Brittney Griner, the consensus top women's player in the country notched her 3,000th career point in the second half of the top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears victory over the storied University of Connecticut Huskies last night.
Griner, who stands at six feet and eight inches struggled in the first half against the No. 3-ranked Huskies, scoring only four points on 2 of 9 shooting, while Baylor headed to the locker room down by three. She exploded in the second half, however, scoring 21 points including two free throws with just over a minute left in the game that gave her the 3,000-point milestone. She is just the eighth player in women's college basketball history to score that many points.
The win extended Baylor's streak to 23 straight games, and after the game UConn coach Geno Auriemma simply said, "We're just not good enough yet to beat these guys tonight." UConn's lead grew to seven early in the second half after Griner compounded a turnover by grabbing UConn's Stephanie Dolson and drawing a flagrant foul. After that miscue, though, Griner scored eight consecutive points.
Griner entered the game averaging 22 points, nearly nine rebounds and just under four blocks per game. Against UConn, she racked up 25 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis of the Huskies proved a game challenger, scoring 26 points and snatching 15 rebounds to go with two assists and three blocks, but clearly Griner and the Lady Bears were too tall of a task to handle.
With four games left in the regular season, Griner has an opportunity to leapfrog all-time greats Cindy Blodgett (3,005 points), Cheryl Miller (3,018), the sister of Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller, Chamique Holdsclaw (3,025) and Maya Moore (3,036) and finish her career as the fourth leading scoring in NCAA women's basketball history. As a junior, Griner blocked more shots than any other team in Division I and was named the Most Outstanding Player in last year's Final Four, which culminated in a 40-0 Baylor team wrapping up an undefeated season with a championship.
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