WBB: (3) Lady Bears Rout Iowa State

Dominating. Smothering. Intimidating. A number of adjectives can be used for the Lady Bears defensive performance tonight. Iowa State didn't score until just over six minutes into the game after eight previous failed attempts. After a layup 30 seconds later, Iowa State would not score a field goal for nearly another 10 minutes, bringing Iowa State's total points to 8. They went on to get a pair of free throws with 2:11 and then made back-to-back threes and a final layup with eight seconds left to bring the score to 37-18. On the half, Baylor held Iowa State to 19.4% field goal shooting. For a team known for shooing the three, Iowa State only made three on 18 attempts for 16.7%.

Baylor struggled a bit offensively in the first half for the game. While they were able to have a much more respectable 43.2% field goal percentage and made five of seven three point shots, a majority of Baylor's shots were contested and Iowa State played a solid defense that, for the most part, kept Baylor from taking the first shot that they wanted to take. However, Imani Wright was the star of the half, getting three 3-pointers and went into the half with 11 points. As a testimony to this teams group mentality, Baylor worked to overcome Iowa State's defence by spreading the ball around enough to let eight different players score in the half.

The second half played out similarly to the first. Iowa State took two fewer attempts in the paint and three fewer 3-pointers and ended the second half with a 20.7% field goal percentage and 26.7% 3-pointer percentage. Iowa State scored more in the second half compared to the first in large part because of the charity stripe: Iowa State was 3-4 in the first half on three Baylor fouls where as they were 13-15 in the second on nine Baylor fouls.

Other than Baylor outperforming its average margin of victory in conference (20.5) and overall (29.5), I don't know that there is a whole lot to take away from this game that we didn't already know. Baylor and Texas are the cream of the crop this year and overall the Big 12 is having a down year. Baylor continues to have an incredible home court advantage and hopefully that advantage will carry over into their next home game against (4) Texas.

Players Highlights: Nina Davis continues to find ways to score, picking up 18 points in 26 minutes of play. Kristy Wallace had 3 treys and two buckets for 13 points and Imani Wright also had three treys and 11 points. Kristina Higgins had nine rebounds and both Khadijiah cave and Niya Johnson had seven. Niya Johnson partnered that with 12 assists.