By Rod Aydelotte, AP via Waco Tribune HeraldBaylor's Brittney Griner, right, shoots over Oklahoma's Lyndsey Cloman during their Big 12 matchup Wednesday. Griner had a game-high 29 points in Baylor's 92-70 win.
By Rod Aydelotte, AP via Waco Tribune HeraldBaylor's Brittney Griner, right, shoots over Oklahoma's Lyndsey Cloman during their Big 12 matchup Wednesday. Griner had a game-high 29 points in Baylor's 92-70 win.
The top-ranked Lady Bears scored 17 of the first 19 points on the way to a 92-70 rout of 13th-ranked Oklahoma on Wednesday night.What's scary for the rest of the league is that sophomore sensation Brittney Griner hadn't even taken a shot by the time the opening run ended.Destiny Williams scored seven during the opening stretch and finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for Baylor (20-1, 7-0 Big 12). Griner had 26 points, Melissa Jones scored 14 and Odyssey Jones had 10 points.Baylor edged sixth-ranked Texas A&M 63-60 in its last game. That was the only time since losing to Connecticut early in the season that a team has come within single digits of the Lady Bears.Aaryn Ellenberg scored 27 for Oklahoma (16-5, 6-2) and Danielle Robinson had 25 points. Whitney Hand scored 11.With Griner patrolling inside, Oklahoma turned to its outside game, but the Sooners hit just one of their 12 three-point attempts in the first half and trailed 41-17 at the break."I didn't think we moved very well, but the threes that we got, most of them were consistent with the threes we've gotten all year," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said. "We were just 1-for-12. You can't do that when you play this team because you can't get to the rim."Getting inside at all was a problem for Coale's team. While Oklahoma was outrebounded 47-29, Baylor also outscored the Sooners in the paint, 52-6."That's horrific," Coale said of the inside scoring discrepancy.Baylor opened the second half on a 9-2 run, taking a 50-19 lead with 17:36 to play. Hand hit a three-pointer for Oklahoma and Robison hit two free throws after Baylor coach Kim Mulkey was called for a technical foul with 16:52 to play. That seemed to light a fire under the Lady Bears, however, as Baylor reeled off 12 unanswered points to go up 62-24 with 13:08 remaining. Baylor, which leads the country winning by nearly 31 points a game, quickly took a 40-point lead, 68-28, with 11:52 remaining."We were hitting on all cylinders," Mulkey said. "When you can pass the ball around the way we did and get shots from as many places on the floor, you're going to have a good night. ... A lot of people touched the ball, and it was one of those nights where you're glad you could sit back as a coach and watch it."Baylor led 87-53 with 4:08 to play before Mulkey pulled all of her starters. Ellenberg hit three threes in the final 3:17 of the game, and Robinson had a steal and layup and a three of her own in the last 2:40, baskets that did not escape Mulkey's attention."When we break that film down, I tell you the first thing I'm going to do, I'm going to tell those people that played the last three minutes and 24 seconds, you gave up 17 points," she said. "We held them to 53 points when you went in the game, and we end the game and let them have 70 points."Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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