Strong finish leads to No. 23 Baylor women beat TCU 64-42

WACO, Texas (AP) — Caitlin Bickle scored 19 points and No. TCU lost 64 to 42 in the fourth quarter as 23 Baylor won against TCU in an opening Big 12 Conference game on Saturday.

Bickle hit 8 of 12 shots including 3 of 4 3-pointers, and grabbed 7 rebounds for Lady Bears (10-3).

Sarah Andrews scored five points each, while Bickle scored five. The Lady Bears hit half of their 12 attempts to take a 15-8 lead at the end of one quarter.

With 5:22 remaining in the second quarter, Baylor was up 24-10 thanks to Ja’mee Asberry’s first of two free throws. Bella Cravens made two free throws for the Horned Frogs (6-6), to bring them within 26-18 at halftime.

Emily Fisher followed her layup up with a 3 pointer. Tomi Taiwo made a layup after her steal, bringing the Horned Frogs down to 30-29 with six minutes left in the third period. Andrews made one of two free throws and a layup, extending the Lady Bears’ lead by four. Baylor led 37-31 after Asberry’s layup at 2:19 left.

The Lady Bears took the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.

Bickle made the first two baskets. Andrews scored back-toback 3-pointers. Bickle connected from the outside arc to give Baylor a 51-31 lead with 6 minutes remaining. Lucy Ibeh, the TCU’s leading scorer with nine points, made a three-point play at 4:33 to end Baylor’s 15-0 run to begin the quarter. It also ended a 22-2 run that spanned two periods.

Andrews and Asberry each made three 3-pointers scoring 16, 14 and 14, respectively.

Baylor’s overall shooting percentage was 46% and its 3-point range score was 48% (10 out of 21). TCU was 31% and only made 1 of 12 attempts from the distance. They combined for 43 turnovers.

Baylor is now 46-5 against TCU. The Lady Bears have won the last 109 games against Texas-based schools 105 times.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25