The 2021–22 Baylor Bears women's basketball team represented

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

in the

2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season The 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began on November 9, 2021. The regular season ended on March 6, 2022, with the 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament beginning on March 18, and ending with the championship ga ...

. The Bears, members of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

, played their home games at the

Ferrell Center The Paul J. Meyer Arena, which is part of the Ferrell Center, is an arena in Waco, Texas. Built in 1988 and located adjacent to the Brazos River, it is home to the Baylor University Bears volleyball, acrobatics, and tumbling teams. It is name ...

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

and were led by first-year head coach

Nicki Collen Nicki Collen (née Taggart; born May 13, 1975) is an American basketball coach and is currently the head women's basketball coach at Baylor University. Early life Collen was born in Indiana and her family moved to Platteville, Wisconsin when sh ...

. This was the first season in which the terms "men's" and "women's" were needed to distinguish Baylor's basketball teams. Before this season, Baylor women's basketball had used the nickname "Lady Bears", but on September 3, 2021, the school announced that basketball, soccer, and volleyball, the last three Baylor women's sports still using "Lady", would use only "Bears" from that point forward.

Previous season

The Lady Bears finished the 2020–21 season with a record of 28–3, 17–1 in Big 12 to win the Big 12 regular season title. They won the Big 12 women's tournament after defeating

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. In the NCAA tournament, they defeated

Jackson State Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research ac ...

in the first round,

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in the second round, and

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in the Sweet Sixteen, before falling to

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

in the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight t ...

Offseason

On April 25, it was announced that

Kim Mulkey Kimberly Duane Mulkey (born May 17, 1962) is an American college basketball coach and former player. Since 2021, she has been the head coach for Louisiana State University's LSU Tigers women's basketball, women's basketball team. A Pan-American ...

had been hired as the new head coach at

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, after serving in the position at Baylor for 21 years. On May 3,

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Dream compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the ...

head coach

was announced as Mulkey's replacement.

Departures

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style=, Regular Season , - !colspan=12 style=, Big 12 Tournament (2-1) , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA tournament (1–1)

Rankings

*Coaches did not release a week 1 poll.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 Baylor Lady Bears basketball team Baylor Bears women's basketball seasons Baylor Baylor Baylor Baylor