Smith, No. 2 Baylor beat Washington St 89-66 at Paradise Jam

Nov 29, 2019, 01:34 am

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands -- NaLyssa Smith scored 18 points and No. 2 Baylor pulled ahead early and cruised past Washington State 89-66 Thursday night at the Paradise Jam tournament.

Queen Egbo added 16 points, DiDi Richards had 14 and Te'a Cooper 10 for the Bears (6-0). The defending national champions led by double digits in the first 3 1/2 minutes and cruised to their 35th consecutive victory, even while star Lauren Cox missed her fourth straight game with a stress reaction in her right foot.

"I just look at how we're surviving on the floor without Lauren Cox," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "We're getting better on the offensive end, but defensively we're pretty special. We're quick and active and have great hands. We're just not comfortable yet on the offensive end. With time, that will come."

Chanelle Molina scored 25 points and Borislava Hristova had 15 for the Cougars (4-1).

Baylor had control from the outset, scoring the first 10 points and racing to a 19-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Bears led by 22 points twice in the second quarter, the last at 44-22 on Egbo's tip-in with 38 seconds remaining, en route to a 44-24 halftime lead.

"We know we just have to play our game," Egbo said. "We want to put them away, get stops and play our game. We're really good at putting pressure on defense. We just do what we're good at."

Baylor took its largest lead in the fourth quarter when Erin DeGrate's layup made it 89-64.

"Their defensive pressure really took us out of everything we wanted to do," Washington State coach Kamie Ethridge said. "It was great to see the bounce back in the second half and see us really get committed to running our stuff, getting the ball moving a little bit instead of just dribbling. If we don't turn the ball over, we have a chance to score some points."

BIG PICTURE

Baylor: The Bears' winning streak dates to the 2018-19 season and is 12th best in NCAA women's basketball history. Baylor's last loss was 68-63 to Stanford on Dec. 15, 2018.

Washington State: The Cougars are still off to their best start since the 2016-2017 season, when they were also 4-1. That loss came against Oklahoma State, which is competing in a different division at the Paradise Jam.

UP NEXT

Baylor plays No. 17 Indiana on Friday at the Paradise Jam.

Washington State goes against No. 5 South Carolina on Friday at the Paradise Jam.

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