No. 6 Baylor women end regular season with win
WACO, Texas — Queen Egbo had a career-high 26 points along with 10 rebounds, DiJonai Carrington also had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 6 Baylor beat No. 17 West Virginia 96-73 on Monday night in the Big 12’s final regular season game.
NaLyssa Smith had 13 points for the Lady Bears (22-2, 17-1 Big 12), who had already wrapped up their 11th consecutive regular season conference title.
They clinched it outright with a win at Texas a week ago.
Kirsten Deans had 22 points to lead West Virginia (19-5, 13-5) before fouling out of the game, while Esmery Martinez had 13 points. Kysre Gondrezick had seven points, well below her 20.6 average that was fourth in the Big 12.
The makeup game to end the regular season matched the top two seeds in the Big 12 tournament, meaning neither will play until
the quarterfinals Friday in Kansas City. They would both have to advance to the championship game to play each other again this week.
Baylor went ahead to stay with an 11-0 run in the second quarter, with Egbo scoring seven points in that span. Egbo started the run with a jumper before Carrington’s fastbreak layup got the Lady Bears within one. Egbo then put them in front with consecutive jumpers, the second a three-point play when she was fouled and made the free throw.
That came right after West Virginia took the lead with a 12-2 run — the only score by Baylor in that four-minute span being a jumper by Egbo. Jayla Hemingway had all seven of her points in that spurt, starting it with two free throws then ending it with a 3-pointer and a fast-break layup over consecutive possessions to put the Mountaineers up 28-23 midway through the second quarter.
Carrington opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer while scoring seven of Baylor’s points in another 11-0 run that stretched the lead to 19 points.