Baylor's Defense Dominates as No. 19 Bears Stifle Utah 61–45

SALT LAKE CITY – No. 19 Baylor women’s basketball (16-3, 5-1) extended its winning streak to five games with a 61-45 road victory over the Utah Utes (13-5, 4-2) on Wednesday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. 

The Bears’ defense was suffocating in the contest, holding the Utes to their lowest point total in conference play (45) and the second-lowest of the season, while forcing 14 turnovers and seven blocks. Utah shot just 26% (16-of-61) from the field and 12% (3-of-25) from deep.

On the offensive end, the Bears shot 38% (24-of-62) from the field and tied a season-high in 3-pointers, drilling 9-of-25 shots from beyond the arc. Redshirt sophomore guard Taliah Scott led Baylor with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-21 shooting.

“Ultimately, our length bothers teams when you’re not giving them the 3, and the one thing I’m super proud of is we didn’t give up a lot of back-cut layups,” head coach Nicki Collen told the Baylor Sports Media Network after the win. “The number of times they moved the ball side to side, the number of opportunities to cut and the number of times we didn’t give up layups was pretty impressive.”

Senior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs battled foul trouble all throughout the contest, but finished with 11 points and nine rebounds in just 22 minutes. Senior forward Bella Fontleroy stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, five rebounds and three blocks, while redshirt senior guard Jana Van Gytenbeek chipped in 10 points and six assists.

“I thought Buggs got a little frustrated, but she was so good when she was there. She was taking good shots and cutting at the right time,” Collen said post-game. “Bella gave us really good play early. Jana made shots early. Once again, we pieced it together. We did a little bit of everything and got enough to win, and it was because of our defense.”

While the Bears have struggled offensively at times so far this season, that wasn’t the case early on Wednesday night, as Baylor jumped out to a quick 21-18 first-quarter lead thanks to a hot 4-of-7 start from downtown.

Things slowed down in the second quarter as both teams featured an ugly four-plus-minute stretch where neither squad scored, but Scott picked things up to end the period, draining multiple jumpers to help the Bears close on a 10-0 run and take a 35-24 lead into the halftime locker room.

Baylor had a chance to bury the Utes in the third quarter, but Utah was able to collect six offensive rebounds in the period and capitalize with three second-chance points and six more points at the charity stripe.

Sophomore guard Yuting Deng, however, was able to give the Bears the boost they needed to put the game out of reach late, with four of her nine points coming in the fourth quarter.

The Bears (16-3, 5-1) will stay in the Beehive State and face the BYU Cougars (14-3, 3-2) at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Marriott Center.