By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big 12 Sports.com CorrespondentSTILLWATER, Okla. - The long and the short of it was on display here at Gallagher-Iba Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Big 12 Conference opener for No. 5 Baylor and No. 23 Oklahoma State featured the Lady Bears' 6-foot-8 freshman Brittany Griner and the Cowgirls' 5-foot-5 senior Andrea Riley. That difference of 15 inches turned into a difference of 13 points.
And the top-ranked team didn't win. With Riley firing off 36 shots that produced 43 points, Oklahoma State stunned Baylor, 78-65. Earlier Saturday, No. 24 Kansas matched a program low for points when it lost at Kansas State, 59-35.
Beware Big 12 road games, folks.
"That's why winning today is so important," Oklahoma State coach Kurt Budke said. "You'd better defend your home floor because when you go on the road, it's so difficult to win."
Oklahoma State's game plan was simple: hold Griner to her average and fire away from the 3-point line. Griner was averaging 19.6 points, nine rebounds and 6.3 blocked shots per game. She finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds and failed to block a shot for the first time in her career.
No matter how talented Griner is, it's difficult to block shots launched from 25 feet. The Cowgirls (13-2, 1-0) took the perimeter game to the extreme and launched 37 3-pointers - the most ever attempted by a Baylor opponent. 21 of their first 29 shots came from behind the line.
"When you've got a 6-8 shot blocker, you don't want to drive to the basket and have your shot wind up in the ninth row," said Riley, who was 15-of-36 from the field and 6-of-18 on 3-pointers.
Baylor (13-2, 0-1) took the opposite approach and scored from down low against Oklahoma State's 2-3 zone. Griner was effective getting open for shots and also moving the ball when double teamed. When Morghan Medlock made one of two free throws with 3:43 remaining in the first half, the Lady Bears had a 36-26 lead.
Riley scored seven points and Tegan Cunningham (14 points) added a 3-pointer as the Cowgirls pulled to within 38-36 at halftime.
"The game was lost at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "At the end of the first, I don't know if it was fatigue, too many freshmen, Riley … the start of the second half, they got hot and the crowd got going."
Riley scored nine points in the first 70 seconds, part of a 20-point blitz that spanned just over 10 minutes.
"Heart, heart, just absolute heart, I'm so proud of this team," said Riley, who attempted 42 shots and scored 44 points against Michigan State in late November. "We stuck together and didn't fold when we got down by 10. We held our own. That's a great basketball team and they'll be at the top of the Big 12."
Griner, who committed a team-high five turnovers, went over 19 minutes between field goals. That mirrored a stretch - the last four minutes of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second - where the Lady Bears missed 15 of 17 shots. Junior Melissa Jones, Baylor's top 3-point threat who is averaging 11.6 per game, didn't play because of a stress reaction in her right foot.
Despite the offensive struggles and Riley's shot making, Baylor had a chance to put game pressure on the Cowgirls. With just under eight minutes to play, the Lady Bears had possession with a chance to cut Oklahoma State's lead to nine points. Turnover. Two Riley free throws. Opportunity wasted.
"That was a key moment in the game and we make a soft pass that becomes a turnover," Mulkey said. "Our freshmen have to understand the value of each and every possession."
Griner said that her first Big 12 game taught her that "every game is a fight, it's intense."
Mulkey, whose team had a 13-game winning streak snapped, would have preferred that Saturday's teaching moment would have involved a victory instead of a defeat.
"What you saw for our freshmen was 'Welcome to the Big 12,'" she said. "You can tell 'em what it's gonna be like, but they've got to experience it. They experienced it today."