No. 3 Baylor 106, SE Louisiana 41
Brittney Griner and the Baylor Lady Bears did what they consistently do: win at home.
Jordan Madden scored all 13 of her points in the first half and the third-ranked Baylor took control early in a 106-41 victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday night for its 46th consecutive home victory.
The defending national champion Lady Bears (10-1) now have the longest active home winning streak in women's college basketball. Their latest victory at the Ferrell Center came after No. 2 Connecticut won 61-35 earlier Saturday at top-ranked Stanford to end the 82-game home streak by the Cardinal.
''Good players and smart scheduling,'' coach Kim Mulkey responded when asked what contributed to such a streak, which she insisted she wasn't completely aware.
''I don't keep up with that. I really don't. You think about the year you're in instead of thinking about the past,'' she said. ''I think it's pretty cool, but I really didn't know.''
Baylor's last home loss was 70-54 to Texas in the 2009-10 regular season finale, a game that then-freshman Griner missed while serving a suspension for throwing a punch in the previous game.
The Lady Bears are 102-1 in non-conference home games in Mulkey's 13 seasons. The loss was 69-55 to 12th-ranked Purdue in the preseason WNIT championship game on Nov. 19, 2006.
Playing for the first time in 11 days, in their last game before their Big 12 opener, the Lady Bears came out strong and fast.
Madden made all six of her shots in the first half, including three in a row in a 92-second span that put Baylor ahead 16-2 only 6 minutes into the game. A 3-pointer by Madden made it 33-13 with 6:41 left in the first, and she had a layup right after that following a steal by Brooklyn Pope.
All 13 Baylor players scored points and had at least one rebound. And none played more than 21 minutes.
''I thought that was a fresh start coming from Christmas,'' said Destiny Williams, who had 14 points and eight rebounds in 15 minutes.
Freshman guard Alexis Prince led the Lady Bears with a season-high 17 points. Griner, the 6-foot-8 two-time All-American, had 12 points and five blocked shots in her 20 minutes.
Brandi Simmons had 12 points to lead Southeastern Louisiana (7-4), the school in Hammond, La., where Mulkey grew up and was a prep standout.
The final score was exactly the same as the last time the two teams played Nov. 28, 2010.
''Lovely. We were just as bad the last time too,'' SE Louisiana coach Lori Davis Jones said when reminded of that. ''The biggest thing that frustrated me and our coaching staff was the easy stuff they got. The transition buckets when we were sending two back, second shots when we didn't block out.''
Baylor played for the first time since a 76-53 victory over Tennessee on Dec. 18 at home.
Next for the Lady Bears is the Big 12 opener Wednesday night at league newcomer TCU. Their only remaining non-conference game in the regular season is Feb. 18 at Connecticut, which is likely to take over the No. 1 spot when the new poll comes out Monday.
Baylor has won eight in a row since losing to Stanford in Hawaii a week into the season.
Nine Baylor players had already scored by halftime, when it was 52-19 after Williams had a putback basket while being fouled and made the free throw with a half-second left in the half. Odyssey Sims, the preseason All-America point guard, was scoreless at halftime but had six assists.
''Really, I wasn't concerned with who we played. I was just kind of looking at us. I just didn't see a lot of sloppiness,'' Mulkey said. ''I thought that everybody did, they did good stuff. They had energy, they had enthusiasm, and they shared to ball well.''
Sims scored nine points after halftime.
The Lady Bears led 83-33 with 8 minutes left on a layup by Makenzie Robertson, the coach's daughter, and went on to their first 100-point game since Nov. 22, 2011.
Southeastern Louisiana sent 5-foot-3 guard Elizabeth Styles out for the game's opening tip. Griner obviously won that. The Lady Lions' first seven possession resulted in three turnovers (one shot-clock violation), three missed shot with the shot clock running down, and one basket.
Griner went for a dunk with 11 minutes to go, but lost control of the ball and grabbed the rim. Williams got the rebound and scored on a putback while being fouled, then completed a three-point play.
Only a few seconds later, with Baylor ahead 74-31, Griner left the game for good.