Bears spoil Horns’ chance to win piece of Big 12 title
AUSTIN — Freshman Darrianna Littlepage Buggs finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds off the bench to lead Baylor to a 63-54 victory over No. 12 Texas on Monday night, keeping the Longhorns from clinching a share of their first Big 12 Conference championship since 2004.
Littlepage-Buggs, who averages 9.5 rebounds per game to lead all first-year players, has 10 doubledoubles this season for the Bears (19-10, 10-7 Big 12). She has garnered seven Big 12 freshman of the week awards. Sarah Andrews added 17 points and seven rebounds, while Ja'Mee Asberry scored 10.
Reserve Taylor Jones paced the Longhorns (22-8, 13-4) with 15 points and 13 rebounds for her third double-double. Rori Harmon totaled 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Shaylee Gonzales scored 10. Front-running Texas leads No. 16 Oklahoma by a half-game.
The Longhorns travel to Kansas State (16-13, 5-11) on Saturday to end the regular season. The Sooners (22-5, 12-4) host Kansas State on Wednesday and visit Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Despite drawing a sellout crowd of 10,763, the Longhorns lost for just the second time in 16 home games this season at Moody Center, .
Littlepage-Buggs scored 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting to lead Baylor to a 20-18 lead after one quarter. Asberry scored half her points in the second period to stretch the Bears' lead to 37-32 at intermission.
Texas got within two points midway through the third quarter, but Andrews answered with a layup and Asberry followed with a 3-pointer for a three-possession lead. Asberry scored the final bucket of the quarter with 61 seconds left and Baylor led 50-45.
Andrews' 3-pointer capped an 11-4 run and Baylor pushed its lead to double digits with 3:34 left to play. Texas scored just five points from there.