No. 14 Baylor Women’s Basketball uses Big Second Half to Beat UTSA 73-55

WACO, Texas – No. 14 Baylor women’s basketball (9-1) defeated UTSA (3-5) by a score of 73-55, overcoming a slow first half in a comfortable win on Sunday afternoon at Foster Pavilion.

Redshirt-sophomore guard Taliah Scott used a strong second half to end with 19 points, with 17 points coming in the second half. Scott shot 6-of-11 from the field and added three assists.

Point guard Jana Van Gytenbeek had her best game of the season, scoring 16 points and dishing out three assists in the victory. The veteran shot 5-of-10 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range.

Senior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs scored 14 points and totaled five rebounds in the triumph. She also added five steals. 

Baylor struggled with efficiency in the first half, but its superior talent slowly overwhelmed UTSA. The Bears also had a strong defensive showing, turning the Roadrunners over 21 times and holding them to 25-of-66 shooting.

The Roadrunners’ zone gave the Baylor offense fits early. The Bears have not had the most inspiring zone offense this season, and UTSA took advantage of it before the first media timeout. Baylor started the game 1-of-5 from the field and turned the ball over five times. Furthermore, Baylor was unable to secure offensive rebounds. The lone basket for the Bears came from a Van Gytenbeek drive into the paint, kick and relocate, where she knocked down a top-of-the-key 3-pointer. Paint touches were hard to obtain early, a big reason Baylor started the game down 7-3.

Baylor came out of the media timeout determined to score. The following offensive possession for the Bears generated another open Van Gytenbeek 3-pointer from a similar spot, and the sixth-year point guard converted the attempt. Van Gytenbeek ended the quarter with eight points. Four converted free throws from Littlepage-Buggs over the next two possessions, and a Kyla Abraham free throw capped an 8-0 run that put the Bears up 11-7. 

Baylor’s defense was a huge strength in the first quarter. The Bears turned the Roadrunners over six times and held them to 5-of-16 shooting from the field. However, only two of those turnovers were of the live-ball variety, and the Bears only scored a single fastbreak basket, a Scott left-handed layup late in the quarter. The first quarter ended with Baylor leading 15-11.

Marcayla Johnson opened up the scoring for the Bears in the second quarter, knocking down a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the left corner. Abraham knocked down a mid-range jumper on the following possession, cueing a UTSA timeout and a kill chant from the band with the score being 20-13. Abraham ended with eight points on 3-of-3 shooting, five rebounds, four stocks and zero turnovers.

After a UTSA basket, both teams failed to score for over three minutes before a UTSA 3-pointer cut the lead to 20-18. Baylor responded, with Bella Fontleroy drawing a charge and Yuting Deng knocking down a pull-up jumper after attacking a closeout. Baylor and UTSA started exchanging points, with the lead alternating between two and four, before another Van Gytenbeek top-of-the-key triple and a Deng hoop and harm pushed the lead to six, with a score of 30-24. However, the Roadrunners continued to fight, with another basket and a drawn charge continuing to keep the game close. The first half concluded with a score of 31-26, with the hosts on top.

Baylor was limited to 9-of-26 shooting from the field and turned the ball over 10 times in the first half. Leading scorer Scott was held to just two points on 1-of-3 shooting and totaled three turnovers herself. Furthermore, the Bears’ second-leading scorer this season, Fontleroy, scored only two points and went 0-for-6 from the 3-point line. However, Fontleroy finished with three steals and two blocks, contributing despite struggling on offense. Littlepage-Buggs was unable to score from the field in the first half. However, 11 first-half points from Van Gytenbeek and 12 bench points coming from Johnson, Abraham and Deng helped the Bears hold a lead at half. UTSA was limited to 12-of-29 shooting and turned the ball over 12 times, while failing to get to the charity stripe. In contrast, Baylor scored nine points on 13 attempts from the free-throw line.

Van Gytenbeek continued her hot start by nailing a right-wing 3-pointer to open third-quarter scoring, and followed it up with good defense, which led to a UTSA shot-clock violation. Two free throws from Scott and a left-wing 3-pointer from the star guard upped the Baylor lead to 11, the biggest lead to that point, before a UTSA 3-pointer cut the lead back to single digits.

Baylor’s three leading scorers began to take control of the game after the Van Gytenbeek triple, with Scott, Littlepage-Buggs and Fontleroy scoring 14 consecutive points. Following an Abraham second-chance layup and a Scott mid-range pull-up jumper to end the quarter, the Bears had extended their lead to 12 entering the final quarter, with a lead of 52-40.

A team can only keep Scott quiet for so long. The uber-talented redshirt-sophomore scored nine points in the quarter of 3-of-3 shooting. The Bears shot 7-of-13 in the quarter, amassing 21 points in their tied-highest-scoring quarter on the afternoon. Furthermore, they held the Roadrunners to 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting and turned them over an additional five times.

The Bears’ stars continued to take control of the game entering the final quarter. Littlepage-Buggs and Scott both scored four points in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. A further Littlepage-Buggs basket, a mid-range jumper out of a horns set, extended the lead to 20. The duo combined for the first 12 points of the quarter for Baylor.

However, the Roadrunners ripped off a 9-0 run in response. Both Scott and Littlepage-Buggs missed shots over the course of the UTSA run, and the lack of balanced scoring helped the visiting team threaten the Bears. With Baylor needing offense, it was the two highest scorers from the first half making their impact felt once again. Van Gytenbeek finished a layup after Baylor broke UTSA’s press, and a Deng 3-pointer pushed the lead back to 14, icing the win for the Bears. An additional press break led to a Scott layup. An Abraham layup and block put the game to bed, with the Bears triumphing 73-55.

The biggest takeaway from the win is the production Baylor received from the point guard position. Van Gytenbeek has had her two highest-scoring games in a row, and 16 is her season-high. While turnovers remain an issue, and the 3-point shooting was subpar on the day, Baylor figured out how to get to the free-throw line and amass 73 points on the day. The biggest issue on the day was allowing 18 offensive rebounds. Kiersten Johnson only secured one rebound on the day, as she had an off-game. The win was overall sloppy, but it contained some promising performances from various players.

The Bears’ (9-1) next game is against the Alabama State Lady Hornets at 11 a.m. CT, Tuesday, Dec. 9, at the Foster Pavilion. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.