Waco, Tex. ? Bernice Mosby scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead No. 16 Baylor past No. 22 BYU, 84-58, in the semifinals of the Preseason WNIT on Thursday night.
Jessica Morrow and Angela Tisdale added 14 each and Latara Darrett had 12 as the Bears (3-0) advanced to the championship game against No. 12 Purdue on Sunday.
Baylor outscored the Cougars 11-4 to open the second half, and BYU (2-1) never recovered. Mosby scored six of the points in the Bears’ opening run.
The Bears forced 23 Cougar turnovers resulting in 27 points. Baylor made 29 of its 37 free-throw attempts, while BYU went to the line only 19 times and sank 13.
Dani Wright scored 17 points to lead the Cougars, while Jennie Keele added 12 and Shawnee Slade 11.
BYU’s offense was hampered when Wright fouled out with 13:32 remaining in the second half.
Baylor closed out the first half on a 9-0 run and led 38-26 at the half. Mosby fueled the first-half offense with 16 points, and Darrett added nine with a trio of three-pointers.
BYU played the final 6:38 of the first half with Wright on the bench after she picked up her third personal foul.
No. 13 Texas A&M 95, Mercer 41
College Station, Texas – Takia Starks scored 19 points, and Morenike Atunrase added 15 to lead No. 13 Texas A&M over Mercer.
Starks was 8-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-4 on three-pointers. Atunrase made all three of her three-point attempts. She also had two steals.
Texas A&M (2-0) got 43 points from its bench and 37 points off turnovers. The Aggies shot 59 percent from the field to 36 percent for Mercer.
Nicole Leonard scored 13 points to lead Mercer (0-2).
Texas A&M scored the first nine points of the game and took a 44-24 lead at the half.
