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Baylor women's basketball suffered a huge blow to its program when senior Aijha Blackwell went down late in the first quarter of yesterday's 58-56 win over SMU. Blackwell, who transferred to Baylor this season after three seasons at Missouri, collapsed to the ground and suffered a non-contact injury.
Bears head coach Nicki Collen didn't have an update on Blackwell's status after the game.
Following the win over SMU, Nicki Collen spoke about the injury to Aijha Blackwell, and just the ongoing injury issues for the Bears so far.
"When it rains, it pours, and it's been pouring all fall. Just praying that Aijha's OK. I didn't see anything. I don't know what it is." https://t.co/v7Af23rfnu pic.twitter.com/5KVi8nv1Lj
— Eric Kelly (@EricKellyTV) November 16, 2022
“Just praying that Aijha is OK, to be honest with you, at this point, because she’s pretty good,” Collen said. “I don't know what it is and it wasn't the kind of game where I could leave coaching the five kids on the court. I couldn't break away. It's a 25-point game. I'm over there head leaning in asking [the athetlic trainer] ‘what's going on?' It never felt like I could do that.”
Blackwell was put on the Wooden Award watch list before she went down yesterday night. She was averaging 20 points and seven rebounds per game heading into the game vs. SMU. Blackwell is a projected first round pick and teams will monitor her situation ahead of the 2023 WNBA draft.
Baylor escaped the upset behind Sarah Andrews, who dropped 13 points. Collen liked how her team responded after losing Blackwell.
“When you go in and you have a Caitlin Bickle who isn’t playing and Aijha Blackwell isn’t playing and ‘Dre’ Edwards isn’t playing, you have two freshmen out on the floor,” Collen said. “That team that was out there at the end of the game wasn’t the team that I thought I was going to be coaching late in a close game. I’m just proud of them. We found a way.”
