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40 Wins, 0 Losses
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Coach & Player of the Year
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Lady Bears grab title, reach 40 wins

DENVER — The Baylor Lady Bears took care of unfinished business, defeating Notre Dame 80-61 for the NCAA National Championship title Tuesday night.

“Now you can see we did something,” sophomore Odyssey Sims said.

Baylor is the first team in NCAA Division I history to finish the season with 40 wins, doing it with the top RPI in the nation.

“We finally did it,” junior Brittney Griner said. “The unfinished business is over.”

The Lady Bears become the seventh undefeated national champion, joining Texas (1986), . . .

Championship earned by Lady Bears, not just Griner

The No. 1 Lady Bears are national champions, beating their opponents by an average of more than 20 points.

It would be one thing if Baylor’s schedule was a walk in the park, but it has the top RPI in the nation, playing against No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Connecticut and No. 8 Tennessee to name a few.

Many people credit this success to 6-foot-8 junior Brittney Griner and only Griner, saying Baylor will fall back into mediocrity once she graduates.

Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey laughs in response.

“Well, we won a national championship [in 2005] without Brittney Griner. Do I need to say anything else? Brittney has never won one,” Mulkey said earlier this season. “The team, the program, we’re going to continue to go on. We recruit well, one of the top. We may not have that presence of 6-8 or another that dunks, but there will be great players that continue . . .