As for her coach and her teammates, they had all the confidence in the world.
Tisdale got loose in the corner and nailed a 3 that lifted the No. 6 Baylor Lady Bears to a 61-60 thriller over No. 25 Texas before an announced crowd of 7,108 Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.
Baylor center Danielle Wilson helped preserve the victory by swatting away Brittainy Raven’s short jumper. Raven lost the ball out of bounds to allow the Lady Bears to take over, remain unbeaten through seven Big 12 Conference games and run their season record to 19-1.
Tisdale’s 3-pointer gave her a team-high 19 points and solidified her place as Baylor’s go-to player when her teammates need her. Tisdale got free off a Rachel Allison screen on a set play.
“Everybody was really patient and confident and when she fired it up I just knew it was going to fall,” Jhasmin Player said. “She was Miss Big Shot today.”
Added Tisdale: “We didn’t play very well and Texas played well. It’s good to get a win under those circumstances.”
Texas took its only lead of the second half when Ashley Lindsey got inside for a bucket with 44 seconds left to make it a 60-58 game. Player missed from long-range on the return trip and Baylor coach Kim Mulkey called for time. Mulkey confessed to going against the conventional wisdom of going for the win rather than a tie at home.
“I felt like I had confidence in her that if she could get a three and get a good look to take it,” Mulkey said.
Wilson made the stop on the other end for a clutch play for an otherwise quiet game from the 6-3 sophomore. Wilson had 11 points and four rebounds. One of the top shot-blockers in the country, her deflection of Raven’s shot was her only one of the night.
“She needed to do something to get back in my good graces,” Mulkey said, semi-joking.
Tisdale was fouled with 1.5 seconds to play. She missed the first attempt, and then Mulkey asked her to purposely miss the second attempt off the rim so as not to give the Longhorns a legitimate opportunity.
“She couldn’t have missed it any better than that,” said Mulkey, who added that she had never before asked a player to miss on purpose in a situation like that.
The Lady Bears held Raven, the Longhorns’ leading scorer, to just seven points. Lindsey was hot early in the game and finished with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“I give Baylor a lot of credit,” said Texas coach Gail Goestenkors, whose team slipped to 15-6, 3-4. “They made the plays when they had to. Tisdale had been giving us problems all night long.”
Carla Cortijo gave the Longhorns a hot hand with 16 points. She thought her team was in great position to win in the last minute.
“I thought we had it. That was just a miscommunication,” said Cortijo of the Tisdale shot. “We were supposed to switch, but I thought we did a great job of executing.”
Baylor carried a 28-24 lead into halftime and never led by more than six points. Jessica Morrow added 10 points for Baylor and Allison had eight points and 10 rebounds.
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