Baylor Bears at Texas Longhorns

Alexis Jones scores 29 as Baylor sends Texas to first loss of season

Alexis Jones scored 29 points as No. 6 Baylor thumped fourth-ranked Texas 80-67 on Sunday to send the Longhorns to their first loss of the season and earn the Lady Bears their 12th straight win in a tense league rivalry.

Nina Davis added 24 points for the Lady Bears (18-1, 5-1).

"This win today doesn't win a championship for us, but a road win is big, and against a team that is undefeated ... I didn't want us to get outhustled, outplayed," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said.

The Lady Bears responded to that demand from the start.

Defensively, they harassed Texas into 21 turnovers and turned those into 24 points. They forced the Longhorns to pick up a rash of early fouls that disrupted everything Texas tried to do.

Texas (16-1, 5-1), which had trailed for only 16 seconds in its previous five Big 12 games, was down by 12 at halftime. Baylor pushed its lead as high as 19 in the third quarter, when Kristy Wallace and Jones made early 3-pointers.

Texas rallied late to get within six before Jones put the game away with a long jumper and four consecutive free throws over the final 90 seconds.

"The foul trouble in the first half got us completely out of sync. That's uncharacteristic for our team because we're so mature," Texas coach Karen Aston said. "We didn't have an answer for Jones at all."

Brooke McCarty scored 16 for Texas.

Baylor has been the league's heavyweight for a decade, with six conference championships and two national titles since 2005, but Texas came in sensing an opportunity to establish a new balance of power in the Big 12.

Aston led the Longhorns back to the Sweet 16 last season and has one of the nation's top-rate recruiting classes ready to join an experienced lineup next season.

The Lady Bears didn't want to hear any of that and seemed determined to send a message of their own: The Big 12 title still goes through Waco. Texas will get a rematch there in the Big 12 season finale Feb. 27, but it will have to live with this one until then.

Baylor trailed 14-9 before a 15-3 run put the Bears up 24-17. Jones scored 16 in the first two quarters as the Lady Bears took a 41-29 lead into halftime. Baylor's 41 points were the most Texas had surrendered in a half all season.

Texas' foul troubles started early, with starting guard Celina Rodrigo up three fouls in the first quarter. Without her, the Longhorns looked shaky and unsure of shot selection. They committed 13 turnovers in the first half.

"We just wanted to fight like the coaches wanted us to," Davis said.

TIP-INS

Baylor: The Lady Bears won without a typical big game from point guard Niya Johnson, the national leader in assists. Johnson came in averaging more than 10 per game but had just one on Sunday. That one made her the Big 12 career leader with 845.

Texas: Imani Boyette, the Big 12 player of the week the past two weeks, had 15 points and 17 rebounds, good for her fifth double-double in six league games.

NEARLY PERFECT

Baylor made 24 of 25 free throw attempts. Jones and Davis both went 8-of-8. Mulkey chalked it up to a new practice regimen: "I decided to stop doing a free throw drill. We need to get to the foul line more."

UP NEXT

Baylor plays at Iowa State on Jan. 23.

Texas hosts No. 14 Oklahoma on Jan. 23.

How can I watch Bears vs. Longhorns?

• TV Channel: Bears vs Longhorns 2021 College Basketball, week 10, is broadcasted on ESPN2.
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Location: Austin, TX
Attendance: 8,996 | Capacity: