LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - First-year Texas Tech coach Candi Whitaker came out of her team’s latest loss to No. 7 Baylor far more upbeat than she did last month after a trouncing in Waco
“We played a 100 percent different than we did at Baylor,” she said after the 75-58 loss to the Lady Bears on Wednesday night. “At Baylor, we were very tentative, really didn’t hook it up and play. I thought the feel of our team was totally different, that they wanted to compete and wanted to do whatever they could to give themselves a chance to win.”
Odyssey Sims scored 30 points to lead Baylor, her 11th game of at least 30 points. She made six 3-pointers and went 11 of 19 overall from the field.
Nina Davis added 13 points and 10 rebounds to help the Lady Bears (21-3, 11-1 Big 12) win their seventh in a row after dropping back-to-back games in mid-January.
Sims left the game briefly in the first half with what appeared to be an injury to her right leg or ankle but was back within a couple of minutes.
Jasmine Caston scored a career-high 19 points, and Minta Spears added 14 for Texas Tech (6-18, 0-13). The loss was the Lady Raiders’ 14th straight, the school’s longest losing streak. Last month in Waco, they fell 92-43 to Baylor.
“I want to give Tech credit for having energy and effort and just took it right at us,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “We did just enough, we did a little more than enough but we did enough to win.”
Texas Tech got the first basket of the game but never led again.
Baylor got 13 points off Texas Tech’s 11 turnovers and won the rebound battle, 49-37.
Two of Sims’ 3-pointers stymied Tech’s last good run midway through the second half. Texas Tech’s Amber Battle said she and her teammates just tried to keep a hand in Sims’ face.
“But that’s the leading scorer in the country, so she’s going to hit those shots,” she said.
Baylor went up 41-27 early in the second half on two free throws by Sims. But Caslon made a field goal, three free throws and she and Minta Spears each hit 3-pointers to pull the Lady Raiders to 48-40 with about 9 minutes left.
“When shots aren’t falling, you’ve got to keep shooting to get those shots to fall,” Caslon said. “Once they started falling, I felt more confident and started attacking the basket. I’ve played with those big girls, so I know how they play defense.”
But the two 3s from Sims and field goals from Niya Johnson and Kristina Higgins had the Lady Bears up 55-40 just a couple of minutes later. The Lady Raiders got no closer down the stretch. Their largest lead, 21 points, came with less than 2 minutes remaining.
The Lady Bears weathered a couple of drought in the first half. Sims ended one dry spell that went almost four minutes when she hit a 3-pointer to put Baylor up 21-15 and ended a 7-0 run by the Lady Raiders. The Lady Bears kept Texas Tech from getting a field goal in the final 3:35 of the half and led 31-23.
The Lady Raiders had to be pleased. When they lost in Waco in January they trailed 47-22 at halftime.
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