No. 16 Baylor Women’s Basketball Downs No. 7 Duke 58-52 in Paris to Open the Season

PARIS – No. 16 Baylor women’s basketball (1-0) defeats No.7 Duke (0-1) by a score of 58-52, using a 29-19 second half to come from behind and knock off the Blue Devils in the Oui-Play Paris 2025 event on Monday at Adidas Arena.

Transfer guard Taliah Scott led Baylor with 24 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Scott scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to go up 49-43, and the Bears led the rest of the game.

Forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs also contributed a double-double, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. However, Duke’s interior gave her some issues, as she only scored two points after the first quarter and finished the game 3-for-12 from the field.

While head coach Nicki Collen’s team did not shoot the ball well from 3-point range, making only 3 of their 15 attempts, the Bears amassed 20 offensive rebounds and won the rebounding battle 51-40.

Duke started the game on a 7-0 run, as Baylor looked asleep. A lazy pass from senior Bella Fontleroy and a couple of bad takes put the Blue Devils in control early. Senior forward Kiersten Johnson opened up the scoring for the Bears, and followed her bucket with a block to give Baylor life. Johnson finished with eight rebounds and two blocks. Littlepage-Buggs kept the Bears in the game early, with eight points, three rebounds and one block in the first quarter. The Bears had five turnovers in the quarter and found themselves down 17-15 going into the second quarter.

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Baylor’s struggles shooting the ball from 3-point range and taking care of the ball were further highlighted in the second quarter. The Bears shot 0-6 from downtown and totaled six turnovers. A 8-0 Duke run to close the half, following a Duke timeout, put the Blue Devils up 33-29.

Down 39-33 with 6:42 left in the third quarter, Collen chose to run a two-big lineup and rolled out Littlepage-Buggs, Johnson, and redshirt junior forward Kyla Abraham at the 3-through-5. The length of those three led the Bears to a 10-4 run to end the quarter. Baylor outrebounded Duke 14-7 in the third quarter, and did not allow another field goal in the half-court for the remainder of the quarter following Collen’s lineup change. Abraham ended the game with six rebounds and four blocks.

Scott opened the fourth quarter by jumping a passing lane and finishing on the other end, which ended up putting the Bears in the lead for good. She added a layup and pull-up jumper on the following two possessions to balloon the lead to six and force Duke head coach Kara Lawson to call a timeout. Scott finished the quarter with 12 points, despite being guarded by elite defender Jadyn Donovan. The rest of the team contributed three points in the quarter, but those points came at a key moment. With the Bears in a 4:12 scoring drought, sixth-year guard Jana Van Gytenbeek knocked down a huge 3-pointer to extend the lead to seven.

Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Defeating a top-10 opponent while shooting 31.7% from the field, 20.0% from 3-point range and turning the ball over 19 times speaks to the Bears’ fight. While Fontleroy and freshman guard Marcayla Johnson only combined for eight points, their effort, among others previously mentioned, was visible and key to the victory. This marks the Bears’ first top-10 win since December 2023, and despite having room for improvement, it is a great win over an extremely talented Duke squad.

The Bears (1-0) will return to action on at 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 9, against Lindenwood at the Foster Pavilion. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.