Griner, Baylor women top UConn
BY AP Wire Service
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
2/19/13 at 5:38 AM
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Brittney Griner scored 25 points, including the 3,000th of her career, to help No. 1 Baylor rally past third-ranked Connecticut 76-70 on Monday night, extending the Lady Bears' winning streak to 23 games.
Griner became the eighth player in Division I history to reach the milestone, doing it on two free throws with 1:05 left. She finished with 21 points in the second half.
The defending national champion Lady Bears' only loss this season came in Hawaii against Stanford back in November. Baylor (25-1) went 40-0 last season en route to the school's second national championship.
Baylor led 54-53 midway through the second half before Griner took over. She scored seven points during the burst, and her putback made it 67-61 with 5 minutes left.
UConn rallied behind Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis to make it 67-65, but Griner answered with a putback. Then she hit the two free throws 1:30 later to make it 73-67 and seal the win.
Griner had missed key free throws down the stretch when she was a sophomore and her team lost at Connecticut by one point. She wasn't going to let that happen again, beating the only team in the country that she didn't have a winning record against.
The game, hyped up all season, lived up to its billing - even though neither coach wanted to put too much emphasis on this one, knowing there will be a lot more at stake if the schools meet again in the NCAA Tournament.
Mosqueda-Lewis finished with 26 points to lead UConn (24-2).
Original Print Headline: Griner, Baylor top UConn
