Denver, CO (Sports Network) - The Baylor women's basketball team is in
exclusive company. Their own.
The Lady Bears completed the first 40-0 basketball season in NCAA history on
Tuesday by capturing the program's second national title with an 80-61 win
over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Brittney Griner, the face of women's college basketball since the 6-foot-8
center stepped on Baylor's campus three years ago, fittingly led the way with
26 points on 11-of-16 shooting to go with 13 rebounds and five blocks.
Odyssey Sims and Destiny Williams chipped in 19 and 12 points, respectively
for the Lady Bears, who went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the nation and
went 13-0 against top-25 teams.
Baylor won its six NCAA Tournament games by an average of 21 points.
The Fighting Irish (35-4) were led by Skylar Diggins' 20 points, but the
team's second leading scorer, Natalie Novosel missed all 11 attempts from the
floor and finished with five points -- 10 below her season average.
Notre Dame's starting center, Devereaux Peters, played only 15 minutes due to
foul trouble, allowing the already formidable Griner more room to showcase her
unmatched talent.
Peters picked up her fourth foul five minutes into the second half after the
Irish cut their deficit to 42-39. It was as close as Notre Dame, also a No. 1
seed, got the rest of the way.
Griner's three-point play midway through extended the margin to 61-48, and
Sims netted eight straight points a little later to jump-start a 14-0 run that
essentially put the game away.
Griner exited to a standing ovation -- which included fellow Bear and Heisman
Trophy winner Robert Griffin III -- with 64 seconds left as the tournament's
Most Outstanding Player.
Baylor owned a decisive 46-27 advantage on the glass and won the battle in the
paint, 40-22 to capture its first title since 2005 and become the seventh
undefeated women's team to take home the title.
Baylor trailed 9-8 four minutes into the game before scoring 12 of the next 13
points. The Lady Bears' biggest lead in the opening half was 29-15, but the
Irish went on a 13-5 run over the last seven minutes to pull within six,
34-28, at the break.
The Irish, who lost to Texas A&M in last year's finale, made just 36 percent
of their shots. Notre Dame's only championship came 11 years ago.
The Sports Network