No. 1 Lady Bears squeeze past Lady Raiders, 56-51

Baylor's Brittney Griner celebrates her team's 56-51 win over Texas Tech in an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
No. 42 post Brittney Griner celebrates her team's 56-51 win over Texas Tech on Saturday. Baylor won 56-51 in Waco, clinching a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season title.
Associated Press

By Krista Pirtle
Sports Writer

The No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears clinch a share of the Big 12 conference title with a 56-51 win over a physical Texas Tech team.

Baylor proved it was more than junior Brittney Griner as junior Destiny Williams flashed to the offside block, open from the double and triple teams Griner was drawing. “I wasn’t finishing like I should have been,” Griner said.

Both finished with double doubles: Griner with 18 points and 14 rebounds and Williams with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The first half ended with Baylor trailing by five and getting beat on the boards 20-14.

Despite 12 turnovers by the Lady Raiders, Baylor could not finish its shots, shooting 34 percent from the field. Odyssey Sims only had a point to her name as she went into the locker room for half time.

Tech shot 50 percent from the floor, hitting six of eight from downtown. “They spread the floor and hit threes,” Mulkey said. “Those threes were contested. It’s supposed to be like that in February.”

The Lady Bears, however, could not find the bottom of the net from three point land, going 0-6. After missing the first three free throws, Baylor finished the half perfect from the line.

The second half did not start hot for the Lady Bears as their first points came from a pair of free throws by Hayden.

A minute passed before Baylor would score again. Senior Terran Condrey ended the Baylor drought from down town with a triple to start the comeback.

The Lady Bears were up 54-51 with eight seconds left when Texas Tech began to foul out of desperation, sending Griner to the line.

With two swishes, Griner added insurance to the lead, securing a 56-51 victory.

Baylor will be back in action at the Ferrell Center at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.