Baylor women open Big 12 tournament by thumping Kansas State

By Travis L. Brown

Special to the Star-Telegram

DALLAS — Most of the nation knows Baylor center Brittney Griner for her dunking ability or her defensive presence in the paint.

In Baylor’s 80-47 win over Kansas State in the Big 12 tournament on Saturday, Griner made her case as a dime-dropping distributor, dishing out a career-high nine assists.

“They tell me I’m a point guard at heart,” Griner said with a smirk.

After Griner dropped 50 points on Kansas State (15-17) in the regular-season finale Monday, the Wildcats made an obvious effort to double- or triple-team Griner in the paint with their five-guard lineup.

The result was a career-high 20 points for senior forward Destiny Williams, receiving Griner assists by cutting to the rim on the backside of the offense.

“Only so many players that Kansas State can guard,” Williams said. “If they put three on Brittney, Brittney does a great job of passing it out.”

Griner held her own in scoring as well, finishing just an assist shy of a triple-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds in front of a heavily green-and-yellow-clad crowd of 7,311 at American Airlines Center.

The game was never in question for the Lady Bears (30-1) as they extended their record in quarterfinal games to 9-5 with the win. Baylor’s solid defense barely allowed Kansas State any room to breathe in the first half, forcing errant shots and turnovers that turned into a 21-3 run in the first nine minutes of the game.

The second half saw a more competitive Kansas State effort, with the Wildcats shooting 35 percent from both the field and 3-point range. However, the hole of a 45-18 deficit and Baylor’s 58 percent shooting was too much for the Wildcats to scale in the final 20 minutes.

Wildcats senior guard Brittany Chambers, who scored 21 points, finished tied for her team’s lead in rebounds with seven alongside sophomore guard and Frisco Wakeland alumna Haley Texada.

“We let them attack us in every aspect of the game and were very passive,” Chambers said. “We weren’t taking open shots when we had them, but really didn’t get a ton of open ones because we weren’t creating them for ourselves.”

Chambers did create one shot opportunity nine minutes into the game, crossing over Baylor junior guard and Irving MacArthur grad Odyssey Sims, who appeared to tweak her left ankle while planting to change direction. Sims took a few minutes off but finished the game with 10 points and seven assists.

“I’m OK. It’s nothing major to worry about,” Sims said after the game.

Baylor’s next step in reaching its goal of a fifth consecutive Big 12 tournament title comes Sunday in the 1 p.m. semifinal against Oklahoma State. Baylor enters the contest with a 6-2 record in Big 12 semifinal games.

If it wasn’t obvious as Baylor closed out a perfect 18-0 streak through Big 12 regular-season play, it was clear to everyone in attendance Saturday that Baylor is again on a mission.

“They turned it up a notch,” Chambers said. “We just played one week ago, and from then it’s a different team even. They have a goal, and they’re going to get there.”

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