Walker helps Baylor fend off Virginia Tech late in the game

However, the Richmond native scored 26 points in the second half.

Walker helped the fifth-seeded Bears defeat fourth-seeded Virginia Tech 75-72 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in front of a packed Cassell Coliseum crowd.

Baylor (26-7), which led for the entire fourth quarter, ended Tech's school-record 26-game winning streak at home.

The Hokies (25-8) led for just 17 seconds into the game.

Walker scored a career-high 28 points in 26 minutes for the Bears, including 14 points in the fourth quarter.

“We had no intention of losing Virginia,” Walker said.

“We probably let her go downhill a little too much,” Tech coach Kenny Brooks said. “She hit some big shots, some mid-range shots.”

The junior point guard entered the game averaging just 7.4 points. She was in foul trouble early Sunday, but she showed her flashes late.

“Jada was unbelievable down the stretch,” Baylor coach Nikki Collen said. She said, 'They continued to support her. [during the second half] She is very slippery so if you get close to her she will reach the rim past you. ”

Virginia Tech point guard Georgia Amoore made a 3-pointer with 1:53 left to cut the lead to 68-67, but Walker responded with a jumper.

Tech's Clara Strzok scored on a putback to cut the lead to 70-69 with 20.5 seconds left. But Walker drove to the basket, made a layup, was fouled and sank a free throw to extend the lead to 73-69 with 19.1 seconds left.

Amoore sank a 3-pointer with 15.5 seconds left to cut the lead to 73-72.

Tech (25-8) needed to commit two more fouls to force Baylor to the free-throw line. Walker received an inbounds pass and began dribbling with three seconds left as forward Olivia Zumiel tried to reach her and foul her in vain, and Amoore finally scored with 12.4 seconds left.

Walker again received the inbounds pass. She dribbled through her precious 6.5 seconds as Zumiel and Matilda Ek tried to foul her to no avail. Kayla King finally committed a foul with 5.9 seconds left and was fouled out.

Walker, who transferred from Kentucky, said with a laugh, “I like to play tag at practice.'' “I'm just running around and trying to avoid guys before the time runs out. And I'm a pretty good ball handler.”

“It was two plays in a row that she spent so much time overtime. And the reason she spent so much time overtime is because she's so elusive.” said Brooks. “It took us a little while to come up with a foul because we were really switching and really hitting Olivia on her. We tried to change the matchup so that Olivia wasn’t the one chasing her. But ironically it was so loud that she couldn't hear me, so she could take her time.”

Walker made two free throws to extend the lead to 75-72.

Amour dribbled down the floor before getting fouled. He initially had only eight-tenths of a second left, but officials ultimately determined he had 1.3 seconds left.

Tech's Carly Wenzel attempted to inbound the ball to Ek, but a Baylor player appeared to tip the pass. Amour received a loose ball, but he was running away from the basket, so he sent the ball flying over his head as the horn honked.

“I think we had a good look, but we just couldn’t execute the play. [defender] Carly was a big fan,” Brooks said. [Ekh] I was trying to hit a 3, but I just couldn't do it.”

“We wanted to switch everything up and fight without fouling,” Collen said.

The Hokies missed 12 of their first 13 3-pointers, but ended up making nine 3-pointers.

Ek scored 19 points and made four 3-pointers.

Amoor scored 18 points, but was just 7-of-22 from the field, including 3-of-11 from 3-point range.

Strzok, a freshman who started in place of injured center Elizabeth Kitley, had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Strzok, one of several Hokie players in foul trouble, played just 23 minutes.

“She's going to be a star,” Brooks said. “It took a lot of effort for a freshman who hadn't played a prominent role all year to come up on this stage and put everything on the line in front of this crowd and perform like she did.”

Baylor was 16-of-25 from the free-throw line and Tech was 9-of-12.

“We knew our advantage was getting to the rim and drawing fouls,” Collen said.