Davis, No. 5 Baylor women rout UTA in opener
Preseason All-America Nina Davis scored 19 points, Alexis Jones added 15 and the No. 5 Baylor women opened the season with a 62-20 victory over UT Arlington on Friday night.
Jones had 11 points in the first half, when the Lady Bears built a 30-6 lead and held UTA to 2-of-19 shooting.
Baylor advanced to face the Southern Miss-Alabama State winner in the second round of the Preseason WNIT.
The Lady Mavericks, whose 14-win improvement was the best in Division I last season, finally reached double digits on a jumper by Toma Zaleckaite that made it 34-10 with 6:10 remaining in the third quarter.
The lowest point total for a Baylor opponent in an NCAA game came in a 99-18 victory against Texas State on Jan. 2, 2010.
Baylor was far from perfect, shooting 36 percent with two starters going scoreless in Alexis Prince and Niya Johnson. Prince missed all 11 of her shots and matched Johnson with a team-high three turnovers.
Johnson missed her only shot but did have game highs with eight assists and seven rebounds. Prince had a game-high five steals.
Rebekah VanDijk scored five points to lead UTA, which shot 20 percent (8 of 40) and had 30 turnovers that Baylor turned into 24 points.
The Lady Bears held the Lady Mavericks to just one point in the second quarter, but scored just nine themselves. Baylor was just 4 of 15 from the field in the quarter, and UTA got just six shots, missing them all.
Baylor didn’t shoot well from long range, going 3 of 12, and made just 15 of 28 free throws.
A pair of Baylor freshmen had solid debuts. Beatrice Mompremier finished with eight points and six rebounds, and Kalani Brown had seven points, six rebounds and two blocks.
UT ARLINGTON (0-1) — Holly 0-0 0-0 0, Van Dijk 2-6 1-4 5, Johnson 1-6 0-0 2, Cole 1-9 0-2 2, Green 0-2 0-0 0, Billie 0-0 1-2 1, Clark 1-7 1-2 3, LeJune 0-1 0-0 0, Zaleckaite 2-6 0-0 4, Hunt 0-1 0-0 0, Wainwright 1-1 0-0 3, Te’o 0-0 0-0 0, Hailey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 8-40 3-10 20.
BAYLOR (1-0) — Davis 7-11 5-5 19, Higgins 3-4 0-0 6, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Prince 0-11 0-0 0, Jones 4-11 4-9 15, Cohen 0-4 2-2 2, Fuqua’ 0-1 0-0 0, Wallace 1-6 0-0 2, Brown 2-3 3-6 7, Mompremier 4-7 0-4 8, Cave 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 22-61 15-28 62.
Halftime — Baylor 30-6. 3-Point Goals — UTA 1-11 (Wainwright 1-1, LeJune 0-1, Hailey 0-1, Clark 0-2, Green 0-2, Cole 0-4), Baylor 3-12 (Jones 3-6, Johnson 0-1, Wallace 0-2, Prince 0-3). Fouled Out — Zaleckaite. Rebounds — UTA 30 (Zaleckaite 5), Baylor 49 (Johnson 7). Assists — UTA 4 (Green 2), Baylor 19 (Johnson 8). Total Fouls — UTA 21, Baylor 13. A — 6,804.
This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 9:07 PM with the headline "Davis, No. 5 Baylor women rout UTA in opener."