Box Score By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
OKLAHOMA CITY - Following a familiar pattern that saw fifth-seeded Louisville upset the defending national champions in this same building four years ago, West Virginia hit 11 three-pointers in a stunning 77-66 win over the second-ranked Baylor Lady Bears Monday night.
Becoming just the second No. 6 seed to win the Big 12 Championship title in the 21-year history of the league, the Mountaineers (23-10) finished off an unbelievable run through the tournament that included wins over all three of the top seeds and three top-20 teams.
Tournament MVP Tynice Martin hit four 3-pointers and scored 32 points for the Mountaineers, who were swept in the season series and had lost seven in a row to the Lady Bears (30-3).
"Very few times in 31 years of coaching . . . can I think of one player who took her team on her shoulders and won three games, and Tyince Martin did that," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey. "She did it in every game here. She'd just elevate over people and make shots, and kudos to that team, because she really did. I've seen it one other time where one player just took her team to a championship."
Baylor had four double-figure scorers in all-tournament picks Kristy Wallace (17), Alexis Prince (15) and Nina Davis (15) and 6-7 sophomore post Kalani Brown (19). But, the bench was scoreless as the other five players were a combined 0-for-9.
"Some people need to do some soul-searching on our bench," Mulkey said. "When they go in the game, is the moment too big for your, or can you put on your big girl panties and play in a game like this?"
The loss snapped the Lady Bears' seven-game winning streak and ended their national-best six-year run of Big 12 Championship titles.
"The regular season is the most important thing. That's 18 basketball games," Mulkey said. "We're the Big 12 champs. We've been fortunate for I don't know how many years now to win the tournament on top of that. We didn't though. That certainly doesn't outweigh what we did in the regular season.
"Hopefully, we'll get a good seed and host at Baylor and go to a good regional where our fans can see us play. You've got to win four games now to get to the Final Four."
Mulkey said the game "was probably lost in the first five minutes," when the Mountaineers scored four second-chance points off offensive rebounds.
"Part of our scouting report . . . because they're on a roll right now and they're playing really well and they're scoring the ball, you can only give them one opportunity to miss," she said. "We didn't get rebounds."
Martin knocked down three 3's and scored 11 points in the first quarter, helping the Mountaineers take a 22-14 lead.
After the Lady Bears pulled within three, 29-26, on a Davis jumper from just inside the free throw line at the 4:45 mark of the second quarter, they went nearly four minutes without scoring as West Virginia reeled off 10 unanswered points and took a 39-26 lead.
Baylor got back within single digits with buckets by Wallace and Brown in the final minute and trailed 39-30 at the break.
"It was big," Mulkey said. "You cut it to single digits, and I talked about that at halftime. We did some good things through the course of the game when we were in desperation mode. But you shouldn't have to wait for that. We've been blessed - three losses, we've not been in that situation much. So, hopefully when we get a few days off and come back and prepare, we can look at this as a learning experience and challenge some kids that just flat-out didn't help us today."
If they weren't already in desperation mode, the Lady Bears certainly got to that point by the end of the third quarter when Teana Muldrow drained an NBA-range 3-pointer at the buzzer to give West Virginia a commanding 65-44 lead.
Switching to a full-court press and zone defense about halfway through the third quarter, Baylor finally got some momentum going in the first two minutes of the fourth period and scored the first six points to close within 65-50.
Muldrow answered that run with a 3-pointer before the Lady Bears reeled off eight straight points and got back within 68-58 on a pair of free throws by Brown, who finished with just four rebounds after recording back-to-back double-doubles in wins over Texas Tech and Kansas State.
With the Mountaineers hitting just 2-of-13 from the floor and missing five free throws in the fourth quarter, Baylor cut the deficit to 70-63 with 2:19 still left on consecutive layups by Brown off feeds from Davis and Prince.
West Virginia got second and third chances on its next possession, with two offensive rebounds, but freshman Natalie Chou blocked a Muldrow shot for a stop with 1:25 to play. Down seven with still plenty of time left, the Lady Bears seemed poised for a miraculous comeback.
The game turned again, though, when Chaina Ray picked off Chou's outlet pass near midcourt and was fouled by Wallace, who was also assessed with a technical when she hit the scorer's table in frustration.
Wallace drained a 3-pointer with 28.2 seconds left, making it a six-point game, but the Mountaineers made five free throws down the stretch to ice the game.
"If you look at the last quarter and a half for us, we cut the game down to six. What were we, 20-something down?" Mulkey said. "Why didn't we play with that sense of urgency when the game started? You get every loose ball, and you're productive the first five minutes of the game, you might not have lost."
Muldrow scored 15 points and added nine rebounds to join Martin and the Baylor trio on the all-tournament team.
Baylor won the rebounding battle, 39-36, and outscored the Mountaineers, 28-22, in the paint, but WVU scored 18 points off turnovers and got 13 second-chance points off 14 offensive boards.
Baylor gets an extended break and will wait on the NCAA Championship selections that will be announced next Monday, March 13, with the Lady Bears all but guaranteed a No. 1 seed and hosting the first and second rounds March 17-20 at the Ferrell Center.
