Lady Bears head coach stresses academics on top of sports
Compete is a word very familiar to head women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey. In high school, she led her Hammond High School basketball team to four consecutive state championships. She then went on to play point guard at Louisiana Tech University and won two National Championships, the AIAW title in 1981 and the inaugural NCAA title in 1982. When it came to sports, Mulkey knew how to compete.
Baylor must win
Anyone that has been to a Baylor Lady Bears basketball game has seen the video that plays before player introductions. Head coach Kim Mulkey stands before her players and talks about the expectation that this team will repeat as National Champions.
Lady Bears look to stay hot through Big 12 play
The No. 1 Lady Bears will take on Texas Tech at 7 p.m. today in Lubbock, and will try to build on the nation’s largest winning streak.
Baylor (8-0 Big 12, 18-1 overall) and Texas Tech (6-2 Big 12, 16-4 overall) are the top two teams in the conference.
Both teams have similar numbers in scoring defense. Baylor allows an average of 53.2 points per game whereas Texas Tech allows 53.4.
However, Texas Tech has to stop the Big 12’s best scoring offense.
Women dominate in Ames
Griner finishes with 22 points, eight rebounds, six blocks as No. 1 Baylor wins 66-51 over Iowa State
Senior center Brittney Griner steals the ball, runs down the court and uses two hands to slam the ball into the basket for her 11th career dunk as the No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears defeat No. 24 Iowa State 66-51 Wednesday at Ames, Iowa. The Lady Bears are now 7-0 in the Big 12 and 17-1 overall.
No. 1 vs. No. 6: Baylor hosts Kentucky for State Farm Tip-Off Classic on ESPN2 today at 5 p.m.
The defending national champions and No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears are 1-3 when playing in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic.
The Lady Bears will unveil a trio of banners: the Big 12 season championhip, the Big 12 tournament championship and the national championship.
Women’s basketball > football
While the football team is busy trying to scrape a win out of the goose egg in the conference win column, the women’s basketball team is protecting its 40-game win streak.
What’s the difference between the two besides the obvious?
No. 1 Baylor back to winning ways in exhibition
The No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears picked up where they left off, defeating the Oklahoma City University Stars 91-42 Monday evening in Waco.
“I got to play some combinations and situations,” head coach Kim Mulkey said. “I expected everything that I saw but it was just good to have it in a game setting. I thought first of all, the freshmen did fine. I think conditioning for several of them is obvious. They’ve got to learn to play longer stretches, but that’s being a freshman and having to play at an intense level at both ends of the floor.”
Baylor wins 91-42
The No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears picked up where they left off, defeating Oklahoma City University 91-42.
“I got to play some combinations and situations,” head coach Kim Mulkey said. “I expected everything that I saw but it was just good to have it in a game setting. I thought first of all, the freshmen did fine. I think conditioning for several of them is obviously they’ve got to learn to play longer stretches but that’s being a freshman and having to play at an intense level at both ends of the floor.
From the tip, Baylor was defending both its title and the floor, beginning the game forcing four turnovers.
Back under the lights
As far as exhibition games go, whether a team wins or loses, the result is not included in the season’s win or loss column. Technically, the season for the defending national champion Baylor Lady Bears doesn’t start until Nov. 9, but they see this game as the start to their season.
“We get to get away from playing each other,” junior guard Odyssey Sims said. “We always make each other better: going against each other we compete, but at the end of the day we’ve got to leave it on the court. Just to know that we play Tuesday, it’s really exciting.”
Back 2 Business
After the Baylor Lady Bears’ national championship in 2005, the team lost four seniors, two of them starters.
The next season, Baylor fell in the Sweet Sixteen to Maryland 82-63.
