By Brice Cherry

Tribune-Herald staff writer

With her feathery outside shot and gritty interior play, Rachel Allison is indispensable to Baylor’s overall team success.

But on this night, the Lady Bears didn’t need her.

With an injured Allison in an unusual role as spectator, seventh-ranked Baylor still overpowered UT-Pan American in the post in winning, 73-37, before an announced crowd of 5,482 Tuesday night at the Ferrell Center.

Allison injured her left ankle in the waning moments of Monday’s afternoon practice, and underwent immediate treatment in the training room afterward. Her absence marked the first missed game of her career after 109 consecutive games played, including 46 straight starts.

But Baylor coach Kim Mulkey was comfortable with resting Allison Tuesday, knowing she’ll be needed more during the team’s West Coast road swing at Oregon and California.

“It’s a case of needing Rachel for two road games in the latter part of this week,” Mulkey said. “She would initially tell you she wanted to play, but then when she stops and thinks it through, if you go out there and hurt yourself again, then you’re hurt for the next two games. ... There’s nothing to gain tonight to play if you’re not healthy.”

Besides, Baylor’s frontcourt didn’t play as if it was depleted. Starting for Allison, junior forward Morghan Medlock dropped in 11 points and snatched 11 rebounds, while freshman Ashley Field chipped in 10 points and seven boards off the bench.

But nobody dominated quite like Danielle Wilson, whose recent play has elevated to such heights that the Ferrell Center roof might not be able to contain it. Wilson gravitated to loose balls like a magnet against the Broncos (5-5), scoring six of her first eight points off offensive-rebound putbacks.

She finished the first half with 19 points — seven more than the entire UT-Pan Am team — and ended the game with 23, one point shy of matching her career high despite resting the final 10:25.

“Danielle is playing very well right now,” Mulkey said. “That’s four games now where Danielle has really elevated her game. She’s demanding the ball better, she’s relaxing in there, she’s altering shots. ... She’s playing very, very confident. It’s good to see.”

“I don’t know why she waited three years to do it, but it’s good to see,” she added with a laugh and a sly glance at Wilson.

Wilson, who also grabbed 11 rebounds and swatted away five shots to increase her Baylor career-leading shotblocking total to 200, said she’s seeing the payoff of the work she’s been putting forth in her practice uniform rather than her game togs.

“(I’m playing with) a lot of confidence right now, but it all starts in practice,” she said. “They’ve been getting on me and making me demand the ball as much as possible. So that’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s just carrying over from practice to game days.”

With UT-Pan Am incapable of corralling Wilson inside, Baylor jumped out to a 17-3 lead. Following a bank-shot 3-pointer from Teshay Winfrey two minutes into the game, the Broncos didn’t score again until Rose Ester Jean drilled a baseline jump shot at the 9:05 mark.

Inundated in practice this week with a message of reversing the ball across the court and not forcing shots too quickly, the Lady Bears listened. Against Pan-Am, they routinely passed up open shots in an attempt to generate easier ones, and it resulted in a solid 47.5 shooting percentage for the game.

The Lady Bears led 36-12 at intermission, then opened the second half on a 12-3 run on their way to pushing the lead past 40 points.

No Pan-Am player scored more than Winfrey’s five.

With its four-game homestand complete, Baylor will hit the road to take on Oregon Saturday and No. 12 Cal on Monday.

Mulkey said Allison should be back in the rotation against the Ducks.

“I do expect her to play, but a lot can happen between now and then,” the coach said. “I’ve just got to evaluate day to day. It’s not an injury at all where (the training staff) has come in and said she’s going to be out two weeks or four weeks.”

bcherry@wacotrib.com

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