The Baylor girls’ basketball team fell 53-40 to the perennial powerhouse, and 5-time state champion, Brentwood Academy.

The young Baylor squad graduated seven seniors last year and came into the season with only one junior and one senior on the roster. In was a competitive game throughout, the Lady Red Raiders showed their youth late in the game which led to their demise.

In the first half, the advantage of experience for the Lady Eagles was nonexistent. It was a battle of lead guards, as 7 first half points from Baylor point guard Bella White nearly matched the 8 of talented senior guard Millie Brown for Brentwood Academy. White seemed to be a part of every good thing the Lady Red Raider offense did. At 21-21 at the half, a game-tying, coast-to-coast floater from the free throw line at the buzzer summed up the impact she had early on.

“She makes a huge difference. She has vision and the skills to go with it. She’s got a burst to get by people and just makes things happen. All she needs is to condition so we can play her longer and we’ll be okay.” Said Coach John Gibson.

In the second period, Baylor made it a point to shut down Millie Brown. They face guarded her the entire half and held the star senior to just a layup.

“She’s a really good player. We just didn’t want her to beat us to death, and it worked for the most part, but we broke down other places.”

While effective in shutting down the star, others stepped up for Brentwood. More specifically Hope McDonald, who had all 14 of her points in the second half, and Trinity Fields, who went 6-6 from the line in the final period.

The game was a back-and-fourth battle as the teams headed into fourth with a score of 35-32 in favor of Brentwood, but the experience for the Lady Eagles, or lack thereof for Baylor, was the difference down the stretch.

Defensive breakdowns, turnovers, failure to block out, and bad shot selection – all traits of an inexperienced team – reared their head in the last eight minutes. Brentwood took advantage of the mistakes and dominated the quarter 18-8 to make what was a close contest, seem like an easy win.

“We are awfully young at a lot of spots, but that’s not an excuse. There was three or four times in a row where we didn’t get back and they got easy ones. That changed the flow of the game, but we will get better. We have a lot of new people at new places.”

Though Baylor fell to a losing record at 1-2, the Lady Red Raiders showed a lot of promise. Sticking with a team that has four state titles in the last eight years is nothing to be taken lightly. The youthful bunch has a bright future, that if not shown this season, will be evident in years to come.

SUMMARY
 
BRENTWOOD ACADEMY       12     9     14     18   -   53
BAYLOR                                   10     11    11      8   -   40
 
BRENTWOOD ACADEMY (53) – Trinity Fields 14, Hope McDonald 14, Millie Brown 10, Perry 8, Jackson 5, Grimes 2.
BAYLOR (40) – Bella White 10, Stack 7, Collins 7, Oleksik 5, Synder 5, Merrit 4, Sanders 2.
3-POINT GOALS: Brentwood Academy 2 (Brown, Fields); Baylor 6 (Collins 2, Oleksik, Stack, White, Snyder). 

(Email Jack Gold at goldj2002@gmail.com)