Houston women’s basketball falls at No. 14 Baylor, remains winless halfway in league play

The ability to remain competitive and capitalize off opponent mistakes has had its share of promises for Houston women’s basketball.

But halfway through Big 12 play, those efforts have yet to amount to a winning effort.

“The first half of conference play has certainly been difficult from a wins and loss standpoint,” coach Matthew Mitchell said. “But they are a joy to coach everyday, they keep coming in with resilience, they came in here expecting to compete and win tonight and I just love them for that.”

Despite a season-high 17 points from graduate forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim, who began a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor, and the Cougars’ sixth positive finish in the turnover battle in league play, they couldn’t meet them in an 82-66 loss to No. 14 Baylor at Foster Pavilion in Waco, Texas on Tuesday. 

“Very impressed with our fight,” Mitchell said. “We were trying to contain a lot of firepower that Baylor has, and we had some stretches where we were really able to hang in and do some good things.”

Compared to Mitchell’s praises, visible frustration mounted in the second half for Baylor coach Nicki Collen, whose team held a Division I-leading 22.3% opponent clip from 3-point range heading into the game. 

While it appeared to bolster Houston’s 12.5% finish from range in the first half as part of its 8-for-27 start from the floor, the Bears’ defense became non-existent to Collen’s standard in the final two quarters.

“We didn’t play any,” Collen said. “I thought we missed our switches, we missed our ball screen coverage, we didn’t contest shots, we fouled at the rim, we gave up threes to 3-point shooters, our effort wasn’t good. That’s probably the gist of it.”

In particular, Houston posted a turnaround 47% mark deep in the second half in part from three triples from redshirt senior guard Kyndall Hunter, who also finished with 17 points on the night. 

When mixed with eight Baylor turnovers, five steals and six offensive rebounds for Houston compared to just two in the first half, it left Collen dissatisfied despite the Bears remaining tied atop the Big 12 standings.

“We didn’t bring our bucket,” she said. “We didn’t come to work in the second half at the defensive end.”

Senior forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs kept Baylor afloat offensively, however, in posting a season conference game-high 25 points on 10 of 11 shooting. Redshirt sophomore guard Taliah Scott, the Big 12’s second-leading scorer, finished with 14 points on 4 of 13 shooting after being held to one shot attempt in the first quarter. 

The opposing conference talent garnered respect from Mitchell, who acknowledged the growing depth of the Big 12 from the front and back halves of Houston’s schedule.

“I’m proud of our team for going out there and continuing to improve and get better,” he said. “But the quality of our league is really, really deep.”

At 6-14 overall, that depth still poses tests in four of Houston’s nine remaining games, coming against teams in the top half of the Big 12.

But the Cougars’ next opportunity to grab their first league win lies in facing 13th-place Cincinnati on Sunday, Feb. 1, at 2 p.m. in a quick return home to Fertitta Center.