The Baylor women’s basketball team came to play on Wednesday night, finishing the game with a 90-60 victory over the Lady Raiders.
Baylor’s Brittney Griner secured the win and set the Big 12 women’s career scoring record with a total of 40 points that evening.
Griner said scoring 40 points felt good, but winning the game is the most important thing to her.
“My team did a great job of getting me the ball, and I had some good looks,” Griner said. “We were just clicking from the jump.”
In Griner’s last four games she has had 30 blocks, and this is her fourth career 40-point performance.
Baylor’s head coach, Kim Mulkey, said she knew Griner was going to be a phenomenal basketball player when she came to Baylor four years ago.
“I told everybody you better buy tickets because you’ll never see anything like her again,” she said. “It’s not surprising that she has broken those records. I’ve always thought that records were made to be broken, but whoever comes along and breaks hers is going to be a phenom too.”
Mulky said she thinks Tech’s good coaching has made them a tough opponent over the past couple of years.
“Competition brings out the best in everybody,” Mulkey said. “Kristy and Kelly are going to prepare as hard as anybody when they play us. They’ve learned from some of the same people I learned the game from.”
Mulky said she thinks Tech has three good guards, but says the post players are undersized.
“Those guards are seniors and they’ve been in a lot of ball games,” she said. “They have adjusted and been very effective with their smaller, undersized post players, but in a game like today those post players better be able to consistently hit some perimeter shots because they’re not going to get any off in the paint.”
Mulky said she thinks her guards matched up well with the Tech guards.
“I thought our energy was outstanding when the game started, and I thought the fans were great,” she said. “When Tech made runs we matched those, and we were very aggressive offensively. “
Texas Tech head coach Kristy Curry said she thinks Griner and her teammates have matured and improved since the last time they faced Tech.
“Not only was Brittney scoring, but I thought they really made some great decisions off of her as well,” she said.
Curry said even after a loss, she is still proud of her team.
“I thought our kids gave everything that they had, and Baylor had a great night,” she said. “We didn’t have a near-perfect night, and that’s just about what you have to have to win.”
The leading scorers for the Lady Raiders were Kelsi Baker with 12 points, Casey Morris with 11 points, and Chynna Brown with 10 points.
Curry said she is also very thankful for the fans that came to the game.
“We thank our crowd from the bottom of our hearts for supporting these kids,” she said. “We’re off to a great start and have a great opportunity with nine games to look forward to, so please come back.”
Curry said she told her players it is important that they continue to improve and take advantage of the opportunitiesthat are ahead.
“It’s all about how you handle the wins and how you handle the losses,” she said. “I told these kids I was proud of them and to keep their heads high. Baylor deserved to win tonight, and it’s all about how we handle it.”
About Morgan Crump
