Cox, Smith double-doubles for Big 12 champion No. 2 Baylor

WACO, Texas (AP) — Lauren Cox and NaLyssa Smith both had double-doubles as No. 2 Baylor beat Kansas State 83-58 on Saturday night, then celebrated the 10th consecutive Big 12 title that the Lady Bears already had secured before tipoff.

Smith had 23 points and 13 rebounds, while Cox scored a season-high 22 points with 10 rebounds. Juicy Landrum had 14 points and six assists, while DiDi Richards had a career-high 10 assists for the Lady Bears (27-1, 16-0 Big 12).

Baylor led throughout after scoring the game's first 10 points. Smith scored six of those, and the sophomore forward went on to her 10th double-double this season.

The defending national champion Lady Bears clinched at least a share of the Big 12 championship with their 64-39 win at West Virginia on Monday night, and had the outright title when second-place TCU lost to Texas two days after that. Their 10 consecutive regular season titles is the nation's longest active streak.

Baylor has won 57 Big 12 regular-season games in a row, and also has a national-best home winning streak of 55 games. Both of those streaks began after a home loss to Texas on Feb. 6, 2017.

Angela Harris had 17 points for Kansas State (14-13, 8-8), and senior guard Peyton Williams had all 14 of her points after halftime.

Cox, a preseason AP All-America pick, had her seventh double-double this season and her 35th in 129 career games. The 6-foot-4 senior forward missed eight games in non-conference play with a right foot issue.

Baylor, which was held to a season-low 54 points in a 14-point win at Kansas State three weeks earlier, had a 44-18 point halftime lead. That was the largest lead in the first half, and the Lady Bears led by as many as 30 after halftime.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: The Wildcats were the only team in the country with two players averaging double-doubles, but neither one of them managed a double-double against Baylor. Williams, who came in averaging 15.3 points and 11.7 rebounds, had 14 points and five rebounds. Freshman center Ayoka Lee, who averaged 16.1 points and 11.3 rebounds, had eight points and 11 rebounds.

Baylor: The Lady Bears had only seven turnovers while having 26 assists on 35 made field goals. The 83 points matched their season average as they shot 53% (35 of 66) against a K-State defense that had held opposing teams to 36.6% shooting.

UP NEXT

Kansas State: plays at Oklahoma State on Tuesday night.

Baylor: plays its regular season home finale Thursday night against Texas, the last Big 12 opponent to win in Waco.

—-

More AP women's basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25