WBB Outlasts Virginia Tech to Advance - Baylor (2024)

Bears make the Sweet 16 for first time since 2021

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 3/24/2024 9:29:00 PM

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Go ahead, try to come up with a better homecoming story than the one Baylor junior guard Jada Walker wrote in Sunday night's NCAA Tournament second-round game at Cassell Coliseum.

Playing back in her home state for the first time in her collegiate career, the Richmond, Va., native and Kentucky transfer poured in a career-high 28 points – 14 in the fourth quarter – to lift the fifth-seeded Baylor women (26-7) to a thrilling 75-72 win over fourth-seeded Virginia Tech (25-8) on the Hokies' home court and into the Sweet 16 for the first time in three years.

As senior backcourt mate Sarah Andrews kept telling her, Walker is "built for this" type of moment, with a n crowd of 10,000screaming at every free throw she took.

"That really gave me confidence to step up there and knock them down and just clear out the noise," said Walker, who knocked down a pair of free throws with five seconds left and hit 9-of-10 for the game. "We're going to be at home, we're going to be away sometimes, so really just playing through that, playing through the refs, playing through whatever you have to play through to win."

Playing a little over 200 miles from her hometown of Richmond, the 5-7 junior guard said she "was not going to leave Virginia with a loss."

"I'm glad we got to get a (win), and we get to go back to Waco and game plan and get ready for the Sweet 16," said Walker, who topped her previous career high of 24 points that she scored against Alabama in last year's SEC Tournament.

Ending Virginia Tech's program-record 26-game home-court winning streak, Baylor earns a trip to its 16^th-ever Sweet 16 and first under third-year head coach Nicki Collen. The Bears will face the winner of Monday's game between top-seeded USC (27-5) and eighth-seeded Kansas (20-12) next weekend in the Portland 3 Region semifinals.

"First of all, I haven't been here that long," said Collen, who followed Kim Mulkey after the 2021 season, the last time the Bears made it past the second round. "You made me feel like I'd been there 10 years.

"I've never feared coaching in a big moment. (Virginia Tech coach) Kenny Brooks is an amazing play caller. You do fear a one-possession game against him because he is a talented, talented play caller. But I thought our girls did a good job, even down to taking the foul late when we had a foul to give."

Getting out to a fast start, the Bears scored 21 points and never trailed until late in the third quarter, even with Walker picking up two fouls in the first 3 ½ minutes and scoring just two points in the first half. Andrews had to take up the slack, hitting three first-half 3-pointers and scoring 14 of her 16 points in the first 20 minutes to give Baylor a 34-28 halftime lead.

"That felt like almost the first time I've seen the ball go through the hoop like that," said Andrews, who was 3-for-4 from outside the arc and 4-for-7 overall in the first half. "I think I played at all levels, I finished at the rim. Overall, I think me and Jada put together two halves. I was like, 'Jada, I got the first half. Now, it's your turn.'''

Yes, it was. Scoring 26 of her 28 points in the second half, including a pair of three-point plays in the fourth quarter, Walker helped the Bears trail for just 17 seconds the entire game. That came with 1:32 left in the third quarter, when Carleigh Wenzel made one of two free throws to give the Hokies a 49-48 lead.

Starting with a rebound and putback by sophom*ore Bella Fontleroy, Baylor closed the third on a 7-3 run and went up 55-52 when Walker pulled up from half court to drain her only 3-point attempt of the night.

Twice in the fourth quarter, Virginia Tech All-ACC guard Georgia Amoore knocked down 3-pointers that whittled into Baylor's lead. That last one came with just 16 seconds showing on the clock and the Bears up 73-72.

But Collen's answer was to put the ball back in the hands of Walker, who was able to elude Virginia Tech defenders before getting fouled with five seconds left. She calmly sank two free throws to push it back to a three-point game and then had a heads-up foul in the final second with Baylor having a foul to give, not even allowing the Hokies to get off a last shot.

"I don't know if Jada was nervous or not," Collen said, "but that's about as loud I believe in her life that she's ever had to shoot a free throw there at the end of the game when it was a one-point game to make it a three-point game. Every time they would hit a three, the place would absolutely erupt. So, I think you always have to be at least 10 points better on the road."

The ACC regular-season champions, the Hokies were playing their fourth-straight game without 6-6 All-American center Elizabeth Kitley, a three-time ACC Player of the Year who suffered a season-ending ACL knee injury.

But to their credit, the Hokies stayed in by doing what they do best. One of the nation's best 3-point shooting teams, Virginia Tech matched its season average with nine made 3-pointers but had to take 28 of them to get there. Matilda Ekhahit four treys and scored 19 points, while Amoore added 18 points and a6-5 freshman center Clara Strack had a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards.

"We, obviously, shot more free throws (25-12)," Collen said, "because we're a team that attacks the basket more. That's a great 3-point shooting team, and they want to drive it and spray and kick it out to 3-point shooters. So, we knew our advantage was getting to the rim and drawing fouls."

Besides Walker and Andrews, the Bears also got 10 points from sophom*ore Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and eight rebounds from Missouri transfer Aijha Blackwell.

Coming off a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds in Friday's 80-63 first-round win over Vanderbilt, sophom*ore Bella Fontleroy just missed her second-straight double-double with nine points, nine boards and a career-high four blocks.

Baylor also beat Virginia Tech in its last second-round win in 2021 and defeated Michigan in overtime before losing to UConn in a controversial region final. The Hokies were trying to make their third all-time trip to the Sweet 16, including a Final Four berth last year.

GAME NOTES

• The five-seeded Baylor women's basketball team outlasted the No. 4-seeded Virginia Tech Hokies on Sunday night, 75-72.
• Baylor's appearance marked the 20th-straight for the Bears in the Big Dance which is the fourth-longest active streak in the country.
• With the win, Baylor moved to 57-18 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Bears are making their first Sweet 16 appearance under the direction of head coachNicki Collen.
• BU's trip to the Sweet 16 is the 13th in 15 years, and 16th in program history, which is the third-most in the last two decades behind only UConn and Stanford.
• The loss signified Virginia Tech's first setback at home this season as the Hokies dropped to 32-2 at Cassell Coliseum the last two years.
• Baylor held a 34-28 advantage at the break, moving to an impressive 23-2 this season when leading at halftime.
• The Bears moved to 8-2 in nationally televised games.
• BU is 7-3 against ranked opponents.
• Jada Walkerpaced the Baylor offense with a career-high 28 points, going a team-leading 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. Additionally, she finished with zero turnovers and three assists.
• The outing marked her seventh-career 20-plus point performance.
• Sarah Andrews(16) andDarianna Littlepage-Buggs(10) joined Walker in double figures.
• Bella Fontleroyled the Bears on the boards for the second-straight game, grabbing nine.
• Fontleroy blocked a career-high four shots.