WVU Falls to No. 11/14 Baylor on Saturday

Saturday, January 29

Morgantown, W.Va.

2:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

10-8,3-5Big 12

Baylor

15-4,5-2Big 12

Baylor

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

January 29, 2022 04:55 PM | Women's Basketball

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By: Tanner Cain

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women's basketball team suffered an 87-54 loss to No. 11/14 Baylor on Saturday afternoon, at the WVU Coliseum Morgantown.

West Virginia was led by junior forward Esmery Martinez, who tallied a team-high 13 points. She and junior guard Jayla Hemingway tied for the team lead in rebounding, with six apiece.

Baylor was led by two 20-point games from forward NaLyssa Smith and center Queen Egbo. Of note, BU guard Jordan Lewis tallied a 10-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist triple double in the game.

"I was disappointed in our start. We came out and started fouling," WVU coach Mike Carey said. "We took bad shots. We didn't guard anybody that first quarter. Defensively in the second half, we did a little better. We just couldn't hit shots. It hurt us right in the beginning. (Senior forward) Kari (Niblack) picked up two (fouls) four minutes into the game. Then (junior guard) KK (Deans) went down for the rest of the game, so our leading scorer went down, and then we struggled."

The two teams played even through the first three minutes of the game, but a 9-0 Baylor run which started with 7:19 left in the period helped the Bears take the lead. West Virginia found itself trailing, 13-6, at the first media timeout.

WVU did score twice more after the break, but BU tacked on 15 more on its end of court to take a 28-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Mountaineers fell behind by 20 to begin the second quarter, as Baylor continued its scoring attack. A 7-2 run by WVU did cut the deficit to 18 points with 7:17 remaining in the half, but another scoring stretch from the Bears made it a 40-19 at the media break.

Baylor ended the half on an 11-2 run, as West Virginia trailed, 51-21, heading into the locker room.

WVU opened the half on a 10-6 run, which cut the Bears' lead to 26 points with just over six minutes remaining in the third quarter. NaLyssa Smith was then assessed a technical foul with 6:20 to play in the period.

The Mountaineers tallied five more points before the media timeout and trailed, 59-36.

WVU tacked on three more points before the quarter ended, but nine more points from Baylor found the Mountaineers behind, 68-39, heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.

The Bears once again opened up a scoring run to begin the fourth quarter, which put West Virginia behind by 36. The Mountaineers strung together a few scores to cut the deficit to 30 points, but Baylor continued to press its advantage. WVU trailed, 79-47, at the final media break.

The two teams traded scores following the timeout, but West Virginia continued to trail late in the game. A 3-pointer by Martinez cut the deficit to 33 points with just over a minute a play, but the damage was done, as the Mountaineer could not overcome Baylor's onslaught.

Next up, WVU embarks on a two-game conference road trip, beginning with a Wednesday, Feb. 2, contest at TCU. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, inside Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.