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Baylor Women's Basketball

Gameday Thread: No. 17 Baylor Plays Rival No. 10 TCU For Big 12 Regular Season Title

February 28, 2025
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WACO, Texas – No. 17 Baylor women’s basketball (25-5, 15-2) will close its regular season with an opportunity to play for the Big 12 regular season title against No. 10 TCU (27-3, 15-2). Tipoff from Foster Pavilion is slated for 5:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 2, and will be televised on FS1.


  • Massey Prediction: Baylor 72, TCU 65
  • Baylor Massey Rating: No. 11
    • Baylor NET Ranking: No. 16
  • TCU Massey Rating: No. 9
    • TCU Net Ranking: No. 9

Coaches

Baylor (Nicki Collen): 99-33 Record; 3 NCAA Tournaments; Sweet 16

TCU (Mark Campbell): 87-38 Record; NCAA Tournament


Baylor Starters

  • Guard Jada Walker (5’7, Sr.): 11 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 5.7 APG, 43% FG, 38% 3-PT, 75% FT
  • Guard Sarah Andrews (5’6, Sr.): 11.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 5 APG, 37% FG, 38% 3-PT, 56% FT
  • Guard Yaya Felder (5’8, Sr.): 10.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.8 APG, 45% FG, 40% 3-PT, 73% FT
  • *Forward Bella Fontleroy (6’0, Jr.): 9.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 40% FG, 33% 3-PT, 55% FT
  • Center Aaronette Vonleh (6’3, Sr.): 13.7 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 60% FG, 61% FT

*questionable with injury*


Baylor Bench

  • Guard Aliyah Matharu (5’7, Sr.): 7.6 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 43% FG, 39% 3-PT, 57% FT
  • Guard Waiata Jennings (5’9, Jr.): 2.2 PPG, 45% FG, 37% 3-PT, 100% FT
  • Forward Kyla Abraham (6’3, Jr.): 2.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 46% FG, 36% FT
  • Forward Kayla Nelms (6’1, Fr.): 2.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 45% FG, 22% 3-PT
  • *Forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (6’1, Jr.): 14.3 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 54% FG, 73% FT

*doubtful with injury*


TCU Starters

  • Guard Hailey Van Lith (5’9, Sr.): 18.2 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 5.9 APG, 45% FG, 31% 3-PT, 83% FT
  • Guard Madison Conner (5’11, Sr.): 15.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 4.2 APG, 43% FG, 47% 3-PT, 85% FT
  • Guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu (5’11, Sr.): 5.1 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.8 APG, 37% FG, 38% 3-PT, 60% FT
  • Guard Taylor Bigby (6’1, Jr.): 7.6 PPG, 3 RPG, 44% FG, 35% 3-PT, 44% FT
  • Center Sedona Prince (6’7, Sr.): 19.1 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 3.5 BPG, 61% FG, 72% FT

TCU Bench

  • Guard Donovyn Hunter (6’0, So.): 5.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.1 APG, 46% FG, 32% 3-PT, 72% FT
  • Forward Aaliyah Roberson (6’2, Jr.): 5.3 PPG, 3 RPG, 54% FG, 46% 3-PT, 78% FT

TCU Opponents

  • No. 3 Notre Dame (76-68 Win)
  • No. 3 South Carolina (85-52 Loss)
  • Oklahoma State (60-59 Loss)
  • Baylor (80-75 Win)
  • No. 12 Kansas State (59-50 Loss)
  • No. 17 West Virginia (71-50 Win)

Top Quotes

Head coach Nicki Collen on the opportunity to win a Big 12 regular season title:

  • “I think this sets up to be a really big game for our league and for both teams on national TV. It should be a cool environment. I think we gotta keep the main thing the main thing, and that’s preparing for TCU and knowing that they stand in the way of a goal of ours, and certainly, it’s a goal of theirs.”

Head coach Nicki Collen gives an injury update on Bella Fontleroy (Jr.):

  • “She did not practice on Wednesday, so we’ll have a better gauge today in practice of where she’s at.”

Guard Sarah Andrews (Sr.) on whether you can script a better end to the regular season:

  • “It’s God’s plan. We were probably the underdog all season. I think TCU should be a little more nervous than us because it’s a lot of pressure on them. They are ranked higher than us, and we’re the underdog going into this game.”

