Baylor Bears at West Virginia Mountaineers

Odyssey Sims scores 48 as Baylor tops West Virginia

Sims scored a career-high 48 points and set a Baylor mark for career 3-pointers in the seventh-ranked Bears' 78-62 victory over West Virginia on Wednesday night.

"It means a lot, but I didn't come to Baylor to break records," Sims said. "It's just another thing to go down in history. But I'm just going to focus on keep playing and help my team win."

Sims made six 3-pointers and has 201 for her career. Jennifer King held the previous school record of 195 from 1989-93.

Sims, a preseason AP All-American and the nation's leading scorer at 30.8 points per game, is averaging 39 over the first three Big 12 games. She eclipsed the 47 points she scored in a four-overtime loss to Kentucky on Dec. 6.

Sims went 14 of 29 from the floor and 14 of 17 from the free-throw line and played all 40 minutes. She also had a career-high 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.

"She never ceases to amaze me," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "You just can't guard her. You foul her or she can shoot the perimeter shot. She can take you off the dribble. I've challenged her to be a better rebounder because we're smaller on the perimeter this year that we thought we would be."

Baylor (13-1, 3-0 Big 12) never trailed but had trouble putting away the Mountaineers until late after jumping ahead 40-25 at halftime. The Lady Bears are outscoring opponents by an average of 33 per game and this was their second-closest winning margin of the season.

Asya Bussie scored 17 points, Bria Holmes added 15 and Taylor Palmer had 12 for West Virginia (13-2, 2-1), which saw its 13-game winning streak snapped.

Guard Christal Caldwell, West Virginia's second-leading scorer at 12.6 per game, was held scoreless, as was forward Linda Stepney.

"They were getting physical and we weren't," West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. "Some of us were just standing around watching the game being played."

West Virginia scored the first five points of the second half and drew to 52-44 on a basket by Averee Fields with 12:30 left, but the Mountaineers got no closer.

Baylor then scored seven straight points, only to be answered by a 6-0 run by West Virginia. Holmes' layup cut it to 59-50 with 9:12 remaining, but West Virginia failed to make a field goal over the next 5 minutes.

Sims made six free throws and Nina Davis hit a layup for a 69-55 lead with 4:42 left.

The Mountaineers missed a bevy of layups and shot 33 percent (22 of 67) from the floor, its second-worst performance of the season.

"I thought our defense was outstanding," Mulkey said. "I thought every shot that they attempted, that we did everything that we went over in the scouting report."

West Virginia was a step slow in guarding Sims, who personally outscored the Mountaineers 26-25 in the first half with a variety of long shots and drives to the basket.

"I know every team is going to trap, box-and-one, just about everything you could possibly throw at me," Sims said. "And no matter what I just have to stay focused, stay level-headed, and lead my team.

The teams combined to miss 12 of their first 13 shot attempts before Sims made a fast-break layup for a 5-0 lead.

Despite the slow start, the Lady Bears had a double-digit lead 5 minutes into the game.

Davis finished with 12 points for Baylor, which went 8 of 14 from 3-point range.

How can I watch Bears vs. Mountaineers?

• TV Channel: Bears vs Mountaineers 2021 College Basketball, week 10, is broadcasted on .
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Location: Morgantown, WV
Attendance: 2,791 | Capacity: