Baylor coach Kim Mulkey knows her Lady Bears are far from a finished product, but she still admired the way they finished Tuesday night.

The seventh-ranked Lady Bears shot a sizzling 70 percent from the floor in the second half and tightened up the defensive screws in running away with a 97-43 win over St. Edward’s in the exhibition opener before an eager crowd of 6,095 at the Ferrell Center.

“I thought our defense was better in the second half,” said Mulkey, whose team held the Hilltoppers to just 15 points after the break. “I thought we gave up too many points in the first half. It was good to see the crowd we had here on a Tuesday night — football season, an exhibition game, and we have over 6,000 fans here. That was very special.”

Baylor post Brittney Griner puts up a close-range shot over St. Edward's defender Sara Head on Tuesday night. Griner scored 13 points in her collegiate debut. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

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No doubt many of the fans in attendance arrived to see top-ranked recruit Brittney Griner in action, and they appeared to be itching to witness one of her much-heralded dunks.

Griner, who scored 13 points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots in 19 minutes, was also eager to throw one down for the fans, but didn’t really have many opportunities. She dropped in a layup on a deep catch in transition early in the second half, then later fumbled an attempted alley-oop pass from Kelli Griffin.

“I wanted it pretty bad, but I also wanted to win,” Griner said. “I try not to focus on the dunk as much, but of course you want to get one in the game ... But to have so many fans come out and support us on an exhibition game, it was wonderful. The spirit in here is great.”

Baylor’s five starters — Griner, Griffin, Melissa Jones, Morghan Medlock and Terran Condrey — proved efficient offensively, combining to shoot 88 percent (22-of-25) from the floor.

St. Edward’s, an NCAA Division II school from Austin, connected on a variety of shot clock-beating midrange jumpers to keep the score respectable through one half of play, trailing 44-28.

But Griner dropped in a short turnaround to tip off the second half, and the buckets only got easier for Baylor from there.

The Lady Bears also clamped down defensively, holding St. Edward’s scoreless for more than nine minutes in widening the gap to more than 40 points.

Jones, in particular, showed deadeye aim. She didn’t miss a single shot — hitting 8-of-8 from the floor, including 3-of-3 from three-point land, and nailing her only foul shot attempt in scoring a game-high 20 points. The junior captain also swiped six steals.

“It’s awesome to have the focus be on different players, so it just gives other players the ability to have open looks,” Jones said. “I happened to have a couple of those.”

Baylor’s athleticism was on display defensively, as seven different Lady Bears blocked a shot and the team ripped off 18 steals.

Besides Jones and Griner, three other BU players cracked double digits in scoring — with Medlock dropping in 12 points, and Ashley Field and Kimetria Hayden contributing 11 apiece. Freshman post Mariah Chandler added seven points and a team-leading 12 rebounds off the bench.

Reserve guard Kelli Payton led St. Edward’s with 16 points.

Even just glancing at the box score, Mulkey found things her team needed to clean up — turnovers, free-throw shooting and three-point accuracy, to name a few — but she was pleased with the effort and energy.

She also realizes her squad is very much a work in progress.

“This game isn’t a win, it isn’t a loss,” she said. “It’s an exhibition game, and stats don’t count, nothing counts. But it was good to be on the floor.”

Baylor will play its final exhibition game Saturday at home against Incarnate Word before opening the regular season at Tennessee in the State Farm Classic Nov. 15.

bcherry@wacotrib.com

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