No. 14 Baylor Women’s Basketball Demolishes Southeastern Louisiana 112-47

WACO, Texas – No. 14 Baylor women’s basketball (8-1) downed Southeastern Louisiana (2-4) 112-47, scoring a ridiculous 1.623 points per possession in the win.

Redshirt-sophomore guard Taliah Scott led the Bears with 23 points, four steals and a career-high 10 assists. Scott shot 9-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

Forward Bella Fontleroy contributed 20 points and five rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting from the field.

Senior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs scored 10 points and totaled 14 rebounds in the triumph. She also added three assists and two blocks. 

Baylor simply had no issues creating open shots and totaled 36 assists on 47 made field goals. Point guard Jana Van Gytenbeek assisted on 12 made shots and only turned the ball over twice. The Bears shot 47-of-74 from the field and 14-of-28 from the 3-point line.

The Bears were running and finding success early. After a Littlepage-Buggs driving layup in the halfcourt, Baylor scored 10 consecutive points where the Southeastern Louisiana defense was not set. Scott scored on a crafty spin-layup, Fontleroy knocked down a trail 3-pointer and Kiersten Johnson finished a layup on assists from Van Gytenbeek. A Fontleroy layup later cued a kill chant from the Baylor band, a timeout for the Lady Lions and finished a killshot (10-0 run). 

The Bears did not let up following the timeout. Scott knocked down a jumper in the halfcourt, and then the Bears started running again. Scott converted a transition bucket, Van Gytenbeek knocked down a wing triple on the fastbreak. Another Scott transition basket, a Fontleroy 3-pointer and a Littlepage-Buggs transition basket ballooned the lead to 29-2. Freshman guard Marcayla Johnson got in on the action, knocking down a stepback jumper and assisting Scott on another transition triple. Baylor went on a 32-0 run before a second-chance push shot fell for the Lady Lions.

Baylor played as flawless an offensive quarter as one can expect in basketball. The Bears turned the ball over once, shot an incredible 15-of-17 from the field, and knocked down 4-of-5 from distance. They also turned the Lady Lions over six times, with five being live-ball turnovers, and amassed 11 assists on the 15 made field goals. The Bears entered the second quarter with a 36-7 lead.

Scott led the way with 15 points on 6-of-6 shooting, three assists and two steals in only eight minutes. Fontleroy added eight points on 3-of-3 shooting, and Littlepage-Buggs added six points and three rebounds herself. Baylor’s big three combined to go 12-of-12 from the field in the first quarter.

Baylor’s absurd efficiency from the field continued into the second quarter. The Bears were 6-of-9 from the field for 14 points at the media timeout, led by two corner 3-pointers from sophomore wing Yuting Deng. Ten of those points were bench points, with Johnson knocking down a short jumper and redshirt-junior forward Kyla Abraham adding a layup.

Eight Bears scored a field goal in the second quarter, led by Fontleroy, who scored seven points on five shots. The senior scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the half. Scott closed the half with 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting to go along with six assists and three steals. Van Gytenbeek ran the Bears’ transition and early half-court offense to perfection, totaling six points, five rebounds and nine assists in the half. Littlepage-Buggs led the Bears on the glass with six rebounds and senior forward Kiersten Johnson added three blocks. Johnson ended the game with 10 points in addition to the three blocks.

The first half ended with Baylor leading Southeastern Louisiana 65-20, converting on 27-of-37 field goal attempts and 9-of-15 3-point attempts, with 21 of the made baskets coming off assists. Furthermore, Baylor only turned the ball over five times. Baylor scored on 80% of its possessions and posted an unheard-of 1.857 points per possession. The Baylor defense was strong too, holding the Lady Lions to 9-of-34 shooting from the field while turning them over nine times.

Baylor remained on the gas entering the third quarter. Fontleroy opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, and Littlepage-Buggs and Johnson added a putback each. The Bears’ success in transition followed, with Johnson and Van Gytenbeek scoring transition layups. Scott added a triple. The most tense moment of the game happened with 4:59 left in the third quarter, as Scott was in pain, holding her left shoulder as the game paused for a media timeout. However, Scott checked back in later that quarter, removing any worry.

Marcayla Johnson knocked down a triple from the right corner in the third quarter. The freshman was 0-of-15 from beyond the arc to that point, and Johnson pointed to the sky and showed a look of happiness and relief when the shot fell. A triple from Deng ended the quarter with Baylor leading 90-30.

Nine Bears scored in the third quarter, with only Kiersten Johnson scoring multiple times from the field. While Baylor’s efficiency fell to a more modest 10-of-18 from the field and 4-of-8 from downtown, the Bears rebounded five of their misses on their way to a 25-point quarter. The Lady Lions were limited to five makes on 15 field-goal attempts.

Baylor’s bench led the way in the fourth quarter as the Bears cruised through the final 10 minutes. Johnson knocked down her second triple of the game and converted on a mid-range shot to lead the Bears with five points in the quarter. Deng, Abraham, sophomore Kayla Nelms, and junior Kiera Pemberton all scored in the quarter, as Baylor amassed 16 fourth-quarter bench points. 

Bench scoring was a huge positive in the win. The Bears scored 41 bench points, led by Johnson’s 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. Deng added 11 points but did not have her most efficient outing, shooting 4-of-12 from the field. Furthermore, Baylor limited itself to 11 turnovers, an improvement from this season’s trend.

While the Lady Lions were extremely out-talented, the scoring outburst was a very welcome sight for the Bears. Baylor’s defense has been strong, ranked 12th nationally on Barttorvik, but the offense has lagged behind, ranking 48th nationally entering today. The Bears have done an impressive job handling business so far in the homestand, as they inch closer to a matchup with Texas.

The Bears’ (8-1) next game is against the UTSA Roadrunners at 2 p.m. CT, Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Foster Pavilion. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.