Since the event moved to Chattanooga State five years ago, Baylor's girls have yet to lose a game in the Times Free Press Best of Preps basketball tournament.
The Lady Red Raiders, who have won the past five tournament titles, were dominant in Thursday's opening round, beating Van Buren County 53-19 for their 17th straight win in the annual event.
Despite starting three freshmen and having six freshmen in its rotation, Baylor (8-5) never trailed and built a double-digit lead over Van Buren (4-10) by the end of the first quarter.
"We talk every day about effort and playing at the same speed against every opponent," Lady Red Raiders coach John Gibson said. "We want to be consistent.
"With so many young players, sometimes you have to find ways to make sure they're always playing hard, so we worked on our half-court trap for the past four days because that can set the tempo a lot of times."
It certainly did against an equally young Van Buren team, which has 11 freshmen and sophomores in its rotation.
Baylor freshman Elaine Redman led all scorers with 15 points, and classmate Brooklyn Gordon connected on all three of her 3-point attempts in the second quarter and finished with 11 points.
Lady Red Raiders seniors Caroline Keller, Cheyenne Lindsay and JuToreyia Willis combined for 14 points, and they also set the defensive tone in the first half, helping create turnovers that turned into easy baskets and several scoring runs to put the game away.
"We don't have many upperclassmen," Gibson said, "but those seniors set the example of what's expected in terms of how to play on both ends."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.