BOULDER, Colo.-
Baylor senior Bernice Mosby’s shot felt good all night, but it just wasn’t dropping.
And she was at a loss to explain why.
“I’m in the gym working,” Mosby said after No. 14 Baylor held off the Colorado Buffaloes for a 75-67 win Wednesday night. “I’m trying to fix it. I don’t know why I’ve been off.”
Her teammates don’t even notice.
“She’s not struggling,” junior Angela Tisdale said in Mosby’s defense. “She’s playing really good.”
That’s because Mosby isn’t letting missed shots go to her head. She’s not dwelling on the last miss on the defensive end.
After the game, though, it’s a different story. When informed she was 6 of 19 from the floor against Colorado, Mosby cringed. She was 3 of 14 against Texas last Sunday.
“Maybe I’m concentrating too hard?” said Mosby, who finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. “Maybe I need to relax? My teammates are stepping up big so I don’t have to worry about my shot.”
The Lady Bears (24-4, 11-3 Big 12) have won five straight and nine of their last 10. They remained in a first-place tie with Oklahoma and Texas A&M, who both won Wednesday night. Baylor hosts the Aggies on Sunday and then travel to the Sooners three days later.
Colorado (11-15, 5-9) has now lost 22 straight games to ranked opponents. The Buffaloes haven’t beaten a Top 25 team since a 69-59 win over Baylor (then-No. 24) on Jan. 7, 2004.
Tisdale scored 18 points for Baylor and Rachel Allison finished with 12 points.
“We have players who can step up,” Mosby said. “To have that is very good for us in the long run. A team like this can go far in the (NCAA) tournament.”
Kara Richards tied a season high with 22 points for Colorado before fouling out with 6:09 remaining. She also had 10 rebounds. Jackie McFarland had 20 points and 10 rebounds, moving into fifth place on Colorado’s all-time rebounding list with 729.
The two were a handful down low.
“I really thought our posts were as strong as I’ve seen them,” Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. “I thought they did a nice job.”
And that frustrated Baylor coach Kim Mulkey.
“I challenged our post players, ‘You’ve got your hands full with McFarland,'” Mulkey said. “Then they go and let Richards have a career night. Our post defense has to get better.”
The Buffaloes took a 53-52 lead on a 3-pointer by Jasmina Ilic with 11:20 remaining, but Baylor answered with a layup by Mosby on its next possession. The Lady Bears wouldn’t lose the lead again.
“We’ve had our hands full all year,” Mulkey said. “We seem to figure out a way to pull them out at the end.”
The Lady Bears came into the game ranked first in the nation in blocked shots per game (7.8) and had five against Colorado. They’ve blocked a school-record 215 shots this season and are just 17 from the Big 12 record set by Texas Tech in 2005.
Despite the win, Mulkey wasn’t pleased with her team’s play after the game.
“We can’t play like this every game,” she said. “We’re not going to dwell on the negative, but we just played sloppy.”
