No. 18 Bears Struggle From Free Throw Line, Lose 73-65 to Indiana

PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – No. 18 Baylor (4-2) fell 73-65 in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament against Indiana (4-2) on Sunday afternoon at Imperial Arena.

Both teams combined for 52 fouls in the game. While Indiana shot 87% (26-30) from the free throw line, the Bears shot at a rough 62% (16-26) clip.

Baylor was plagued by foul trouble for much of the afternoon. Forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (Jr.), the Bears’ leading scorer this year, fouled out and played just 21 minutes; she had a season-low five points.

After making 15 3-pointers in yesterday’s win over Southern Miss, Baylor was 7-for-23 from beyond the arc, with five of those coming from guard Yaya Felder (Sr.), who had a team-high 20 points. Overall, Baylor shot 33% (21-63) from the floor.

Indiana opened the game scorching hot from the field and jumped out to an early 17-2 lead five minutes into the contest.

In the first quarter, the Hoosiers shot 57% from the field (8-14), 75% from deep (3-4) and 80% from the free-throw line (8-10).

Despite scoring 101 points in Saturday’s win over Southern Miss, Baylor struggled to get into an offensive rhythm. 

Five players picked up at least two fouls in the first half — Littlepage-Buggs, Sarah Andrews (5Sr.), Aaronette Vonleh (Sr.), Kyla Abraham (Jr.), Madison Bartley (5Sr.) — limiting who could stay on the court consistently. 

After getting down early, the Bears were able to weather the storm and cut the Indiana lead to 37-33 going into halftime.

Felder was unconscious from Baylor from deep in the first half, scoring 8 of her 20 points in the second quarter; she started the contest 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

The Bears came out strong to open the third quarter and tied the game at 46 apiece on a Vonleh bucket. From that point on, the Hoosiers closed the quarter on a 9-3 run. During that stretch, Baylor turned the ball over four times.

The Bears ran out of gas in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over six times. Guards Jada Walker (Sr.) and Andrews combined for 18 points and shot 4-for-25 from the field.

Baylor (4-2) will now play for a third-place finish and face the loser of No. 16 North Carolina (4-1) versus Villanova (4-1) at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25.