No. 5/6 Baylor WBB's Next Hurdle to Final Four is No. 1/1 UConn in Elite 8 Monday

Sun Mar 28 16:43:38 CDT 2021

[Web Header Pregame Info 2020-21]
[BU Logo]
#5/6 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (28-2)
Location: Waco, Texas
Conference: Big 12
Head Coach: Kim Mulkey<https://baylorbears.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1573> (La. Tech, 1984)

Roster<https://baylorbears.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/2020-21> | Stats<https://baylorbears.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats> | Game Notes (PDF)<https://baylorbears.com/documents/2021/3/28/BU_WBB_Game_Notes_NCAA_E8_UConn_3_29_21.pdf?id=17268> | Postseason Guide (PDF)<https://baylorbears.com/documents/2021/3/28/NCAAPostseason_Guide_Elite_8.pdf?id=17269>
#5/6 BAYLOR (28-2) vs. #1/1 UCONN (27-1)
March 29, 2021 | 6 p.m. | NCAA Elite 8
San Antonio, Texas | Alamodome (North)
[ESPN]WATCH: E<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/9f81f91c-3b6f-4e57-ad3e-9a233ae4bd54#bucketId=24800>SPN<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/e15fadd1-32eb-4a49-a0f8-af724e7d6e14#bucketId=24800>
Talent: Ryan Ruocco (PBP), Rebecca Lobo (Analyst), Holly Rowe (Reporter)
RADIO: 1660 AM/92.3 FM DIGITAL RADIO LINK: ESPN Central Texas<https://listen.streamon.fm/krzi>
Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Analyst)
LIVE STATS: NCAA.com<https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/basketball-women/d1/2021-di-womens-college-basketball-championship-bracket-schedule-scores>

Baylor Social Media: [auto twitter icon] <http://twitter.com/baylorwbb>  [instagram png] <http://instagram.com/baylorwbb>  [Facebook PNG] <http://facebook.com/baylorwbb>
** Due to COVID-19, there will be no physical copies of stats, media almanacs, rosters, please use the following link for MEDIA RESOURCES<http://baylorbea.rs/MediaWBB> **
[UCONN]
#1/1 UCONN HUSKIES (27-1)
Location: Storrs, Conn.
Conference: Big East
Head Coach: Geno Auriemma

Roster<https://uconnhuskies.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster> | Stats<https://uconnhuskies.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2020-21?path=wbball> | Game Notes

________________________________

BAYLOR WOMEN'S BASKETBALL IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
    To get to Monday, Baylor beat Jackson State in the first round, 101-52 on March 21, in the program's debut on network television on ABC. The Lady Bears' 60 rebounds and 15 steals were both second-most in Baylor's NCAA Tournament history. On March 23, Baylor beat West Virginia, 90-48, to set a program record for largest margin of victory (42) in the second round. Saturday, Baylor won its first overtime game in the NCAA Tournament with a 78-75 victory over Michigan to advance to the program's 10th Elite 8.
     Baylor is competing in its 19th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Baylor women's basketball program, all coming under the watch of 21st-year head coach Kim Mulkey<https://baylorbears.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1573>. The only season Mulkey's Lady Bears have missed the NCAA Tournament came in 2003. Baylor is 4-5 all-time in the NCAA Elite 8 with four trips to the Final Four. The Lady Bears have advanced to the national semifinals round in 2005, 2010, 2012 and 2019 while winning three NCAA Championships. Baylor's NCAA titles in 2005, 2012, and 2019 made the program one of three to have at least three championships, joining UConn and Tennessee. Baylor carries a 53-15 (.779) all-time record in the NCAA Tournament, which ranks as the third-best winning percentage in NCAA history. The Lady Bears' 53 wins are eighth all-time and 17-straight NCAA appearances is the fifth-longest active streak in women's basketball.

