Tribune-Herald staff report

HOUSTON — By staying balanced, the Baylor Lady Bears put together another lopsided outcome.

With all five starters scoring in double figures, the 10th-ranked Lady Bears rolled over Rice, 83-58, in their first road action of the season Sunday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said her team is tough to beat when it spreads the wealth like it did against the Owls.

“When the posts are getting their touches and we’re getting good dribble penetration from the guards, then what do you take away?” Mulkey said in her postgame radio interview. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, when we’ve got five, six, seven players scoring in double figures, we’re a much better team.”

After falling behind 15-5, Rice (2-1) pulled to within a basket with a 9-1 run. But the upset-minded Owls couldn’t keep pace for long.

Sparked by some energetic play from senior guard Jessica Morrow, Baylor put together an 11-2 run to regain control. Morrow had a follow-up of a Jhasmin Player missed-layup, a sweet pass to Melissa Jones for two points and a long jumper during the run.

The senior from Humble, playing near her old hometown, finished with 14 points, four assists and three steals. “Jessica will be the first to tell you she hasn’t played her typical Jessica basketball until today,” Mulkey said. “But the great thing is she didn’t get too down. You can’t get too high or too low in this business.”

After building a 45-25 lead by halftime, Baylor (4-0) carried its momentum into the second half, opening on a 12-2 surge to push its lead to 30.

“You’re always worried, especially coming here to play,” Mulkey said. “I thought Rice played extremely hard.”

Baylor senior forward Rachel Allison picked up her second double-double of the season, both of which she’s notched by halftime. Allison scored a game-high 16 points and pulled down 14 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Melissa Jones, who Mulkey says “just has a knack” for the ball,’ added her own double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.

Danielle Wilson added 13 points and Jhasmin Player closed out Baylor’s double-figure scoring parade with 12.

“Coach always says anybody can score on this team,” Wilson said. “One game somebody might be the top scorer, and another game it might be somebody else. We have a lot of balance on this team this year, and it’s great to have.”

Baylor also dominated on the backboards, winning the rebounding battle 52-38. That included 18 offensive rebounds, six of which were hauled in by Allison.

D’Frantz Smart, Rice’s diminutive 5-foot guard, came up big with a team-high 14 points to go with six assists and five steals. Freshman forward Megan Elliott added 11 points for the Owls.

Baylor will play the first of three games in three days Thursday at the Paradise Jam Tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands, taking on Central Florida at 2:30 p.m. Central time.

Baylor 83, Rice 58

RICE MP FG FT RB T A F TP

Fulton 24 3-12 0-0 2 2 0 2 7

Mayse 31 4-9 1-2 7 1 0 3 9

Carter 15 0-2 0-0 5 1 0 3 0

Smart 27 4-12 4-8 3 8 6 4 14

Watts 15 1-2 0-0 0 2 1 4 2

McKinney 6 1-3 0-0 1 2 1 0 2

Eliot 15 2-6 7-7 5 0 0 4 11

Hypolite 17 1-5 0-1 1 1 1 0 3

Horne 11 0-3 0-0 3 2 0 0 4

Carmen 12 2-2 0-1 1 1 0 0 0

Ashford 19 2-7 0-0 4 0 0 2 6

Whitmayer 8 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 4

Team 6

Totals 200 20-63 12-19 38 20 9 24 58

BAYLOR MP FG FT RB T A F TP

Morrow 34 6-13 0-0 4 1 4 2 14

Allison 33 6-10 4-6 14 3 1 3 16

Jones 29 3-7 5-6 10 3 2 4 11

Wilson 29 3-11 7-9 6 3 1 1 13

Player 21 4-9 4-5 3 2 1 3 12

Wallace 4 1-2 1-4 0 0 1 2 3

Condrey 3 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0 0

Griffin 20 1-2 2-2 1 1 1 1 4

Field 7 0-1 0-0 3 0 0 0 0

Palmer 9 2-2 0-0 1 0 1 1 6

Medlock 11 0-0 2-6 2 5 0 3 4

Team 7

Totals 200 27-61 25-38 52 18 13 20 83

Halftime: BU 45, R 25. Three-point FGs: BU 4-8 (Morrow 2-4, Allison 0-1, Jones 0-1, Palmer 2-2); R 6-18 (Fulton 1-3, Smart 2-7, Elliot 0-1, Hypolite 1-3, Carmon 2-2, Ashford 0-2). Blocks: BU 4 (Wilson 2, Morrow, Jones); R 2 (Carter, Ashford). Steals: BU 14 (Morrow 3, Jones 3, Player 3, Medlock 2, Palmer, Wilson, Alllison); R 7 (Smart 5, Carter Hypolite). Officials: Jeff Claude, Peter Contreras, Darci Doll. Technical fouls: none. Att.: 1311.