Collen seeks consistency as Baylor builds around returning scorer Taliah Scott

Nicki Collen is preparing a Baylor team with one returning starter, Taliah Scott, and made consistency a theme of her appearance at Big 12 basketball media days Tuesday in Kansas City.

The Bears lost Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Bella Fontleroy and Jana Van Gytenbeek to graduation, Matthew Postins reported for Heartland College Sports. Collen described a new group still learning to bring the same competitive approach every day.

“There are days we’re dog-less, then we have Chihuahua days,” Collen said, according to Postins. She said the goal was to make that toughness dependable from one day to the next.

Scott returns after averaging 19.7 points and starting 32 of 33 games in her first Baylor season. She led the Bears in scoring 27 times, made 80 three-pointers and set the program’s single-season free-throw percentage record at 89.5%, making 205 of 229 attempts.

Those numbers helped earn Scott a unanimous place on the preseason All-Big 12 team announced October 8. Baylor was picked third in the conference coaches’ preseason poll with 199 points and two first-place votes, behind Oklahoma State and TCU.

Five transfers join the roster

Baylor’s current roster lists five players in their first year with the program after arriving from other schools: Skylar Jones from Louisville, Kate Koval from LSU, Reese Ross from Utah, Tianna Thompson from Ole Miss and Trinity Turner from Georgia.

Koval is listed as a 6-foot-5 forward and Jones as a 6-foot guard. The roster also includes returning players Kyla Abraham, Ines Goryanova, Kayla Nelms and Marcayla Johnson. Baylor featured Koval in an October 1 episode of its official Sic ’Em Podcast.

The Bears finished 25-9 last season and third in the Big 12. That extended their run of 20-win seasons to 26 and consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances to 22, according to Baylor.

Exhibition comes Sunday

Baylor hosts West Texas A&M in an exhibition October 25 at 2 p.m. Central before opening the regular season against Fairleigh Dickinson on November 2 at 6 p.m. Central. Both games are at Foster Pavilion.

The nonconference schedule also includes Southern California at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on November 20 and Tennessee at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on December 18. The USC game is scheduled for Big Ten Network, with the Tennessee matchup on ESPN2. Baylor’s Big 12 schedule begins December 21 at Houston.