Baylor WBB to Play Host to Langston for Exhibition Tilt Friday

Thu Oct 25 15:13:20 CDT 2018

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Oct. 25, 2018

Baylor WBB to Play Host to Langston for Exhibition Tilt Friday
Lady Bears & Lions to square off at the Ferrell Center at 7 p.m.
For more information contact: Kyle Robarts, 254-405-9492, Kyle_Robarts at baylor.edu<mailto:Kyle_Robarts at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – The Baylor women’s basketball team will play host to Langston in the first of two exhibitions Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center ahead of the season opener Nov. 6 vs. Nicholls State.

The Lady Bears are coming off a 33-2 overall season last year under 19th-year head coach Kim Mulkey where Baylor won the Big 12 regular season and Big 12 Championship title and advanced to its 10th NCAA Sweet 16.

Langston, an NAIA program out of Langston, Okla., is coming off a 12-16 season and is under the direction of third-year head coach Elaine Powell. The Lions return three starters from last season including Tennia Hill who averaged 13.0 points per contest last season.

Baylor returns a nucleus of six players mixed with five freshmen and a graduate transfer. Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox headline the returners for the Lady Bears. Both players landed on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team and have earned numerous national preseason accolades.

Fans can watch a free video/audio broadcast on Facebook Live by visiting Facebook.com/BaylorWBB or by paid subscription on BaylorBears.com/Watch. New radio duo Bruce Gietzen and Baylor Athletics Hall of Famer Maggie Davis-Stinnett will debut as the new voices of the Lady Bears with Friday night’s broadcast.

Single-game, Bear-Claw Mini-Plans and season ticket packages are still available by visiting BaylorBears.com/Tickets or calling (254) 710-6446.

Follow Baylor Lady Bears basketball on social media all season long by following the handle @BaylorWBB on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

STORY LINES

   October 26 and Nov. 1 the Lady Bears will play host to Langston and Texas A&M-Commerce, respectively in exhibition contests at the Ferrell Center with both matchups tipping at 7 p.m. Langston is an NAIA school out of Oklahoma, and Texas A&M-Commerce competes in the NCAA Division II’s Lone Star Conference

THREE NATIONAL TOP-FIVE NODS & BIG 12 REPEAT PREDICTED

   After a 33-2 season, a 10th consecutive trip to the NCAA Sweet 16, a Big 12 regular season and championship title, the return of an All-American duo in Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox has the national media and Big 12 head coaches expecting another
successful season for the Lady Bears.

   Athlon Sports College Basketball Preview, Street & Smith’s Basketball Yearbook and Lindy’s College Basketball have the Lady Bears selected as a preseason No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 pick, respectively.

   18-time Big 12 champion Baylor earned eight of 10 first-place votes in the 2018-19 Preseason Big 12 Women’s Basketball Poll. The Lady Bears have won nine regular season and nine Big 12 Championship titles in the program’s history, including eight-straight regular season titles.

TWIN TOWERS ACCOLADES POUR IN

   Senior Kalani Brown and junior Lauren Cox have been tabbed by many as the best post combo in the nation, and the pair has combined for five preseason All-America honors with Brown taking home three and Cox a pair. Brown was a first-team selection by Athlon, Street & Smith’s and Lindy’s Sports while Cox earned second-team nods from Athlon and Street & Smith’s.

   Both players were selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team and Brown was selected to repeat as Big 12 Player of the Year.

   Brown has combined for eight all-America honors between her sophomore and junior seasons while Cox was honored twice after a successful sophomore season last year.

BACK FOR MORE: FOUR VETERANS BACK IN SUPPORT OF BROWN & COX

   Junior Juicy Landrum, sophomores DiDi Richards, Moon Ursin and redshirt freshman Trinity Oliver all bring back experience as well for the Lady Bears in 2018-19. Landrum and Richards should see time early in the starting lineup, but other than Brown and Cox, just 16 starts are shared among the four returning players with Landrum taking 14.

