Griner stands tall as Baylor women rock Tennessee
By Brittney Griner scored 27 points and blocked 10 shots as fourth-seeded Baylor earned a 77-62 win over top-seeded Tennessee Saturdayand advanced to the NCAA Tournament Memphis Regional final.. The 6-8 Griner has blocked 24 shots in the past two games for Baylor, which erased a 55-50 deficit with a 21-1 run. "She was the X factor," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said.. Griner's 26 blocks in the NCAA Tournament ranks her second in history. Duke's Alison Bales holds the record with 30 in 2006 and Connecticut's Rebecca Lobo's 22 now ranks third.. "You're watching a phenom out here play above the rim," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "That's what needs to be written in every article from this day forward, because she's such a sweet child, as you can see.". Shekinna Stricklen led Tennessee with 18 points and Angie Bjorklund added 12.. The Lady Bears (26-9) will face No. 2 seed Duke tomorrow in Memphis. Baylor's only other appearance in the round of eight was in 2005, the same year it won the national championship.. "I can't believe it. I'm just really excited that to get to the Elite Eight we had to go through the best, and the best in this region was Tennessee," Baylor's Morghan Medlock said.. The Lady Vols' loss spoiled the highly anticipated matchup between Tennessee and Connecticut, which could have taken place in the national semifinals. The Lady Vols (32-3), who lost in the first round last season, hadn't missed out on the Final Four in back-to-back years since 1993-94.. The teams went back and forth throughout the first half and early in the second, trading the lead 10 times and tying four times. With both 6-6 Kelley Cain and 6-3 Alyssia Brewer on the floor to guard Griner, Tennessee found some success inside and was up 55-50 with just under eight minutes left.. The Lady Vol orange-clad crowd fell silent as Griner hit back-to-back layups and had a three-point play as part of a 21-1 run as Tennessee's defense unraveled.. Tennessee turned to its shooters in desperation. Though Bjorklund and Stricklen managed to hit jumpers in traffic and knock down a few three-pointers in the first half, they missed left and right in the second half.. Tennessee successfully limited Griner in its 74-65 win over Baylor in the first game of the season but couldn't do it again even with as many as four players on her at a time.. Griner hit several shots while double-teamed or passed to an open Lady Bears teammate for an easy layup.. Griner had been somewhat tentative on offense since she was suspended for two games after throwing a punch against a Texas Tech player in early March. She was back to her dominant self on both ends of the court. "I just knew I had to come out and play my game and go back to the old Brittney," Griner said.. The Lady Vols managed to hit only 32.9 percent, only slightly better than their season-worst 32.8 percent against Stanford, and finished with 22 paint points. The Lady Vols allowed the Lady Bears 49.1 percent shooting - a season high for a Tennessee opponent - and 36 paint points.. Duke 66, San Diego State 58: Jasmine Thomas matched her career-high with 29 points, and Duke beat San Diego State to reach the Memphis Regional final.. With the win, the Blue Devils (30-5) notched their eighth 30-win season in the past decade and moved to their first regional final since 2006 when they lost in overtime to Maryland in the national championship game.. San Diego State (23-11) upset two ranked teams to reach this game for the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 in 1994. But the Aztecs' bid to become the first double-digit seed to play in a regional final since that expansion failed as they missed their first 10 shots of the second half.. Duke led 35-34 after a tight first half, and the Blue Devils scored the first 10 points of the second half to take advantage of the Aztecs' cold shooting.. The Blue Devils reached their eighth regional final in the last 13 years and will play fourth-seeded Baylor on Mondaynight in what will be the second Duke-Baylor regional final in 48 hours with their men's teams playing Sundayin Houston for a trip to the Final Four.- AP
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