Sunday, January 25, 2009
By Brice Cherry
Tribune-Herald staff writer
LUBBOCK — Go ahead. Shove the Baylor Lady Bears. They can take it.
A scrappy Texas Tech team pushed No. 5 Baylor at times, but the Lady Bears proved too sturdy to fall, claiming their second conference road win this week with a 76-64 victory over the Lady Raiders before a crowd of 10,149 Saturday at United Spirit Arena.
It was the 11th straight win for Baylor (17-1 overall, 5-0 in the Big 12), and it upped the Lady Bears’ road record to 5-0. Baylor’s only loss this season was by one point to Wisconsin in a neutral-site tournament in the Virgin Islands.
“Let me just say how difficult it is to win on the road,” said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, whose team defeated No. 9 Texas A&M, 64-61, in College Station Wednesday. “Just to go on the road twice this week and leave with victories really helps our basketball team.”
Texas Tech (11-7, 2-3) stunned then-No. 8 Texas, 65-62, and the Lady Raiders showed they wouldn’t surrender quietly to the heavily-favored Lady Bears. After trailing by as many as 16 points, Tech sliced BU’s lead to 58-52 on a pair of Ashlee Roberson free throws with 9:37 left.
But then Jessica Morrow responded by draining a 16-footer, and Danielle Wilson drew a foul and knocked down two free throws to push the gap back to 10 and help Baylor stem the tide.
“They’re just so good,” Texas Tech coach Kristy Curry said of Baylor. “They had critical makes at critical times, and you have to give them credit. You definitely saw their seniors show a level of toughness today, and make plays down the stretch. ... They’re a legitimate top-5 team, so the margin of error on mistakes is small.”
As is becoming her habit, Baylor’s Wilson played with so much bounce in her step it appeared she was wearing inflatable high-tops. Wilson elevated her way to a team-high 17 points to go with five blocked shots and a career-best 17 rebounds. It was Wilson’s fourth straight double-double and ninth of the season.
Down the stretch, Wilson refused to allow Tech any easy buckets, erasing any driving shot attempt that came her way.
“That kid came over on a blocked shot one time, and I thought she was (Orlando Magic center) Dwight Howard,” Mulkey said. “Mo (Morghan Medlock) got deep baseline and I’m not sure who shot it for Tech, and it was almost like Danielle wanted to pin it on the glass. You don’t teach that, you just have instincts and ability to do it.”
“I just know that I have to help my team in any way possible, especially on the road,” Wilson said. “Just getting active on the defensive end, rebounding, blocking shots whenever a teammate gets beat. It’s all within the team concept.”
Texas Tech stayed right on Baylor’s hip in the first half, trailing just 38-35 at the break. Behind the penetration of jackrabbit-quick senior guard Maria Moore, the Lady Raiders were able to consistently penetrate off the dribble into the heart of BU’s defense.
Moore led all scorers with 22 points, hitting 8 of 13 attempts.
“She’s about the same speed as (Oklahoma State’s Andrea) Riley. That’s it. Period,” said BU’s Jhasmin Player, who frequently drew the assignment of guarding Moore. “End to end, she’s going to push the ball up the floor, and she did a great job tonight for her basketball club. With a kid that fast, you just try to contain her and not let her get layups all night. In the second half, I thought we did a little bit better of that.”
Baylor snatched the momentum coming out of the locker room to start the second half, opening on a 15-2 run capped by a Morrow trey. Tech rallied behind Moore, but Baylor’s execution and balance — five Lady Bears scored in double figures — ensured that the Lady Raiders had too high a mountain to climb.
Among BU’s heroes, Morrow scored 15 points and picked up a career-high four steals. Player chipped in 14 points and Melissa Jones added 10 off the bench. Kelli Griffin was perfect at the line, hitting 8 of 8 free throws on her way to 12 points.
Baylor nailed 23 of 26 free throws as a team, for a season-best 88.5 percentage.
For Tech, Kiera Mallard scored 12 points and Roberson had 10. Dominic Seals scored 11 points, but Baylor held the senior forward scoreless in the second half, harassing her into 4 of 15 shooting.
Baylor will return home Wednesday to take on third-ranked Oklahoma. The Sooners, who host No. 14 Texas today, are the only other team unbeaten in Big 12 play besides the Lady Bears.
BEAR FACTS: The teams observed a moment of silence before the game for former North Carolina State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow, who died Saturday at 66 after a long battle with breast cancer.
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