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By MATT
THORNSBURY
Associated Press
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- DiJonai Carrington hit her back hard on the floor coming down with a third-quarter rebound, then got up and almost immediately hit a 3-pointer from the corner.
Carrington scored 14 of her 19 points in the decisive period and No. 7 Baylor pulled away for a 65-45 victory over West Virginia in their Big 12 opener Thursday night.
The Lady Bears (3-1) bounced back from an 83-78 loss at No. 13 Arkansas on Sunday.
Carrington has emerged as Baylor's leading scorer after being limited to five games a year ago due to a knee injury. The graduate transfer from Stanford was awarded a medical hardship to play this season.
After scoring 15 points combined in the first two games, Carrington had 24 in the loss at Arkansas and went 6 of 13 from the floor against the Mountaineers.
"She's getting comfortable," Baylor guard Moon Ursin said. "We're figuring out her strengths and she's figuring out her own strengths."
Carrington scored five points and NaLyssa Smith had four during an 11-2 run to open the third quarter as Baylor broke out of a halftime tie to build a 39-30 lead.
Carrington later scored nine straight points for Baylor, including back-to-back 3s, and DiDi Richards followed with a jumper to put the Lady Bears ahead 52-34 with 2:12 left in the quarter.
West Virginia (4-1) got no closer than 13 the rest of the game.
"We just played our brand of basketball in the second half," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said.
Baylor didn't start off so well, committing 11 first-half turnovers. The Mountaineers were able to pull even by halftime with Carrington, Ursin and Smith out with early foul trouble.
"We could've lost the game there in the second quarter with Carrington, Ursin and Smith on the bench but we just milked the clock and didn't let it get away from us," Mulkey said.
Baylor outrebounded West Virginia 48-37, including 17-13 on the offensive end.
"I don't know why, but we looked tired in the second half," West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. "Terrible shot selection. We had no ball reversal, no ball movement. And they just clogged up the paint. They either blocked it or we took a bad shot.
"They played harder than we did in the second half."
Ursin added 12 points and eight rebounds, while Richards and Smith each scored 10 for Baylor.
Kirsten Deans led the Mountaineers with 10 points. Esmery Martinez had nine points and 12 rebounds. Leading scorer Kysre Gondrezick added nine but was shut out after halftime and held 14 below her average.
"She's such a good scorer and we need her to score, but she's got to let the game come to her," Carey said. "She just can't force things."
BIG PICTURE
Baylor: The Lady Bears made as many 3-pointers in this game as they did in their first three combined. Baylor had gone 6 of 37 (16%) previously.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers entered as the last remaining unbeaten team in the Big 12 but were held to 15-of-54 shooting (28%) and their lowest point output of the season.
POLL
IMPLICATIONS
Baylor should at least maintain its ranking in the AP Top 25 after winning its only game of the week.
UP NEXT
Baylor hosts Texas Tech on Monday.
West Virginia hosts James Madison on Sunday.
No. 6 ARIZONA 65 ARIZONA STATE 37
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Aari McDonald had 22 points and made five 3-pointers and No. 6 Arizona quickly turned its rivalry game against Arizona State into a rout.
The Wildcats (4-0, 3-0 Pac-12) had to eke out a win over Southern California on Sunday, but were control from the start against Arizona State (4-2, 1-2).
Arizona shut down the Sun Devils in the first half to lead by 16 and picked apart their zone defense with crisp passing to win its third straight in the series. The Wildcats have started conference play 3-0 for the first time since 2003-04.
McDonald, an Associated Press preseason All-American, shot 5 for 11 from 3, had seven rebounds and three assists.
Arizona State struggled against Arizona's aggressive man defense without assists leader Iris Mbulito, who injured her left shoulder against No. 11 UCLA on Sunday. The Sun Devils shot 27%, went 3 of 12 from the 3-point arc and had 23 turnovers that led to 24 Arizona points.
Taya Hanson led Arizona State with 14 points.
Arizona rose to its highest ranking at No. 6 in this week's AP Top 25 after beating UCLA and holding off USC.
NO. 10 TEXAS
A&M 79
ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 56
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Aaliyah Wilson scored 13 points, Destiny Pitts had 12 on 4-of-8 3-point shooting and Texas A&M beat Arkansas-Little Rock.
NO. 17
NORTHWESTERN 93
EASTERN
ILLINOIS 57
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) -- Veronica Burton scored 21 points, Lindsey Pulliam added 18 and Northwestern opened its season with a blowout victory.
NO. 18 OHIO
STATE 104
MIAMI (OHIO) 65
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Dorka Juhasz matched her career high with 27 points and had 15 rebounds in Ohio State's blowout victory.
Juhasz was 11 of 16 from the field and the Buckeyes (4-0) shot 55.7%.
Jacy Sheldon and Braxtin Miller each scored 13 points, Kateri Poole and Madison Greene had 12 apiece and Rebeka Mikulasikova added 10.
Peyton Scott scored 22 points for Miami (1-2).
NO. 20 SYRACUSE 69 MIAMI 58
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Kamilla Cardoso and Tiana Mangakahia each scored 14 points and Syracuse beat Miami in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
Digna Strautmane added nine points and 11 rebounds for the Orange (4-0).
Destiny Harden scored 11 points for Miami (3-1).
KANSAS STATE 62 NO. 22 SOUTH
DAKOTA STATE 53
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- Ayoka Lee had 18 points and nine rebounds and Kansas State took control early against South Dakota State on Thursday night.
Kansas State (3-2) had a 12-1 run to take a 20-7 lead after the first quarter.
Myah Selland led the Jackrabbits (3-1) with 15 points.