No. 1/1 WBB Clinches Ninth-Straight Big 12 Title

Wednesday, February 20

Waco, Texas

6 p.m.

Baylor

24-1,(14-0) #1/1

Kansas

12-13,(2-12)

Kansas

Baylor

No. 1/1 WBB Clinches Ninth-Straight Big 12 Title

2/20/2019 8:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Kalani Brown finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            On a night when the top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears staked claim to no worse than a share of their ninth consecutive Big 12 championship, Kalani Brown joined an elite 2,000-point, 1,000-rebound club in an 80-40 victory over Kansas.
            The senior All-American post came into the game needing 11 points and two rebounds to become the sixth player in program history to hit those career milestones. And while she got her two boards in the first five minutes, Brown had to play well into the fourth quarter before getting her final bucket with 3:51 left in the game.
            "They made it hard for me pretty much all game," said Brown, who recorded her fifth double-double of the season and 35^thof her career with 11 points and 14 rebounds. "I didn't get many touches the first half. Coach was like, you've got to get out and run and try to get something in transition, get there before they get their defense set. So, we were doing that, and then Lauren (Cox) was able to find me on that back end for those last two points."
            As confetti rained down and Baylor VP and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades handed the team another Big 12 championship trophy, Brown and the Lady Bears danced around the Ferrell Center floor before cutting down the nets.
            "It's sweet," Brown said. "Not many players get to go through this. I'm blessed. I can't thank my teammates enough. Without them, I wouldn't have gotten the achievements I got tonight, nor would we be here celebrating our ninth consecutive Big 12 championship. I'm 4-for-4, by the way."
            Baylor's "Fierce Five" freshman class was in the fifth grade when the Lady Bears won their first of nine straight Big 12 titles in 2011.
            "It's so fun, so enjoyable," coach Kim Mulkey said. "You're most happy, honestly, for all of the players. But the freshmen, it's their time to celebrate. Now, they can run around and say they've got a ring, and that's what they came here for. But, this isn't the ultimate thing they would like to have. They'd like to get to a Final Four, they'd like to win a Big 12 tournament championship. We understand this is something to celebrate, to be happy about. But, we've got to come back to work tomorrow, hit the road Friday and go to Iowa State."
            Baylor (24-1, 14-0), which won its 37^thconsecutive Big 12 regular-season game and 35^thin a row at the Ferrell Center, has a four-game lead with four to play. But, the closing schedule includes games against all three teams tied for second place – 19^th-ranked Texas (20-6, 10-4), No. 20 Iowa State (20-6, 10-4) and West Virginia (19-6, 10-4).
            "We can't get complacent," Brown said. "We've got four more games to finish out the Big 12 season and also take care of the (Big 12) tournament, and then it's on to the Big Dance. We've got to get over the hump. . . . Getting stopped there three years in a row, it drives you crazy, because you're so close to the Final Four. That's all Coach wants, that's all I want and that's all I want my teammates to experience."
            Scoring came hard for the Lady Bears most of the night, as Kansas (12-13, 2-12) packed it inside and dared them to shoot outside. In the two previous games, Chloe Jackson and Juicy Landrum burned defenses that tried that same strategy. But the guard combo hit just 11-of-27 from the floor.
            Landrum finally heated up in the fourth quarter, draining a pair of 3-pointers and finishing with a game-high 20 points.
            "When you're playing a team as dominant as they are in the paint, we did everything we could to make it a crowded house in there and force them to take perimeter shots," KU coach Brandon Schneider said. "They missed some early, we were able to rebound it, but we couldn't get any baskets. I credit Baylor's defense for that. They were really juiced up, really read our shooters off the line. And, obviously, when they do that, they have great paint protection and shot-blocking."
            Leading by just four after the first quarter, Baylor scored 24 second-quarter points and was up 37-19 at the break.
            By the fourth quarter, the only thing left to doubt was Brown's 2,000-point milestone. With Mulkey screaming from the sidelines for the players to get her the ball, the 6-foot-7 center scored seven of the team's nine points in a two-minute stretch and ended it with a layup off a feed from Cox.
            Mulkey called a substitution time out with 3:20 left to get Brown, Cox and Landrum off the floor.
            "I didn't realize how many she needed until one of the assistants said something," Mulkey said. "They were packing it in the zone. Some of that, I challenged Kalani, you've got to move. You can't just stand there. We can't get it to you if you just stand there. So, run the floor, do some things, set a couple screens, look for Cox. And it's only appropriate that Lauren Cox was the one that gave her that last pass so she could score."
            Cox had her fifth double-double of the season and 23^rdof her career with 11 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three blocks, while Jackson chipped in with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.
            Baylor dominated the boards, 48-26, and outscored the Jayhawks in the paint, 38-22.
            "You're picking your poison a little bit," Schneider said, "because if you send too many to the offensive glass, they're a team that can really hurt you in transition. It's disappointing we didn't do a better job getting offensive rebounds, but transition defense is a premium when you play them."
            Baylor hits the road to face 20^th-ranked Iowa State at 3 p.m. Saturday in Ames. The Cyclones have won six of their last seven and rolled over Oklahoma, 91-70, Wednesday night in Norman.