No. 6 Baylor women beat Prairie View A&M 108-64
WACO, Texas (AP) — Playing for the first time in nine days, Baylor was a little rusty Monday night — even if the final score hardly showed it.
Nina Davis had 20 points and 10 rebounds in leading the sixth-ranked Bears past Prairie View A&M 108-64. Baylor shot 46 percent from the floor (42 of 90), but made just one of its 10 attempts from 3-point range.
"That's fatigue," coach Kim Mulkey said. "I thought fatigue was a factor. We've got to shoot better from the 3, but overall first game back, the main thing is we won and everybody got to play and everybody got to score."
Kristina Higgins scored a career-high 19 points for Baylor (11-1), which outrebounded Prairie View 70-21. Khadijiah Cave had 18 points, freshman Dekeiya Cohen added 17 and Sune Agbuke finished with 12 for the Bears.
Davis, a sophomore, had her 16th career double-double and fourth this season.
Jeanette Jackson and Lamaria Cole each scored 20 points, and Alexus Parker had 16 for Prairie View (3-9).
Baylor held a huge size advantage, and all of its top scorers were inside players.
"With them playing a zone, the middle was kind of open for us. So we were just doing what we're taught to do — flash into the middle and make decisions when we get the ball," Higgins said.
Baylor's 70 rebounds — 35 on the offensive end — were a season high and the second-most in school history.
Prairie View coach Dawn Brown said she knew the Bears' size was going to present a problem.
"We definitely wanted to try to win at the small things, some small areas we fell short at," Brown said. "Rebounding was something we knew we were going to struggle with a little bit."
Baylor used a 15-4 run midway through the first half to take complete control. Cohen made two free throws on consecutive possessions to begin the surge, and Davis capped it with a pair of rebounds and reverse layups. The Bears forced two shot-clock violations as well, and Baylor led 31-12 with 8:41 left in the half.
Cave sparked a 15-5 Baylor run later in the period. After two free throws by Davis, Cave hit back-to-back shots to begin the stretch and converted a three-point play at the end to leave Baylor with a 54-28 lead with 55 seconds remaining before halftime.
Cole hit a free throw just more than a minute into the second half, and Prairie View didn't score again until Cole hit a 3-pointer with 15:14 to play. Baylor led 68-36 at that point.
Higgins scored seven points during a 13-2 Baylor run that left the Bears with an 86-45 lead with 7:59 to play.
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TIP-INS
Prairie View: Jackson leads the SWAC in scoring, at 17.7 points a game, and assists, at 4.2. She had five assists against Baylor.
Baylor: Junior guard Niya Johnson leads the nation in assists at 8.7 per game. She had three against Prairie View.
TOUGH SCHEDULE
It was Prairie View's fourth game against a ranked opponent this season. The Lady Panthers have faced No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 9 North Carolina and No. 16 Stanford, losing all three games.
COUPLES NIGHT
Professional golfer Fred Couples sat two rows behind the Baylor bench. He and his girlfriend, Suzanne Radcliffe, were in Waco visiting her brother, Kris Radcliffe, a morning anchor at the local NBC television affiliate. Earlier in the day, Couples, Kris Radcliffe and "a bunch of guys" played golf at Twin Rivers Golf Club, the home course of Baylor's golf teams. Couples said he had an "OK" day on the links. He and his party left their seats with 7:38 remaining and Baylor holding an 86-45 lead.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Four sophomores are the top scorers for Baylor this season: Davis (22.8 points per game), Cave (12.8), Imani Wright (11.3) and Alexis Prince (8.3).
SWAC CHAMPS
Prairie View has won the past four Southwestern Athletic Conference titles. Brown was the interim head coach when Prairie View won the 2014 championship.
UP NEXT
Prairie View opens SWAC play at Southern on Saturday.
Baylor opens Big 12 play by hosting Oklahoma State on Saturday.