Waco – At 28-2 and with a 17-1 conference mark, the No. 2 Baylor women’s basketball team is poised to make a run at a second straight NCAA Championship. San Antonio native and East Central graduate, NaLyssa Smith, made an impact on the team from the get-go her freshman year.
“I just came in and played basketball at the end of the day and I feel like I earned my spot,” the forward said. “Just coming in and playing and making such a big impact I mean, it was great. It felt good.”
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Last season, Smith came off the bench to average 8.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game – playing an important role and earning 2019 Big XII Sixth Woman of the Year accolades. As a sophomore, Smith has now transitioned into the starting lineup. Women’s basketball head coach, Kim Mulkey, said that now as a starter, Smith has to continue to evolve her game in order to be as effective as she was when she was coming off the bench.
“Her role has changed,” Mulkey said. “She can’t hide and be that secret weapon anymore. She’s going to have all of her strengths taken away from her. She’s got to develop multiple moves when guarded down in the low block and defensively, she needs to continue every day to just get better.”
The sophomore is having a breakout season: Smith leads the Lady Bears in scoring at 14.3 pointer per game and her field goal percentage is the best in the Big XII. She also leads the team in double-doubles with 10. Smith continues to make a conscious effort at getting better on both ends of the court.
“I think the best thing about NaLyssa is just no matter what, you’re going to get her all on offense and defense,” said Baylor sophomore forward, Caitlin Bickle. “I think offensively whether she misses a shot or not, she’s going to keep attacking the basket and I think that’s a great quality to have.”
Smith said she’s made a point to take more shots in the low post and get to the free throw line opposed to last season when she took more shots from the high post.
“My dad always tells me to expand my game more so it’s harder for people to guard,” she said. “Coach Mulkey is always telling me like, switch things up so during the scouting report they don’t know what’s coming. And also with myself, you always want to bring something new to the table so It’s harder for them to guard.”
With the conference tournament beginning this week and the Lady Bears on track to earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Smith says the defending champions are anything but complacent heading into the postseason.
“Just stay focused – that's our main goal right now,” she said. “Not get too ahead of ourselves. Do little things in practice like defend, go against our dream team, make sure we’re executing our plays right. Just little things like that.”
Baylor will play the winner of Oklahoma State/Oklahoma in the quarterfinals of the Big XII Conference Championship Friday at 1:30pm.