By Brice Cherry

Tribune-Herald staff writer

There is undoubtedly no more agonizing feeling in all of basketball than missing the shot — or shots — that could give your team a victory.

That was the unfortunate place Baylor sophomore guard Melissa Jones found herself in following the Lady Bears’ 59-58 loss to Wisconsin in the finale of the Paradise Jam Tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands last Saturday. After grabbing an offensive rebound and drawing a foul with no time left on the clock, Jones missed a pair of foul shots that could have tied the score or given Baylor the win.

For the Lady Bears, though, the focus this week wasn’t on the two shots missed by Jones, who was shooting 76 percent from the line prior to those attempts. They were more upset by their collective misfiring — which resulted in 39.3 field-goal percentage in the team going 2-1 at the tournament.

Baylor post Danielle Wilson, a native New Yorker recruited out of high school by St. John's, had a double-double in last year's 81-58 win over the Red Storm. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

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“We didn’t execute the last 41/2 minutes of the basketball game (against Wisconsin),” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “We didn’t get shots, we had turnovers, we didn’t have confidence in what we were doing out there. ... Whatever we’re running offensively, we’ve got to do a better job of executing.”

Mulkey didn’t panic and overhaul the entire offense this week, as 10th-ranked Baylor (6-1) returns home for a game against 7-0 St. John’s at 7 tonight. Rather, she added a few wrinkles, but put the primary emphasis on playing with the proper “energy and enthusiasm” that she said was lacking against the Badgers.

“I know how we will respond,” she said. “We’ve had enough tough losses to learn that. I do believe you learn things from losses, but you also learn things from wins. We learned a lot about ourselves, but they’re things we can correct. It’s things we’ve got to fix, and we’ll sure work hard at it.”

St. John’s comes to Waco riding an unbeaten start, though the Lady Bears will be the first Top 25 team the Red Storm has faced. Last year, Baylor romped over St. John’s, 81-58, in New York, behind a double-double from hometown girl Danielle Wilson.

“They did recruit me (out of high school),” said Wilson, a native of Bay Shore, N.Y. “It was kind of close to home, and they knew I didn’t want to stay too close to home. But they knew if anything changed, I was going to go there to St. John’s.”

Following Thursday’s practice, the Baylor players looked hungry to get back on the court and get a win under their belts after the disappointment against Wisconsin — perhaps as much for Jones as for themselves.

“I couldn’t even look at her after it was over, because I hurt so bad for her,” said senior guard Jhasmin Player. “You could never imagine what she was going through. Never did it cross my mind that Melissa, it’s your fault. Never. If you put me up there, then what? I’m shooting 60 percent from the foul line. I turned the ball over with a minute and a half left, I missed a shot in the corner with 50 seconds left.”

Mulkey said she would never put a loss on one player.

“You spread (the blame). It goes throughout the whole team,” Mulkey said. “It’s magnified because it’s the end of the game and it’s dramatic and there’s no time on the clock, but it should never reach that point if we do some things and take care of the ball with three, four, five minutes left.

“It was all of us that night. It was all of us against Wisconsin.”

BEAR FACTS: Senior forward Rachel Allison saw limited action in practice Thursday, but was back on the court Friday and Mulkey said she should be ready to play tonight. “Rachel just gets beat up a lot in practice, whether it’s a tweaked ankle or whatever,” Mulkey said. “I just thought it would be good to hold her out a day and see what some of those other bigs can do.” ... Tonight’s game is the opener of a four-game homestand. The Lady Bears will host Lamar on Monday night, then take on Samford on Dec. 13 and UT-Pan American on Dec. 16.

bcherry@wacotrib.com

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