Waco, TX—NaLyssa Smith and Baylor started slow in the Round of 64 against No. 15 seed Hawaii. However, thy dominated the second half to roll to a 40-point victory, 89-49.
Though it was Amy Atwell who hit two straight threes for the Rainbow Wahine to put Hawaii—who had a nine hour trip and a five-hour time zone change in order to play this game—ahead 6-2 early. Atwell, who finished with 29 points and 13 rebounds, scored the Hawaii’s eight points an only trialed Baylor 12-16 after the first.
Hawaii kept fighting and three Atwell free throws to end the half made it just a nine-point deficit. Baylor’s Coach Nicki Collen said afterwards that she thought the Bears did not fully respect Hawaii as a team.
She got that message across to her squad in the locker room as the Bears came out firing on all cylinders to out pace Hawaii 34-8 in the third quarter. That was a season-high for points scored in any quarter for the Bears.
Smith, who was feeling under the weather and only had four points in the first half, had 17 points in the third. The unanimous All-American finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Jordan Lewis finished with a team high 23 points and added eight rebounds and five assists. Sarah Andrews had her best outing since February 23 at Oklahoma State as she scored 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting and had seven boards and six assists. Queen Egbo also finished in double figures with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Caitlin Bickel and Ja’Mee Asberry—the two seniors who have announced their intention to return next year— had seven and six points respectively.
Baylor will take on No. 10 South Dakota in the Round of 32 as they upset No. 7 Ole Miss 75-61 earlier this afternoon.