Davis, No. 5 Baylor women rout UT-Arlington 62-20 in opener
WACO, Texas (AP) The No. 5 Baylor women flirted with the best defensive game in school history.
The Lady Bears just didn't get the usual offense to go with it Friday night.
Preseason All-America Nina Davis scored 19 points and Duke transfer Alexis Jones added 15, but nobody else was in double figures in a 62-20 victory over Texas-Arlington in a season opener that was also the first game of the Preseason WNIT.
''Give UTA credit defensively, but we've got to finish shots,'' coach Kim Mulkey said. ''Part of that is probably first game, part of it is fatigue, inexperience, a lot of things that probably created it.''
Jones had 11 points in the first half, when the Lady Bears built a 30-6 lead and held UT-Arlington to 2-of-19 shooting.
Baylor advanced to face Southern Miss, a 65-44 winner over Alabama State, in the second round of the Preseason WNIT.
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.
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.
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.
Kristy Wallace, a sophomore who earned a role on Baylor's regional finalist last season, had just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 28 minutes.
''Niya, Nina and Jones, now have to find people to go with them,'' Mulkey said. ''I don't expect Niya to be one of our big scorers, but the truth is she, Kristy and Prince, we've got to get more than that.''
Rebekah VanDijk scored five points to lead UT-Arlington, 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.
''We just take away the lessons,'' said UTA coach Krista Gerlich, whose team went 17-13 last season after going 4-25 in her debut in 2013-14. ''What a great environment to play in. We want to play in this type of environment, so when we advance to postseason, we don't get so surprised.''
Jones, a junior, had her 38th career double-figure game in her Baylor debut. The 2013 ACC freshman of the year, who went to high school in the Dallas area, was 3 of 6 from 3-point range. The rest of the team was 0 of 6.
''If that's what is needed, then I'm going to go out and score,'' said Jones, who tore a knee ligament late in her sophomore season at Duke and sat out last season after transferring. ''I'm a pretty good scorer, a pretty good passer. I just do what's needed.''
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.
All 11 Baylor players had at least one rebound, and the Lady Bears outrebounded the smaller Lady Mavericks 49-30.
