Griner breaks record in Baylor win

Griner breaks record in Baylor win

Published Jan. 30, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

Brittney Griner took down another record Wednesday night, prompting coach Kim Mulkey to reminisce about when the senior first arrived at Baylor.

Griner snapped the Big 12 women's scoring record while pouring in 40 points, leading the top-ranked Lady Bears to a 90-60 victory over Texas Tech.

''When Brittney came four years I told everybody, `You better buy tickets. You'll never see anything like her again,' and at the time you didn't talk about the records that she would break,'' said Mulkey, who added fans in Waco would honor the senior's latest accomplishment at some point. ''But after you saw her play it was pretty obvious she's going to be a phenom and it's not surprising that she's broken those records.''

It was the fourth career 40-point performance for Griner, who also had 15 rebounds for her 51st double-double.

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''Just happy to get the win really first,'' Griner said. ''My team did a good job of getting me the ball, good looks. When I didn't have a shot they did a great job on cutting to the basket so I could find them. We were just clicking from the jump, we were on all cylinders.''

Griner passed Oklahoma State's Andrea Riley for the record while scoring the first four points of the game, giving her 2,837 for her career. Riley had 2,835 points from 2007-10.

Brooklyn Pope added 14 points for Baylor (19-1, 9-0).

Kelsi Baker scored 12 points for Texas Tech (16-5, 6-3), which had won four in a row.

It was the Lady Bears' 31st consecutive Big 12 regular-season victory. Texas Tech was the last team to beat Baylor during the regular season, topping the Lady Bears in 2011.

Griner got the ball inside often and didn't miss much. She was 17 for 25 from the field and 6 for 9 at the free-throw line. Baylor finished with 50 points in the paint, compared to 18 for Texas Tech.

''I think she's trying to break the NCAA scoring record,'' Texas Tech coach Kristy Curry said. ''She got a lot of looks tonight. Credit her and her team for getting her the ball.''

Baylor scored 17 points off the Lady Raiders' 13 turnovers, while the Lady Bears coughed up the ball eight times and Texas Tech got 10 points from them.

It was the second record in as many games for the 6-foot-8 Griner, who set the NCAA record for career blocks in a home win over Oklahoma on Saturday.

She blocked seven shots against Texas Tech, giving her 30 in the last four games. She reached 40 points with a two-handed jam with 2:37 left for her 12th career dunk, extending her NCAA record.

Texas Tech defended Griner as best it could, putting as many as three players on her when she got the ball inside. When she missed, there was plenty of rebounding help on the weak side of the basket for the Lady Bears to get another scoring opportunity.

''She's 6-8,'' Curry said. ''I'm not trying to be funny. You can't really go in and post her up or take her off the bounce because of the block.''

Baylor outrebounded Texas Tech 51-37 and got 12 second-chance points. The Bears got 30 offensive rebounds.

The Lady Raiders have played Baylor as close as anyone in conference play the past couple of seasons. Last year, they lost to Baylor in Lubbock by eight points and in Waco by five, by far the narrowest victory margins during the Lady Bears' 40-0 season.

It was Griner's last game in Lubbock, where her first appearance four years ago made national news. She was ejected from the game after throwing a round-house punch at Texas Tech's Jordan Barncastle.
 

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