Saturday, February 23, 2013

Griner, Baylor women roll past Texas 67-47

Baylor 's Brittney Griner (42) grins after scoring against Texas in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Baylor 's Brittney Griner (42) grins after scoring against Texas in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Baylor center Brittney Griner (42) shoots over Texas' Imani McGee-Stafford (34) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Baylor center Brittney Griner (42) looks for a shot opportunity as Texas' Chassidy Fussell (24) and Imani McGee-Stafford (34) defend in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas head coach Karen Aston yells out loud as her team is called for a foul in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Baylor Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Baylor guard Odyssey Sims (0) blocks a drive to the basket by Texas 's Imani McGee-Stafford (34) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

(AP) ? Brittney Griner scored 30 points and No. 1 Baylor celebrated a Big 12 title already in hand with dozens of former players in the stands for a 67-47 victory against Texas on Saturday.

Griner outscored the Longhorns by herself in the first half, contributing with 20 of the Lady Bears' 30 points. She finished with 11 rebounds and five blocks.

Baylor (26-1, 15-0 Big 12) finished the first half with an 11-2 run for a 30-16 lead in its 24th consecutive victory. The Lady Bears extended a pair of record streaks to 54 straight home wins and 37 in a row in conference. All three streaks are currently the longest in the nation.

Chassidy Fussell led Texas (10-16, 3-12) with 16 points but was just 7 of 20 from the field with six turnovers.

Texas scored six straight points to get within 19-14 when Kimetria Hayden hit one of her two 3-pointers ? the only long-range buckets for Baylor ? to start the half-ending run. Griner scored six of the last eight in the spurt, with Destiny Williams getting the other bucket on a rebound off a miss by Griner on a hook shot.

Odyssey Sims finished 15 points and six assists, and Hayden scored 11.

The Lady Bears spent most of halftime on the court while about 80 former players were introduced, and all the current and former players gathered for a quick photo. The 6-foot-8 Griner playfully stretched out on the floor in front of the group.

Griner was honored before the game for becoming the eighth Division I woman with 3,000 career points in Monday's win at No. 3 Connecticut. She moved up to No. 5 on the career list, passing Cindy Blodgett (Maine), Cheryl Miller (Southern California) and Chamique Holdsclaw (Tennessee). She's six points behind UConn's Maya Moore.

Griner also became the first player with 700 career blocks. She broke the NCAA record earlier this season. She has at least one block in 76 straight games.

The Lady Bears thought they'd need a win over Texas to clinch their third straight Big 12 regular season title, but losses by Iowa State and Oklahoma helped secure it last weekend.

The second half was mostly a prelude to a postgame championship celebration, with Texas staying within the halftime deficit most of the time before a 9-0 run for a 61-39 lead. Brooklyn Pope finished the spurt with back-to-back layups.

Baylor, which shot 41 percent, held Texas to 35 percent and forced 23 turnovers. Pope drew the biggest cheer of the game in the first half with an emphatic block of a layup by Brady Sanders.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-23-BKW-T25-Texas-Baylor/id-67c91cf1623e4c83b13e237445bd82ed

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