Merchant and Houston host Baylor

Houston Cougars (5-12, 1-5 Big 12) at Baylor Bears (15-3, 5-1 Big 12)

Waco, Texas; Friday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Houston faces Baylor after Kierra Merchant scored 20 points in Houston’s 79-76 victory over the Oklahoma State Cowgirls.

The Bears have gone 10-1 at home. Baylor ranks second in the Big 12 with 39.8 points per game in the paint led by Aaronette Vonleh averaging 11.0.

The Cougars are 1-5 in conference play. Houston averages 13.9 turnovers per game and is 3-8 when winning the turnover battle.

Baylor scores 81.7 points, 16.9 more per game than the 64.8 Houston allows. Houston has shot at a 36.9% rate from the field this season, 0.2 percentage points greater than the 36.7% shooting opponents of Baylor have averaged.

The Bears and Cougars square off Friday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Darianna Littlepage-Buggs is averaging 14.3 points and 10.3 rebounds for the Bears.

Laila Blair averages 2.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Cougars, scoring 12.2 points while shooting 33.7% from beyond the arc.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bears: 9-1, averaging 81.9 points, 40.1 rebounds, 19.8 assists, 8.3 steals and 6.0 blocks per game while shooting 46.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 58.9 points per game.

Cougars: 3-7, averaging 65.5 points, 28.1 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 10.4 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 38.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Copyright © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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