Other WBB Reading

Discussion from...

Gameday Thread: No. 17 Baylor Plays Rival No. 10 TCU For Big 12 Regular Season Title

8,550 Views | 97 Replies | Last: 26 min ago by thales
Wbbfan29
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Losing to the #11 team by 3 with an off night and missing your leading scorer and rebounder .. not bad at all
HuttoBear
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The proof is in the pudding
blackie
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IowaBear said:

Wait until the games over to cry like a baby
He'd never be here if we were winning. We have some pathetic fans that are more interested in their agenda than Baylor winning. They ignore the progress to only come here to harp when there is a loss.....one I might add that we were going to be hard pressed to win without Buggs. We needed something more on the boards than just Vonleh. Nothing else needs to be said on that topic.

I would just like to have refs that can consistently count to 5.

Unbelievable how this game played out eerily similar to the one in Ft. Worth, right down to another blown 5-second call by the refs. We were on so close to a steal with 10 seconds down only two. Hopefully the women don't let the disappointment to affect the remainder of the season.

Hopefully Buggs gets back out there soon.
blackie
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IowaBear said:

Unpopular take but I'm ok with this loss. The big picture goal is the S16 or beyond. That's still in play despite tonight
I'm with you. Wherever we go for the 1st and 2nd rounds that team is going to get a tough out at their place. This team is really good, especially when (and I hope that is not an "if") we get Buggs back. Fun to watch. Hopefully people that had not come to the games all season see that as well. This game was over at the 2 minute mark, yet we were on the brink of sending it to OT.
Wbbfan29
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Buggs would have made a tremendous difference tonight. But we gave fight.
Bobby20
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blackie said:

IowaBear said:

Wait until the games over to cry like a baby
He'd never be here if we were winning. We have some pathetic fans that are more interested in their agenda than Baylor winning. They ignore the progress to only come here to harp when there is a loss.....one I might add that we were going to be hard pressed to win without Buggs. We needed something more on the boards than just Vonleh. Nothing else needs to be said on that topic.

I would just like to have refs that can consistently count to 5.

Unbelievable how this game played out eerily similar to the one in Ft. Worth, right down to another blown 5-second call by the refs. We were on so close to a steal with 10 seconds down only two. Hopefully the women don't let the disappointment to affect the remainder of the season.

Hopefully Buggs gets back out there soon.
Stop. Do not blame those 2 non-calls at the end of the game. Those are NOT why the Lady Bears lost this evening.
blackie
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Wbbfan29 said:

Buggs would have made a tremendous difference tonight. But we gave fight.
Totally agree. I chuckle at one of the previous posts that say the players didn't come to play offense or defense. What an inane thing to accuse. TCU played great defense and we held them to 30 points below their season average on offense. Both defenses made the other's offense look bad. That is actually a tribute to both teams. Just a tough one to come so close being short-handed.

Four of those starters for TCU were not on the team last year and this will be their only year to be there, I believe. It will be interesting see how both these teams look next year. Sadly, it is not so much player development that wins championships now a days but how good you are at picking up players to rent for a year or two that someone else developed.

The only disappointment for me other than winning is that we once again felt the need to have to alter some shots close to the basket resulting in misses that we normally make (and some were just bad luck). But I certainly understand the reason. We saw teams have to do that against us when we had a tree around the basket (Griner, Brown, etc.)
blackie
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Bobby20 said:

blackie said:

IowaBear said:

Wait until the games over to cry like a baby
He'd never be here if we were winning. We have some pathetic fans that are more interested in their agenda than Baylor winning. They ignore the progress to only come here to harp when there is a loss.....one I might add that we were going to be hard pressed to win without Buggs. We needed something more on the boards than just Vonleh. Nothing else needs to be said on that topic.

I would just like to have refs that can consistently count to 5.

Unbelievable how this game played out eerily similar to the one in Ft. Worth, right down to another blown 5-second call by the refs. We were on so close to a steal with 10 seconds down only two. Hopefully the women don't let the disappointment to affect the remainder of the season.

