By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Some nights, shooters feel like they’re trying to throw a bowling ball into a thimble. For Sarah Andrews, it had to feel like she was throwing a golf ball into the ocean.
The Baylor sophomore guard drained her first six 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 20 points to lead the fifth-ranked Bears to a 73-28 rout of Morehead State Tuesday night at the Ferrell Center.
“After the first two, I was like, ‘All right.’ Then, the third one went in, and I just believed anything was going to go in after that,” said Andrews, who had hit just 9-of-27 from outside the arc coming into the game.
Baylor coach Nicki Collen said it wasn’t that Andrews had been in a shooting slump, “she just hasn’t taken a lot of 3’s late.”
“She hit timely 3’s in the second half of games,” Collen said. “With Sarah, so much of it is learning to play through fatigue. . . . She’s learning to battle through fatigue, make shots when she’s tired, defend when she’s tired. She kind of wears her fatigue a little bit more than others.”
With Andrews leading the way, Baylor made 13-of-29 shots from distance, assisted on 21 of its 26 made field goals, dominated the boards (48-27) and held the visiting Eagles (1-5) to single-digit points in each of the four quarters and 20% shooting (11-of-55) for the game. It was the first time the Bears had held a team to four single-digit quarters since a 112-24 blowout of McNeese State on Dec. 19, 2020.
“They had three made 3’s, and two of them were banked in, late in the shot clock,” Collen said of the Eagles, who made just 3-of-21 from 3-point distance. “Even that is a teaching moment, because it’s end of the quarter and they have to get it off. You almost have to treat everybody like a shooter in that situation and not have them make a momentum play going into the half or at the end of a quarter.”
Queen Egbo, who scored two points and missed all nine of her shots from the floor in a 68-45 win over Fordham five days ago, continued a surge that has seen her score in double digits each of the last three games. She had 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for her 22nd career double-double, adding four assists, one bock, a steal and zero turnovers in 29 minutes.
“I’d say Queen found her mojo in Cancun, and I hope she just keeps on rolling with it,” Collen said. “She made some plays in practice (on Monday) that were, quite frankly, spectacular. When she catches the ball, takes her time and doesn’t rush . . . I think she’s playing well, she’s playing confidently and we just need to keep riding her.”
NaLyssa Smith added her 31st career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Ja’Mee Asberry knocked down four 3-pointers and scored 14 points. Showing a balanced scoring across the board, the Bears also got nine points and six rebounds off the bench from Cailtin Bickle and six points, five rebounds and four assists from Oklahoma State grad transfer Ja’Mee Asberry.
“I think if I had played her for 18 minutes, she wouldn’t have been happy,” Collen said of Smith, who only played three minutes in the fourth quarter and 27 for the game. “That’s a kid who rises to the moment. In a big game, she plays differently.”
Grad transfer guard Jordan Lewis, Baylor’s second-leading scorer, had to leave early in the third quarter when she got inadvertently kicked in the stomach. She took just four shots in the game and finished with three points and four assists in 21 minutes.
Playing without Lauren Carter, their leading scorer, the Eagles were 1-of-16 from the floor in the third quarter and got their only basket on a banked-in 3-pointer by Terri Smith. Duke transfer Jada Claude led Morehead State with eight points, including a banked 3-pointer at the end of the first half.
Andrews, who finished 6-of-8 from 3-point range, said assistant coach Tony Greene challenged her to “play every game with energy.”
“I think over time, you’ve seen our defense grow,” Andrews said. “I think down the line, defense wins championships. So, why not start tonight and each and every game building up to it?”
Baylor, which played three games in three days at the Cancun Challenge last week, will get a three-day break before hosting Missouri (7-0) in the Big 12/SEC Challenge at 7 p.m. Saturday.
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