   Landrum could see time at the point guard position and the shooting guard spot; she shot .415 beyond the arc last season on 44 made 3-point field goals and is second among returners with 77 assists last season. Richards played in 33 of 35 games last season averaging 18 minutes per contest and 5.1 points per game; she’s expected to be a go-to lockdown defender for the Lady Bears. Ursin averaged 10.5 minutes per contest last season in 28 games and will look to increase productivity her second season. Oliver missed all but seven games due to an ACL tear and was awarded a medical redshirt after a brief rookie campaign.

POINT GUARD BY COMMITTEE: COMBO GUARDS WILL HAVE TO STEP UP IN 2018-19

   Head Coach Kim Mulkey said at the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tipoff Oct. 16 that she had never entered a season without knowing who her point guard would be. Well, in season No. 19, Mulkey and the Lady Bears will shuffle four players at the position after the dismissal of Alexis Morris in early September. (continued on page 2)

   Morris averaged just under double figures at 9.4 points per contest as Kristy Wallace’s spell last season and was expected to take over the reins before a violation of team rules ended her tenure.

   LSU transfer Chloe Jackson, Richards, Landrum and freshman Honesty Scott-Grayson have all worked out at the point guard position in the
preseason. Jackson transferred with the intent of getting more experience at the point guard position, but hasn’t played the 1 in college to this point.

   Scott-Grayson is a true two but did play some point guard in high school while Richards and Landrum offer experience and leadership that has Mulkey considering the pair for playing time at the point.

NEWCOMER, JACKSON HONORED FOR POSSIBLE TRANSITION TO POINT

   Chloe Jackson was a Second-Team All-SEC selection for the LSU Tigers last season after averaging 18.1 points per contest, she’s just 49 points shy of 1,000 career points as a collegian, but she transferred to Baylor with the intention of learning the point guard position from Mulkey, one of the best point guards to ever play the college game.

   Jackson’s reputation at shooting guard, however, had the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the WBCA tab Jackson as one of 20 players to the watch list for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, which recognizes the top shooting guard in women’s college basketball.

FIERCE FIVE: FISH EAGER TO MAKE MARK AFTER SELECTION AS NO. 1 RECRUITING CLASS

   For the second time in program history, the Baylor women’s basketball team signed the nation’s top recruiting class and the “Fierce Five” freshmen are ready to lace them up for 2018-19. Caitlin Bickle, Aquira DeCosta, Queen Egbo, Honesty Scott-Grayson and NaLyssa Smith all signed with the Lady Bears and all were ranked in the Top 30 overall by ESPN Hoopgurlz and boasted a five-star rating.

NEW WAVE: Gietzen, Stinnett take over Baylor Lady Bears Radio Crew

   After 22 years of the same play-by-play voice and 20 years of the same color analyst, the Baylor Lady Bears radio waves will bring two new voices to the air after Rick May (PBP) and Lori Fogleman (Color) retired following the 2017-18 season.

   Former Houston Astros radio color analyst Bruce Gietzen and Baylor Athletics Hall of Famer Maggie Davis-Stinnett join the program as play-by-play and analyst, respectively beginning with the 2018-19 season.

   Gietzen is the Director of Student Publications at Baylor while teaching in the journalism department and has more than three decades of media experience between print and broadcast. In addition to his three seasons with the Astros, Gietzen has been a contributing reporter to Fox, ESPN, CNN, ABC, MLB and the NBA.

   Davis-Stinnett was a 2001 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, a 2017 Southwest Conference (SWC) Hall of Famer and was one of the most decorated Lady Bears in program history. She amassed 2,027 points and 1,011 rebounds from 1986-1991 and was a three-time All-SWC performer in addition to the only player in league history with 2,000+ points and 1,000+ rebounds.

www.BaylorBears.com

___________________________________
Kyle Robarts | Associate Director, Athletics Communications (WBB, WTEN)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-3042 | C: 254-405-9492

[cid:image001.png at 01D3533B.25DEF160]<http://www.baylorbears.com/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20181025/67fdc9b0/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 7070 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20181025/67fdc9b0/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BU WBB Game_Notes 18-19 EXH1_LangstonWeb.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 1999183 bytes
Desc: BU WBB Game_Notes 18-19 EXH1_LangstonWeb.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20181025/67fdc9b0/attachment-0001.pdf>