Hopefully Buggs gets back out there soon.
Stop. Do not blame those 2 non-calls at the end of the game. Those are NOT why the Lady Bears lost this evening.
Sorry fella, you need to read a bit. Where did I ever say the calls lost the game? What I said was that just like in the first game there a blatant non-call on an inbounds occurred. And nothing was said about any call with 10 seconds left. I simply said we were close to a steal. What do the refs have to do with that? We lost because we didn't hit shots.
geewago
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Desperately needed on more player to make just a decent contribution on offense. Sarah picked a terrible day to have her worst game. Just 6 - 7 points from her and it's different. Everybody showed up on defense but only YaYa and Vonleh came with offense


blackie
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geewago said:

Desperately needed on more player to make just a decent contribution on offense. Sarah picked a terrible day to have her worst game. Just 6 - 7 points from her and it's different. Everybody showed up on defense but only YaYa and Vonleh came with offense



I thought TCU played pretty well on defense on her. Almost any shot she took was / would have been contested. I think here you just have to tip your hat to the TCU defense. But you are correct, it wouldn't have taken much. We had many shots altered at the rim, but also just had some bad luck rim outs on more than enough to tip the game in our favor. Hope we get another shot at them this season.
DS Bear
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Just terrible to have the hated purple toads win a championship trophy on our floor. Not going to beat TCU shooting 29% FG and 11%% 3PT, or whatever it was and no rebounding. Wish we could have gotten #13 in foul trouble. He's not nearly as aggressive on the court as he is, apparently, off the court but he's got a sweet jump shot.
thales
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we don't lose this game if Kim is our coach

not a rivalry game on our home floor
Self Made Bear
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This could have easily been our game. Hit our free throws or two of those rim rollers fall through.
Self Made Bear
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thales said:

we don't lose this game if Kim is our coach


Not sure if you've been keeping up with current events, but Kim has lost 3 of her last five including one on her home court to an in-ranked team.
DP4LIFE
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Just back from the game. Great energy in the arena - only a handful of empty seats.

This game was a defensive slug-fest. It felt like a Sweet 16 game - both teams playing tenacious D - very few uncontested shots. So, while technically true that BU missed many lay-ups, I don't recall any that weren't heavily contested.

Just no space for Andrews to get free. Heck, Walker had a tough night getting any space.

Vonley played well - but they really had a chance to finish the first half strong when Prince went out - BU went to Vonley 2 straight possessions and she settled for bad shots against a weak defender both times.

Yaya worked her butt off all game. Just couldn't get any real rhythm.

Mathura was MIA. 2 bad traveling turnovers on indecisiveness. Couldn't get anything going.

I do think Buggs would have made a big difference tonight. Her rebounding and scoring ability opens up the floor for players like Andrews and Walker.

Tough loss. Great effort. If they play that kind of D in the tourney, and Buggs comes back, they have a shot to go on a good streak.
Bear3
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Kim lost to non ranked Ole Miss tonight!
SirBearALot
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Iowa St looked good in beating K st. We will get Iowa St first game in tourney and Tcu could face Kansas St with Ioka Lee.....
LTBear19
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LTBear19
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thales said:

we don't lose this game if Kim is our coach
As much as it pains me to say this, you are probably correct.

We do not lose THIS game - not to our rival for all of the marbles on our home floor.

Minus the 2014 West Virginia debacle (which was not a winner-take-all game), she was very good at pulling out such high stakes games on her home floor, often times imploring the crowd to get involved and help pull the team across the finish line.

Now if this were a neutral-site game in the Elite 8?

Then I'd say all bets are off.
Wolf 359
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whitetrash said:

Booboo Bear said:

Don't follow TCU . Why the hate for Prince by BU fans?


She's 25 years old with multiple accusations of sexual assault at both Oregon and TCU. Maybe at UT too.
Now, if she could just get arrested and detained for months by the Russian government on drug charges, then THAT would be somethin'!
Polarbear
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What a great effort defensively from both teams, and great game plans.

For TCU defensively, they were in our shirts on the perimeter, negating our ability to shoot 3 pointers (16%), because Sedona Prince was lurking in the lane to deter any drives. Perhaps the only way to counter them is to have a player at the 5 who can knock down shots from midrange and the perimeter, pulling Prince out, but with Netty and Kyla and their limited range, Prince effectively played a 1 man zone deep in the paint. We average 80 points/game, and we were held to 48 in our worst output of the year.

