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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

LEXINGTON, Ky. - After everything this Baylor team had endured, overcome and survived this season, Kim Mulkey wasn't about to "go in there and chew them out" when it came to an abrupt end Friday night at Rupp Arena.

Oregon State's 6-5 senior center Marie Gulich outplayed and outscored Baylor's 6-7 junior All-American Kalani Brown, but it was Katie McWilliams' back-breaking corner 3-pointer that helped the sixth-seeded Beavers knock off the second-seeded Lady Bears, 72-67, in the region semifinal.

"Guys, we milked that turnip about as far as we could milk it," said Mulkey, whose 33-2 team had its 30-game winning streak snapped in its second season-ending loss to Oregon State (26-7) in the last three years. "We lost to a very good team, a team that shot it extremely well. We seem to bring out the best in people, and that's respect for our program."

Freshman point guard Alexis Morris nearly singlehandedly shot the Lady Bears back in the game after they fell behind by eight with two minutes to play. Held to five points through the first 38 ½ minutes, Morris scored nine in just 41 seconds and got it down to a two-point game, 69-67, when she nailed a deep 3-pointer.

"I just wish I would have done it earlier in the game," said Morris, one of four double-figure scorers for the Lady Bears with 14 points. "I wish I would have taken over earlier in the game. I feel like we wouldn't have been in this position if I would have been more of a leader."

With 40 seconds left on the clock, Baylor just needed one defensive stop to have a shot to win it or send the game in overtime. But, OSU point guard Mikayla Pivec penetrated and kicked it out to the corner for a wide-open 3-pointer by McWilliams.

"It felt really good," said McWilliams, who had hit just one of her first seven shots before nailing the clinching 3-pointer. "I didn't feel like I shot my best throughout the game, so it felt good to get that end-of-the-game shot. After that shot, I kind of knew that game was over, and it was just an awesome feeling."

And a crushing, sinking feeling for a Baylor team that had lost in the Elite Eight the last four years. Just two years ago, OSU earned its first Final Fourth berth by beating the top-seeded Lady Bears, 60-57, in the Dallas Region final.

"For this team to take the floor and once again know they belong, play like they belong, believe that they should win and play that way the entire time," OSU coach Scott Rueck said, "I couldn't be more proud. It starts with Marie and it filters through our team, and you saw incredible performances throughout our roster. Hats off to Baylor for just continuing to fight and never go away."

Obviously disappointed in coming up short again - Baylor hasn't been back to the Final Four since winning it all in 2012 - Mulkey said this one was ultimately decided by Gulich. An All-Pac-12 pick who came in averaging 17 points and nine rebounds, Gulich was an efficient 10-of-17 from the field and 6-of-9 from the line, finishing with 26 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists.

"She was by far the best player on the floor tonight, and she controlled the whole thing for her team," Mulkey said. "We had nobody that could guard her. She reminded me of my days back in international basketball, where she just dominated the floor - shooting, rebounding, finding open players"

Brown and 6-4 sophomore forward Lauren Cox took their turn trying to stop Gulich, but never came up with the right defensive answer. She used her quickness to drive around the two post players and also hit fade-away jumpers with the soft touch of a perimeter player.

"I think our scouting report said just attack her, and that was my plan today," Gulich said of going against Brown. "I just used my quickness really well against her. She's really tall and she's strong, but I think I could get around her and hit the shots over her. Defensively, my goal was just to keep her off the block, to just take away her left hand and to not make it easy on her."

A frustrated Brown did record her 19th double-double of the season and 30th of her career with a team-high 19 points and game-high 10 boards, but she was just 8-of-19 from the floor and missed several point-blank shots.

"I think it starts with myself not being able to score the ball," Brown said. "I let my team down tonight, honestly. There was nothing we hadn't really seen before. I just couldn't finish my shots."

As Morris put it, "We just weren't Baylor tonight."

"I hate losing, and I feel like we defeated ourselves, not because of what our opponent did," said Morris, who had seven assists and tied Baylor's freshman assists record with 116. "I could respect it if we just got beat - and I'm not taking any credit from Oregon State, they've got great shooters - but I feel like we beat ourselves."

Particularly for sophomore guard Juicy Landrum, who didn't score and took only two shots in 23 minutes, Mulkey said "there were moments tonight where the lights were too big."

"I'll have to go back and look and see why. Were you nervous?" Mulkey said. "The lights are bright the deeper you make a run in the tournament. But, I know we wouldn't be here today without her stepping in and doing good when Natalie (Chou) went down."

As good as Morris played in the absence of senior point guard Kristy Wallace, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the Feb. 26 regular-season finale, Mulkey said, "We missed her tonight."

"Look, you lose your quarterback, yeah, you miss them," she said. "But, that doesn't mean we couldn't have won the game. That doesn't mean we went in there thinking we were defeated. We fought to the very end. It was a two-point game, and you make a defensive stop - we made a mistake on coming to help (inside) when I don't think we needed to help. And that was a sophomore that made that decision, too. So, they'll learn from it. We'll get better."

Cox added 15 points, seven rebounds and five blocks before fouling out with 2:12 left in the game, while Kat Tudor hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points for the Beavers. OSU advances to face Louisville in Sunday's 11 a.m. region final after the top-seeded Cardinals routed Stanford, 86-59, in the other semifinal.

Cohen and Wallace were the only seniors on the team, and Mulkey signed the nation's top-ranked recruiting class back in November.

"They shouldn't hold their heads down at all about next year," said Cohen, who had 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. "They're going to have some great people coming in. . . . Yeah, they'll be a young team, but we were young this year. We still did a lot. A lot of the young players stepped up, so who is to say these young players can't step up as well and take them far?"