TAMPA -- With all the hype surrounding Baylor's starting five -- one that features All-American forwards Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox -- the Bears' bench can easily be lost in the mix.
It's a bench, however, worth noting.
Baylor's reserve players include five freshmen that made up a 2018 recruiting class ranked No. 1 in the nation. It's a group, NaLyssa Smith said, that has formed quite the bond this season learning from those in front of them.
"It's an honor to be a part of a class like that," Smith said, "just to know that when somebody gets subbed in, that the bench will carry on that energy.