DES MOINES, Iowa — Baylor has just two victories to go for 40-0. Tennessee’s future is far less certain.
Brittney Griner had 23 points, 15 rebounds and 9 blocks before being ejected with less than a minute left and top-seeded Baylor rolled over Tennessee 77-58 Monday night to advance to the Final Four.
Shekinna Stricklen (Morrilton) had 22 points for Tennessee (27-9), whose seniors became its first four-year class not to reach a Final Four.
The second-seeded Lady Vols now face an uncertain future, as Pat Summitt has yet to say if she’ll return for a 39th season as Tennessee coach. She announced in August she’d been diagnosed with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type.
“This team is about Pat Summitt. This team has battled all year,” said Tennessee associate head coach Holly Warlick as she fought back tears. “I’m proud of them. I thought our team and coaching staff obviously was in a difficult situation. But I thought this team was responsive. I wouldn’t trade anything that we did this year.”
The Lady Bears (38-0), who are back in the national semifinals for the second time in three years, will face Stanford on Sunday night in Denver. Should Baylor win it all, it’ll become the first men’s or women’s team in NCAA history to finish a year with 40 victories.
Baylor held Tennessee to just 30.3 percent shooting from the floor. Much of that was because of the inside presence of the 6-8 Griner.
“Defense wins ballgames for you,” Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey said. “I guess learned from two of the best. I learned from [Summitt] and [former Louisiana Tech Coach] Leon Barmore, you better guard people. And these kids are going to guard you.”
A rather ugly game got even uglier in the final 46.8 seconds.
Baylor’s Odyssey Sims, who led the Bears with 27 points, tumbled to the floor, and she and Stricklen had to be separated and were each assessed technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct.
No punches were thrown,but Griner and teammates Terran Condrey and Jordan Madden (East Poinsett County) were ejected for leaving the bench. The NCAA says none of the players will be suspended for the Final Four.
“Just got caught in the heat of the moment,” Sims said. “Everything’s fine now.”
As for Summitt, she was given a standing ovation from Tennessee and Baylor fans alike when she came out roughly 15 minutes before tip off. But as defeat became apparent, she sat silently on the bench with her legs crossed.
Summitt has 1,098 career victories, more than any basketball coach in NCAA history, but these Lady Bears were too much for her Lady Vols.
“It’s not fun for me to coach against Pat,” Mulkey said. “I don’t take great pleasure in that. But I have a job to do.”
Like most of Baylor’s games this season, the Lady Bears regional semifinal was more about dominance than drama.
Baylor led 35-20 at halftime despite a poor start shooting from Griner. Tennessee made a spirited charge to start the second half, highlighted when Glory Johnson scored a second-chance basket on Griner and simply smiled when Griner tossed her to the floor.
Sims followed a layup through traffic with a three, to help Lady Bears go back ahead 49-38 with 11:12 to go. Tennessee made one final run, cutting a 19-point deficit to 64-53 with 4:48 left, but Griner finished off the Lady Vols with six points in the next minute.
Kimetria Hayden had 18 points for Baylor. Johnson finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds for Tennessee.
Tennessee double-teamed Griner with center Vicki Baugh and help defenders, and Griner hit just 3 of 10 shots in the first half. But the Lady Vols missed nine shots in a row after an early lead, and Baylor slowly built its edge to 26-16 on three consecutive baskets by Sims.
The Lady Vols hung close with Baylor in late November before losing 76-67. The rematch wasn’t nearly as close, sending the Bears on to Denver and Tennessee grappling with the possibility that Summitt’s career could be over after 38 seasons and eight national titles.
“Obviously I would want Pat’s health to be better. I think like Pat, this team never gave up and they never used it as a crutch for how they were playing and what they did this year,” Warlick said.
Today’s games RALEIGH REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Maryland (31-4) vs. Notre Dame (33-3), 9 p.m. Central, ESPN KINGSTON REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Connecticut (32-4) vs. Kentucky (28-6), 6 p.m. Central, ESPN Women’s bracket, 4C
Sports, Pages 15 on 03/27/2012