Women's Basketball Big12Sports.com

Georgia Tech No Match For Lady Bears

 
NCAA Sweet Sixteen - Des Moines Region
  1 2 FINAL
Georgia Tech 26 42 68
Baylor 42 41 83
 
 Quick Stats Geo. Tech Baylor
Points 68 83
FG Made - Attempted 26-70 30-56
FG Percentage .371 .536
3PT Made - Attempted 10-19 1-6
3PT Percentage .526 .167
FT Made - Attempted 6-9 22-30
FT Percentage .667 .733
Rebounds 44 33
Turnovers 20 11
 
 Statistical Leaders
Georgia Tech Pts Rbs Asst St Blk
 Sydney Wallace 32 3 0 0 0
 Tyaunna Marshall 10 10 2 1 1
Baylor Pts Rbs Asst St Blk
 Brittney Griner 35 10 2 2 6
 Destiny Williams 18 5 1 1 1
 
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By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent

Another NCAA Tournament game, a third blowout victory ... and another dunk by Brittney Griner.

That pretty much sums up Baylor's Saturday in the Iowa state capitol. The top-seeded Lady Bears advanced to the Des Moines Regional final with an 83-68 victory over No. 4 seed Georgia Tech.

Baylor (37-0) will face No. 2 seed Tennessee (27-8) Monday with the winner advancing to the Final Four in Denver. The Lady Vols eliminated 11th-seeded Kansas with an 84-73 victory before the Baylor-Georgia Tech game.

Griner, who dunked early in the second half of Baylor's second-round victory over Florida, got free on a breakaway and threw down a two-hand slam with 6:29 remaining.

"I wanted to get one in this game," said Griner, who finished with 35 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks. "And I wanted to get a dunk with two hands. Brooklyn (Pope) got me the ball and I just went up and slammed it."

Griner's dunk put Baylor up 77-46 but Georgia Tech coach MaChelle Joseph didn't think Baylor was rubbing it in.

"It doesn't bother me," Joseph said. "I think she's great for the game. I think it's awesome. Nobody wants to get dunked on, but how many people can actually say I coached in a game where a female basketball player dunked?"

Georgia Tech led 10-6 four minutes into the game before Baylor took control with a 20-0 run. Griner and Destiny Williams, who finished with 18 points, each had six points during the spurt.

The Yellow Jackets, playing in the Sweet 16 for the first time, relies on pressure defense to force turnovers. But it was Baylor that won that battle, forcing 19 Georgia Tech mistakes while turning it over just 11 times.

"Brittney got 35 points because of (her teammates') ability to handle the pressure and score at the end of the press," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said.

Griner joins Tennessee's Candace Parker as the only woman to dunk in the NCAA Tournament Parker had two slams against Army in 2006. Griner now has seven dunks in her career, two in consecutive games. Ironically, she and her teammates will face Tennessee Monday with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

"There's no doubt that Brittney Griner is definitely the best player I've ever coached against, I've ever seen play live," Joseph said. "She's a tremendous talent on both ends of the floor.

"But I thought their complementary players, Destiny Williams in particular, had a huge game for them, especially in the first 10 minutes of the game."