NCAA Women's Basketball: Brittney Griner and Baylor Invade The Big Apple

Only in women’s college basketball would the Freshman of the Year from the previous two seasons still be in school at all, much less at the same school.

But that is precisely the luxury that coach Kim Mulkey of the top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears enjoys.

And if that’s not enough, Junior Miss Inside and Sophomore Miss Outside were AAU teammates.

Nonetheless, Mulkey’s starlets seemed awed by the grand stage of Madison Square Garden and trailed 32-30 against an undersized, undermanned but scrappy St. John’s squad in the Maggie Dixon Classic.

Maybe the young Texans simply were unsettled by tipping off a ballgame at 10:00 a.m. Waco time, because order was restored in the second half as the undefeated Lady Bears eased their way to a 73-59 victory.

All-Everything center Brittney Griner fashioned her sixth double-double of the young season with 17 points and 13 rebounds while adding six blocked shots. The Baylor front line of Griner, Brooklyn Pope and Destiny Williams combined for 40 points on 64 percent (16 for 25) shooting.

Poor shooting (two for 10) and foul trouble disguise the effective floor play contributed by shifty lefty point guard Odyssey Sims. Indeed, the crisp play of both teams produced only 17 turnovers in all. 

When’s the last time a bunch of dudes did that?

These Lady Bears go about nine-deep with interchangeable, at times indistinguishable parts. Sims is quite special, but only Griner is irreplaceable.

Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies will have to dig deep in their bag of tricks to give these gals a run for their money next Sunday, especially in Waco.

The NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship may not really be up for grabs again until 2014.