BAYLOR JUST TOO MUCH FOR GAUGHOS

Too Strong, Too Fast, Too Tall of a Challenge For UCSB in NCAA Tourney

STEVEN WILSON

News-Press Correspondent

            The Lady Bears of Baylor proved to be too strong of an opponent for the UCSB women’s basketball team on Sunday and the Gauchos could not pull off the rare upset over the No. 1 team in the NCAA Tournament. The 16th-seeded Gauchos fell behind early and never caught up.

Baylor maintained a double-digit lead for the entire second half and for most of the first half as they steam-rolled UCSB, 81-40, in the Des Moines Regional of the NCAA Tournament in Bowling Green, Ohio.

            It took only five seconds for the top-seeded team in the tournament to score as Baylor controlled the opening tip and Destiny Williams sank a jumper to earn a 2-0 lead.

They increased that lead to 12-0 nearly five minutes into the game before Kelsey Adrian found Kirsten Tilleman on an alley-oop pass and finish, giving UCSB its first bucket. Tilleman would score again, but Baylor answered and UCSB found itself in a 15-4 hole.

“Either you are going to play (Baylor center Brittney) Griner one-on-one and let her get her points, or you are going to ask them to make jumpers from the outside – and they did that,” UCSB coach Carlene Mitchell said.

With the UCSB defense focusing on the 6-foot-8 Griner, Baylor hit a lot of open outside shots to earn a 23-7 lead half way through the first period even without the help of Odyssey Sims – Baylor’s usual starting point guard.

Sims, who’s a common scoring threat for the Lady Bears, had 10 points off the bench in what Baylor coach Kim Mulkey called a “coaches decision.”

            “She knows why she didn’t start,” Mulkey told the press after the game. “It’s not a big deal. Most coaches would have looked the other way, but it’s all about teaching kids lessons.”

            Baylor had five different players score in double figures on Sunday including Sims, Griner (14 points), Brooklyn Pope (13), Sune Agbuke (11) and Williams – who had 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting.

“It was definitely a different level (of competition),” senior guard Emilie Johnson said, “I think we all felt that tonight. To me, it was exciting to compete against this high level of competition and it makes me want more.”

            Johnson hit a bucket just before the halftime buzzer sounded to pull the Baylor lead to 46-16 at the break. Johnson would lead all Gauchos with 10 points, but only three came in the second half.

“Competing against the top team in the country, you need to hit your open shots,” Johnson said.

UCSB shot a measly 22 percent from the floor in the first half and the Gaucho offense struggled against the taller and faster Baylor defense. UCSB committed 16 turnovers including half a dozen shot clock violations leading to 24 points in transition for the Lady Bears.

“You almost have to play a perfect game and unfortunately for us, we didn’t make some shots early,” Mitchell said. “It’s just tough to recover with a team like that.”

Coming into the game, Griner was obviously the Gauchos number one priority. She averaged 23 points and 9 rebounds a contest and had gone over the 40-point plateau twice, but UCSB held her to just 14 total points and 3 rebounds.

“I think Tilleman did an amazing job on her,” Mitchell said. “Again, she’s 6-8 and Tilleman is 6-1 on a good day in her heels.

“I give our kids credit – no one gave in and even though she played 20 – 25 minutes, she still had to work hard for her 10 or 12 points.”

            Even without an explosive Griner, Baylor maintained at least a 30-point lead for the entire second half, partly because the Lady Bears kept scoring, but also because the Gauchos went scoreless for six and a half minutes half way through the second period.

Afterwards, Mitchell felt that her team could have just lost to the eventual national champion.

“They have all the elements in place to win a championship,” Mitchell said. “If they do, it will make me feel better about this loss.”

            The victory sets a Baylor school record for wins, breaking last season’s mark of 34. The Lady Bears have not lost since falling in the quarterfinals of last year's tournament to the eventual national champion – Texas A&M. They will face Florida on Tuesday night in the second round of the tournament. UCSB will head home for the offseason, optimistic about next year.

“They should be proud of the fact that at the end of the day they helped lead us to the NCAA and that’s the biggest legacy they could leave, Mitchell said about her two seniors Johnson and Adrian. “It leaves me excited for what is coming next year.”

            Johnson remains unsure of her future, but will face it like every other opponent she’s faced before – head on.

“At this point, I’m excited,” she said. “I know it is the end of my college career, but I’m looking at it at as a new beginning, a new chapter.”