No. 6 Baylor women open new arena with 71-50 win over previously unbeaten No. 23 TCU

WACO, Texas -- — Baylor coach Nicki Collen felt the emotions with the sixth-ranked Bears making their debut in a new home arena.

And like so many games in their former home, the three-time national champion Bears got a resounding victory to open Foster Pavilion.

“I huddled them right before they went out there, I said, I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve dreamed of moments like this,” said Collen, the third-year Baylor coach.

Bella Fontleroy scored 16 of her 21 points in a big second-half comeback as the Bears, after trailing at halftime for the first time this season, won 71-50 over No. 23 TCU in a matchup of undefeated Big 12 teams Wednesday night.

“We talk about all the time our pace. When we play with pace, that’s when we run up the score,” Fontleroy said. “In the first half, I don’t know if we were tense or what it was, but the second half you saw us getting out there smiling, making those extra passes, and just having a good time while playing Baylor basketball.”

Baylor trailed 32-25 when former Bears player Jaden Owens made a 3-pointer early in the third quarter. But the Bears (13-0, 2-0 Big 12) finished the quarter with a 20-4 run — then scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter.

“The energy level, the intensity that Baylor played with on both sides of the ball coming out of the second half, had us on our heels,” first-year TCU coach Mark Campbell said. “That allowed the crowd to get into it and create some momentum. They started hitting some shots and we couldn’t get our feet underneath us after that.”

Madison Conner’s basket with 5:30 left in the third quarter still had TCU (14-1, 1-1) up 35-32. But Fontleroy made a 3-pointer less than a minute later, after a turnover by Conner, to put Baylor ahead to stay.

Sedona Prince had 20 points and 10 rebounds for TCU. Conner’s 11 points were half of her season average.

Sarah Andrews had 13 of her 16 points after the half for Baylor, while Yaya Felder finished with 13 points. Dre’Una Edwards had 10 rebounds while Aijha Blackwell grabbed eight during her 21 minutes on the court when the Bears outscored TCU by 26 points.

Baylor’s basketball teams started playing games in the new $212 million arena on the bank of the Brazos River this week, even though parts of the arena away from the court and the 7,000 seats are not completed. The 18th-ranked Baylor men opened there with a 98-79 win over Cornell on Tuesday night.

TROUBLED 3s

After coming into the game as the only team in the nation in the top five for total 3s made (148), made 3s per game (10.6) and 3-pointer shooting defense (22.3%), TCU was dominated beyond the arc. Fontleroy made five 3s and Andrews four while Baylor shot 52% (13 of 25) from long range. TCU was 2 of 16 (12.5%) with Conner going 0 for 6 after entering with 64 made 3s, second nationally behind Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.

BIG PICTURE

Baylor has won 36 consecutive games over TCU since January 1990. But these Horned Frogs got off to a record start with Campbell, whose six active transfer players include Owens, the graduate guard who started 30 of 32 games for Baylor last season.

UP NEXT

TCU is home Saturday against Oklahoma State before playing three of its four games after that on the road.

Baylor remains at home for its second game at Foster, against Houston on Saturday.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball