Smarter. Tougher. Quicker.

In every way, the Baylor Lady Bears are better with Melissa Jones on the court.

Returning to action for the first time since Jan. 2, Jones provided her team with a spark both emotional and substantial. Doing a little of everything, Jones propelled the No. 14 Lady Bears to a 61-53 win over No. 8 Texas A&M before a crowd of 8.702 Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.

Baylor’s Melissa Jones (right) drives on Texas A&M’s Sydney Carter during the second half Wednesday. Jones returned from a four-game absence to lead the Lady Bears to a 61-53 victory.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

For Baylor (15-4 overall, 2-3 in the Big 12), it marked the fourth straight win over its rivals from College Station, and the first win over a top-10 team since beating A&M in the conference tournament final last year.

And Jones was in the middle of it all.

“That’s what you expect players of her caliber to do,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “She makes everybody around her better, she’s involved, she communicates with me as a head coach in the timeouts, sees things that I don’t see out there. She’s our captain, she’s our leader and for her to go out there tonight and play as many minutes as she did, it’s so valuable to our young basketball team.”

When Jones, who had missed Baylor’s previous four Big 12 games with a stress reaction in her right leg, jogged to the scorer’s table less than a minute into the game, the Baylor crowd instantly rose to its feet for a rousing ovation. She kept the crowd cheering by making an impact as soon as she stepped on the court.

Moments after entering the game, Jones pump-faked an Aggie defender off her feet, then rolled in a jump shot for Baylor’s first bucket.

Baylor’s Brittney Griner shoots over Damitria Buchanan in the second half. Griner led Baylor with 20 points.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

“I can’t really describe it,” Jones said of the anxiousness she felt in wanting to return to the court. “I love the game so much, so it’s hard to be able to sit there and know you can’t really do anything about it.”

From her first basket, Jones never stopped contributing, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals in 36 minutes. She also forced four jump balls and even grabbed a mop from a ball girl and helped clean the court during one stoppage of play.

“We’re going to be comfortable with MJ out there,” said BU freshman post Brittney Griner, who led the team with 20 points. “She’s our captain, she’s the glue that holds us together. To have her out there on the floor, it lifted all of us. Like coach said, she makes us all better, and we all benefit from it.”

The Aggies (15-3, 3-2) shot just 34.4 percent, and A&M coach Gary Blair said the presence of the 6-foot-8 Griner — who blocked five shots and altered several others — proved more challenging than he would have hoped.

“It didn’t bother Missouri, but it bothered us,” Blair said. “Her presence was very good and her altering shots was key. That’s why she is who she is, and is a great player.”

Brittney Griner (right) attempts to block the shot of Adaora Elonu (21).
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

The game got off to a sluggish start offensively, but then Baylor opened up a double-digit lead midway through the first half thanks to a strange technical foul. After a long conference, the officials ruled that A&M’s scorebook had Kelsey Assarian marked out — which resulted in a violation the moment Assarian stepped on the court.

Jones knocked down both foul shots, and Baylor was able to maintain that lead heading into the halftime break, up 30-18.

The Lady Bears were able to keep the Aggies at arm’s length for much of the second half. Executing as crisply on offense as they have in a month, the Lady Bears outscored A&M, 36-10, in the paint, and added 20 points off the Aggies’ 16 turnovers.

The Aggies sliced Baylor’s lead to six at 51-45 on a driving lefty take from Sydney Colson with 58.7 seconds left, but couldn’t seal the deal. The Lady Bears hit 10 of 10 free throw tries in the final minute to wrap up the win.

Kelli Griffin chipped in 13 points and four assists for Baylor, hitting 7 of 9 from the line, while Morghan Medlock pulled down 10 rebounds and limited A&M’s Danielle Adams to 3-of-14 shooting.

Baylor also put the defensive clamps on Tanisha Smith, A&M’s leading scorer on the season, holding her to seven points on 2-of-11 from the floor. Tyra White topped the Aggies with 19 points.

The Lady Bears will next take on No. 19 Texas in Austin on Sunday.

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