Baylor women’s basketball now knows the road map for the 2026-27 Big 12 season, and it starts with a quick trip to Houston before the holiday break and ends with TCU coming to Foster Pavilion on the final day of the regular season.
The conference released the full league slate Thursday morning, giving the Bears a December-to-February grind that includes plenty of familiar names, a few long road swings and another late-season date with the Horned Frogs. Baylor opens conference play on Monday, Dec. 21, at Fertitta Center against Houston, trying to extend a seven-game winning streak over the Cougars.
After that, the Bears come back home to host Texas Tech on Wednesday, Dec. 30.
From there, Baylor kicks off 2027 in Boulder. The Bears face Colorado at the CU Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 2, then return to Waco to meet BYU on Wednesday, Jan.
- That matchup will be the sixth all-time between the programs and the third since BYU joined the conference.
The early January stretch keeps getting tougher. Baylor heads to Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 9, for a game at Allen Fieldhouse, then travels to Fort Worth on Thursday, Jan. 14, for the first of two meetings with TCU.
West Virginia visits Waco on Sunday, Jan. 17, before the Bears wrap up the season series with Texas Tech on Wednesday, Jan. 20, in Lubbock. That will be the 107th all-time meeting between the schools.
A key run at home follows. Baylor will play three straight Big 12 games in Waco - Utah on Saturday, Jan.
23, Iowa State on Jan. 30 and Cincinnati on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
It’s just the second three-game conference homestand of the Nicki Collen era, joining one in 2022, and only the third for the program since 2013.
February opens with another trip to Orlando, where Baylor meets UCF on Sunday, Feb. 7, marking the Bears’ third visit there in as many years. That begins a 15-day stretch that also includes two games against Kansas State, starting Wednesday, Feb. 10, in Waco.
The Bears then head west for back-to-back games in Arizona, facing Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 13, at McKale Center and Arizona State on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at Desert Financial Arena. Oklahoma State comes to Foster Pavilion on Sunday, Feb. 21, and Baylor’s final road trip of the regular season closes with the back half of the Kansas State series on Thursday, Feb. 25, in Manhattan, Kan.
The regular season ends with another Baylor-TCU matchup, this one on Sunday, Feb. 28, at Foster Pavilion. The Big 12 said game times and TV designations will be announced later.
Baylor had already revealed its nonconference schedule last week. That slate begins at home against Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday, Nov. 2, then includes neutral-site games against Southern California at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 20, and against Tennessee at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Friday, Dec. 18.
The Bears are set to bring back the Big 12’s third-leading scorer in Taliah Scott, who averaged 19.7 points per game, along with fifth-year post Kyla Abraham. Also returning are Ines Goryanova, Ella Brow n, Kayla Nelms and Marcayla Johnson. Baylor also added six transfer newcomers: Kate Koval from LSU, Skylar Jones from Louisville, Reese Ross from Utah, Tianna Thompson from Ole Miss, Trinity Turner from Georgia and Lorena Awou, who enrolled last spring from NC State.
Baylor enters the season coming off a 25-9 finish in 2025-26 and a third-place result in the Big 12. The Bears also kept alive two of the nation’s longest active streaks, reaching 20 wins for the 26th straight season and the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd year in a row. Last season, Baylor led the conference in blocks per game and 3-point percentage defense, and ranked 14th nationally in field-goal percentage defense.
Since Collen took over ahead of the 2021-22 season, Baylor has piled up the most wins of any Big 12 team. Collen also ranks third among active major conference head coaches in wins through their first five seasons at their current school and fifth in winning percentage in that same span.
In Other News...
Baylors Quarterback Uncertainty Just Got Bigger Entering Week 3
Baylors quarterback picture has only gotten murkier as the season moves into Week 3, with DJ Lagways injury adding another layer to a situation the Bears were already watching closely. In a Big 12 slate that keeps handing out stress tests at the most important position, Baylor now finds itself grouped with a conference-wide discussion about who is thriving, who is still settling in, and who has more questions than answers heading into another round of league play.
The broader quarterback conversation around the Big 12 has been lively through two weeks, from UCFs Alonza Barnett dealing with his own injury issue to Oklahoma States Drew Mestemaker turning in a notable performance that helped reshape the early rankings. Baylors place in that top-eight pecking order is still being sorted out, and with conference matchups looming in Week 3, the Bears are left waiting to see whether their situation stabilizes or becomes an even bigger storyline than it already is. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Suddenly Has A DJ Lagway Problem It Cant Ignore
Baylors quarterback picture has become a lot murkier heading into Week 3, with DJ Lagway considered doubtful against Louisiana Tech after suffering an ankle injury in the season opener. The Bears were already managing the usual early-season uncertainty, but now the focus has shifted to how they handle a potential absence from the player they were counting on to settle the position.
If Lagway cant go, Nate Bennett is expected to make his second career start, which would put even more pressure on a Baylor offense trying to find rhythm this early in the year. The broader concern is the recovery itself, since Lagway is still working back from a high-ankle sprain and his return timeline remains unclear, leaving Baylor without much certainty at the most important spot on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Volleyball Showed Encouraging Progress Before The Schedule Gets Tough
Baylor opened the Baylor Classic with a 3-1 win over Incarnate Word, a useful step forward for a team trying to build momentum before the competition tightens. Bailey Warren supplied a season-high 14 kills and 17.5 points, while Ksenia Rakhmanchik added 11 kills and crossed the 500-kill mark for her career, giving the Bears a balanced offensive lift in a match that fit the kind of progress they were looking for.
The victory moved Baylor to 7-2 and offered a solid checkpoint as the Bears head into a tougher stretch of the schedule. UTEP is next in the tournament, and Baylor will be looking to carry the same energy and production into a matchup that should say more about where this group stands as the season develops. [Read more 🡒]