For Baylor defensively, our approach to trap their ballhandlers was really effective. In fact, it was a bit of a revelation to see Netty's mobility and endurance. I'm left wondering why we haven't seen more of that this year.

Offensively, I don't recall ever seeing us so rushed. Collen mentioned in the postgame that we were pushing shots, meaning we were trying to be so quick to get them up without being blocked that we weren't using a normal shooting motion with good ball rotation. It was up and down the roster; it felt like everybody had at least one rushed shot, some with more.

Credit to Netty and Yaya tonight; 34 of our 48 points, they were the only ones who could score. Hat tip to Netty for figuring out the puzzle of how to score over Prince after being shut down in Ft Worth a month ago.

Has been fun to watch Sarah Edwards and Hailey Van Lith competing this year. Famously they were in the same recruiting class, and both took official visits to Waco on the same weekend in Fall 2019. Sarah committed that weekend, but Van Lith waited until signing day and chose Louisville, but for a brief couple of weeks we fans were pondering a Sarah/Hailey backcourt.

So great to see Bella back. So impressed with how we've managed over last couple of weeks without Buggs, but there's no doubt we miss her and will be limited against elite teams until she returns.

I'd vote for Prince for Conference MVP. If there was a morals clause to the vote, perhaps not, but the award is for value on the court. She impacts a game with her defensive presence in so many ways that aren't shown in the box score, and she's very effective offensively. We left her open for a lot of midrange shots yesterday, and she consistently drained them; she also had a couple of excellent passes from the high post. She's the most important player on the league champion.

Credit to the fans for filling the Foster; what a great and worthy environment for an important game.

I'd love another shot at the Frogs next Sunday in the Tournament Championship.
Bone Squad
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Gross. Can we not sing the praises of a serial sexual assaulter?
MrGolfguy
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Bone Squad said:

Gross. Can we not sing the praises of a serial sexual assaulter?
Tell me again why she's allowed to play & why isn't ESPN camped out at Tcu giving an update at the top of every hour on Tcu's administration putting their students at risk by allowing her to walk around campus?
I'm not quite as dumb as I seem
BullBear_bf
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You could tell that this was going to be an off night for the Bears with the way they were shooting the ball in pregame warm ups. The 3 point shots were not going in the basket. Meanwhile, at the other end of the court, TCU was knocking down 3's all over the place and from everyone it seemed.
blackie
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LTBear19 said:

thales said:

we don't lose this game if Kim is our coach
As much as it pains me to say this, you are probably correct.

We do not lose THIS game - not to our rival for all of the marbles on our home floor.

Minus the 2014 West Virginia debacle (which was not a winner-take-all game), she was very good at pulling out such high stakes games on her home floor, often times imploring the crowd to get involved and help pull the team across the finish line.

Now if this were a neutral-site game in the Elite 8?

Then I'd say all bets are off.
No, she would have gotten a technical foul for going ballistic on the non-called 5 second violation TCU in-bounds play with about 30 seconds to go and blown the game up right there. CNC looked like she was about to get T'ed up herself but kept it under control enough. KM would have lost it. She always has.

As another poster mentioned she just lost to an unranked Ole Miss team on her home court on senior night. Why do some continue to bring up a prior coach that has ABSOLUTELY no effect on the game being played? She is still looking for her first SEC regular season championship. She does not want to be part of us. She tried her best to blow us up on the way out the door. I appreciate her accomplishments here, but we've got a new coach....and a darn good one. We lost the game because we couldn't hit shots, plain and simple. Enough already.
12au
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SirBearALot said:

Iowa St looked good in beating K st. We will get Iowa St first game in tourney and Tcu could face Kansas St with Ioka Lee.....
Ayoka Lee won't be back until NCAA Tournament if at all
thales
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Self Made Bear said:

thales said:

we don't lose this game if Kim is our coach


Not sure if you've been keeping up with current events, but Kim has lost 3 of her last five including one on her home court to an in-ranked team.
yes i was aware thanks

i am also aware that she is 118-18 with an ncaa title in 4 seasons at lsu
 
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