game with two programs exchanging blows for a full 40 minutes.

The Bears utilized five double-figuring-scorers to dispatch the Longhorns in their 85-79 victory. This is the second time this season that the Bears have faced a top five opponent and the second time that they have kept the lead for the entirety of the game.

Jada Walker led the Bears in scoring with 19 points to her name and four steals to accent her stat line. Dre’Una Edwards was only one-point behind Walker in scoring with 18, and Sarah Andrews followed close behind with 16 of her own. Bella Fontleroy and Yaya Felder round out the double-figure scorers for the Bears, they each put up 12 and neither of them played more than 19 minutes. The eight remaining points belong to Darianna Littlepage-Buggs.

The Bear's unselfishness continued to be a bright spot with 17 assists today. Edwards led the effort with 6 assists. Edwards had her hand on each of the first 9 points for Baylor with a layup and three assists in the opening minutes.

Off the boards, Edwards led the Bears with 8 rebounds, one offensive and seven defensive. 

On the other side of the court, Texas leaned on Madison Booker who led the game in scoring with 25 points, with Amina Muhammad (17), Shay Holle (13) and Shaylee Gonzales (12) also scoring in double-figures for the Longhorns.

Up Next: 

Big 12 Home-Opener against No. 23 TCU in the Foster Pavillion on January 3, 2024, at 7:00 p.m.

Notes from Baylor Athletics:

• The No. 10 Baylor women’s basketball team won its 14th-straight game in Austin with an 85-79 victory over No. 5 Texas at the Moody Center on Saturday afternoon.
• The victory marked the Bears’ second top-five win of the year after knocking off then-No. 4 Utah on Nov. 14.
• The last time Baylor picked up two top-five wins in the regular season was during the 2012-13 campaign, beating No. 3 UConn and No. 5 Notre Dame on the road.
• The win signified Baylor’s second-straight conference-opening win and eighth in the last 10 years.
• The 79 points scored by Longhorns marked their third-lowest scoring output this year and lowest in a Big 12 opener since only scoring 62 at Oklahoma State during the 2021-22 campaign.
• The game was the first Big 12 women’s basketball game to air on FOX.
• The Bears moved to 10-6 in nationally televised games with Nicki Collen at the helm. 
• Baylor has never trailed at halftime this season and the Bears are 57-4 under the direction of Collen when leading at the intermission.
• BU forced Texas to commit 23 turnovers – the most in a game by the Longhorns this season and most in a conference game since turning the ball over 24 times at Oklahoma on Jan. 29, 2022.
• Baylor’s nine 3-pointers were the most given up by the Longhorns this year.
• Senior Sarah Andrews went a game-high 4-for-8 from behind the 3-point arc. She moved into second all-time in career 3-pointers made with 197.
• Five Bears finished in double figures led by Jada Walker’s season-high 19 points. Dre’Una Edwards added 18 and Andrews recorded 16. Before fouling out, Bella Fontleroy put up 12 points and Yaya Felder finished in double figures for the fourth time in the last five games, contributing 12.
• Edwards led the Bears on the glass, grabbing eight boards, while dishing out a team-high six assists.
• The Bears finished higher from the field (56.7%), behind the 3-point arc (45.0%) and from the charity stripe (66.7%) than the Longhorns, who went a season-low 25% (4-for-16) from deep.