WACO, Texas — UConn survived one treacherous trip into Big 12 territory earlier this season. But Thursday, the Huskies lost their first regular-season game in more than four years. And it was at the hands of Baylor, the beast of Big 12 women’s basketball.
The No. 8 Lady Bears prevailed 68-57 over No. 1 UConn in front a rocking full house of 10,284 fans at Ferrell Center. It was the first time Baylor has defeated the nation’s top-ranked team, having gone 0-14 previously counting the NCAA and AIAW eras.
UConn fell in overtime in each of the past two national semifinals, but the Huskies had not lost a regular-season game since falling in overtime to Stanford on Nov. 17, 2014, a string of 126 victories in a row. UConn’s last double-digit loss was Feb. 27, 2012, against Notre Dame (lost by 13).
The Huskies’ streak of regular-season victories in regulation was even longer: 163 in a row, with the last loss to Baylor on Feb. 18, 2013. That Lady Bears team was the defending national champion at the time, and featured then-senior Brittney Griner.
This year’s Baylor squad has another strong center in Kalani Brown, and the reigning Big 12 player of the year controlled the inside. Brown finished with 20 points and 17 rebounds Thursday, her best game of this season. She was 10 of 16 from the field.
The Lady Bears also got a big game off the bench from freshman sensation NaLyssa Smith, who had 12 points and six rebounds, going 6 of 9 from the field.
Point guard Chloe Jackson, a graduate student playing her first and only season at Baylor, had 13 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Guard Juicy Landrum had 11 points, including all three of the Lady Bears’ 3-pointers.
The Lady Bears’ length on defense with 6-foot-7 Brown, 6-4 Lauren Cox and 6-2 Smith made things difficult for the Huskies, who shot 29.4 percent from the field (20 of 68), their worst mark in the last 20 seasons. That included 11 3-pointers, though; UConn made just 9 of 36 from 2-point range. This was UConn’s lowest point total of the season, and their lowest since scoring 55 in a victory over Central Florida on Feb. 7, 2018.
UConn trailed much of the game in its visit to Oklahoma on Dec. 19, but then took control in the final 5 minutes against a very young Sooners squad and won 72-63. This is a Baylor team with a lot more experience, and the Lady Bears did not let this one get away.
UConn set the tone by struggling from the field in the first half; at one point the Huskies were shooting just 20 percent. But they were able to close the gap to 30-29 at halftime. Cox, who had been scoreless in the first half, got going a little offensively in the third quarter. And that helped open things up for Brown. The senior was really able to make her presence felt, as she used both her size inside and her free throw line jump shot to take control. Baylor led the way on the boards 46-43 and shot 43.5 percent for the game (30 of 69).
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey had said before the game that she wasn’t worried about the NCAA tournament implications of this game. But with a victory in hand over the top-ranked Huskies, the Lady Bears now go into Big 12 season, where they have dominated. Baylor has won or tied for the Big 12 regular-season title eight years in a row, and has claimed seven of the last eight league tournament titles.
But the Lady Bears have fallen short of the Final Four since winning it all in 2012. Thursday’s win might only be in early January, but it definitely could help come March.
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