The Lady Bears’ slogan of “Together to Tampa” couldn’t be more fitting, considering how the Baylor women’s basketball team has overwhelmed the competition so far in this NCAA Tournament.
They did it again in the Elite Eight as No. 1 overall seed Baylor used top-notch performances all over the court to pummel No. 2 seed Iowa, 85-53, on Monday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.
And so here they go, the Lady Bears are headed back to the Final Four, this time in Tampa, Fla.
Baylor will be making its fourth appearance in the Final Four and is set to face Oregon in the national semifinals at 6 p.m. CT on Friday at Amalie Arena. The Lady Bears (35-1) ended a six-year stretch of making it to the Sweet 16 but falling short of the Final Four.
It was the last chance for senior center Kalani Brown and graduate transfer point guard Chloe Jackson to get to college basketball’s biggest stage. They made good on it.
For Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, it was a moment to celebrate for a whole lot of people.
“Certainly you start with seniors,” Mulkey said. “I am so happy for those seniors. I am happy for those players and I am happy for Baylor University. Plaster that on the front page of every national newspaper. It doesn’t get any more positive than this.”
The Lady Bears have torn through their first four games of this NCAA Tournament, winning by an average margin of 38.3 points. Their 32-point victory over Iowa (29-7) was their biggest win in an Elite Eight game by 13 points.
So there was plenty of time to celebrate, even before the final horn sounded.
Lady Bears sophomore guard DiDi Richards exited the game with 1:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. She raised her arms and stomped for joy as she entered the bench area. Then Richards hugged senior teammate Kalani Brown, signaling the beginning of Baylor’s party.
The Lady Bears made the most of it, cutting down the nets, crafting confetti angels and goofing around with the Baylor pep band.
“I was overwhelmed, excited, just happy,” Brown said. “We were just hugging each other. I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
Richards had an outstanding regional tournament. She followed up her 25-point game on Saturday by scoring 16 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing out six assists and coming away with six steals against the Hawkeyes.
The sophomore, who was as vivacious in celebration as she was stingy as the Lady Bears’ defensive stopper, could’ve been the Greensboro Region Most Outstanding Player. But instead, that honor went to a teammate who had an equally triumphant regional.
“I was curious to know who they were going to give it to,” Mulkey said. “If you would’ve asked me, I couldn’t pick just one. Usually I can pick just one.”
Lauren Cox posted a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds and also contributed a pair of blocks and five assists in the regional final. That was a strong follow-up to her semifinal against South Carolina when Cox scored 17 with 14 boards, 6 assists and five blocks. All of that equaled the top spot on the all-tournament team.
Cox went aggressively to the basket all game against Iowa, scoring 14 points in the first half and, in doing so, canceling out Iowa star center Megan Gustafson’s 13 in the first 20 minutes.
Gustafson did her thing against Baylor, scoring 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds. But she wasn’t enough of a factor to keep the Hawkeyes in the game.
“It was a team effort,” Cox said. “Kalani obviously started on (Gustafson) and I was playing on her some too. We just tried to limit her touches and do whatever we could. She’s a good player. She’s going to get her points. We just couldn’t let that second or third player go off for them.”
Mission accomplished on that front as Baylor held Iowa to 32-percent shooting from the field. Take out Gustafson’s 9-for-17 effort and the rest of the Hawkeyes made just nine of 39 shots.
“I looked at their numbers and obviously watched them on film and I thought their defense was good,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “I didn’t realize it was that good until you’re out there playing against them.”
Baylor led by 14 at halftime, then extended that margin to 20 with a 6-0 mini run midway through the third quarter. Jackson made one of her sweet pull-up jumpers and Richards and NaLyssa Smith both got inside for baskets to put the Lady Bears in front, 55-35, with 5:22 left in the third quarter.
At that point, Iowa was shooting 33 percent from the field and, as hard as it was for the Hawkeyes to score against the stingy Baylor defense, it was only a matter of time before the Lady Bears were climbing the ladder to cut down the nets at Greensboro Coliseum.
Baylor kept up its domination, finishing the third quarter with a 65-42 edge. The Lady Bears held Iowa to three of 13 from the field in the 10 minutes after halftime and the Hawkeyes went the final 7:24 of the period without making a shot from the field.
That was Baylor’s defense taking over as it has all season.
“We don’t know that we’re going to score this many points every night,” Mulkey said. “What we do know is we can defend you and we’re going to give everything we have on the defensive end of the floor. That’s the way I was taught.”
Will that defense pave the way to a championship? The Lady Bears will try to make it so in Tampa and, thus, put a new big trophy in the case alongside the 2005 and 2012 national title hardware.
— WACOTRIB