LADY BEARS VS. UCONN
     Monday marks the ninth meeting between the two schools, and thus far, it's been a see-saw battle with each team exchanging punches in two-game increments. UConn took the first two games of the series, which began in 2010 at the Alamodome in the semifinals round and the Huskies taking a 70-50 win, April 4, 2010. UConn followed up with a win just seven months later in Hartford, Conn., in November of 2010. Baylor answered back with two wins, the first in Waco in December of 2011 and the other in Hartford in February of 2013. UConn took a 4-2 series lead with a wins in Waco in January of 2014 and in Storrs, Conn. in November of 2016. Baylor picked up the only two wins over a No. 1-ranked team in each of the next two meetings as UConn held the top-ranked spot in the AP in each of the last two games where Baylor came out victorious. The Lady Bears dealt the Huskies a nine-point loss, Jan. 3, 2019 in Waco and then beat them a season later by 16 in Hartford.

BAYLOR'S NATIONALLY TELEVISED MATCHUP ON ABC MAKES HISTORY
     While the Baylor Lady Bears are no stranger to television (337-66 in the Mulkey era), March 21 vs. Jackson State marked the first time in program history that Baylor has played on one of the four major television networks. The Lady Bears and Lady Tigers debuted on ABC with Beth Mowins and former UConn standout Renee Montgomery on the call.
     Baylor didn't have to wait long to get its second ABC nod as the network carried Baylor's Sweet 16 overtime thriller with Michigan Saturday.

LADY BEARS FINALIZE ANOTHER SWEEP OF BIG 12 TITLES
     Baylor's 23 combined conference championships are tied with Stanford for the most in the Power 5 since the 2004-05 season. The Lady Bears' 17-1 record in Big 12 play allowed Baylor to cruise to its 11th-straight regular-season title and 12th overall. Baylor's 76-50 win over West Virginia Sunday solidified the Lady Bears' 11th Big 12 Tournament Championship. The Lady Bears enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed, the 10th-straight postseason as a No. 2 seed or higher.

LADY BEARS IN NATION'S LEAD FOR FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE DEFENSE … AGAIN
     For four-straight years and five since the 2010-11 season, the Baylor Lady Bears have been the NCAA Statistical Champion in Defensive Field Goal Percentage. It took until Feb. 14, but Baylor leads the category again through 30 games at a .322 clip. The Lady Bears also lead the nation in rebound margin at 19.7.

BAYLOR TAKES HOME SEVERAL ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS TO COMPLIMENT 11TH-STRAIGHT REGULAR-SEASON TITLE
     NaLyssa Smith<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10009> was the ninth Lady Bear in Baylor history to pick up Big 12 Player of the Year honors, and she was a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team, the league announced March 10. DiJonai Carrington<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10073> was named Big 12 Sixth Person of the Year and continued the trend of graduate transfers at Baylor winning the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. She joined Chloe Jackson (2019) and Te'a Cooper<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=9541> (2020) to become the third-straight winner for Baylor, and Carrington was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.
     DiDi Richards<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10008> and Moon Ursin<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10010> both landed spots on each the All-Big 12 Second Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team while Queen Egbo<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10005> rounded out the Lady Bears' selections on the honorable mention team.

AP POLL RESEARCH SHOWS MULKEY AS ACTIVE LEADER IN TOTAL TOP 25 APPEARANCES AS PLAYER, ASSISTANT AND HEAD COACH
     Longtime women's hoops guru Mel Greenberg put together a list of coaches and players' appearances in the AP Top 25 poll over the years and found that Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey<https://baylorbears.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1573> is the NCAA's active leader in appearances at 668 from her time as a player and assistant at Louisiana Tech and her 21-year tenure as head coach at Baylor. She trails only Holly Warlick (693) for most all-time appearances; Warlick played, assisted Pat Summitt and was head coach at Tennessee from 2012-2019.

COVID-19'S EFFECT ON THE LADY BEARS
     Baylor lost four games scheduled for the Preseason WNIT in Waco in November, along with a Thanksgiving week game vs. Oregon in Las Vegas. Baylor lost its top-10 matchup with UConn Jan. 7.
     Moon Ursin<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10010>, lost her grandmother, Ruby Alexander, to the virus in April after a swift and brief battle with COVID. Kamaria McDaniel<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10266>, a transfer from Penn State that is having to sit this season, lost her grandfather, Johnny Webster, Sr., in April as well. Kim Mulkey<https://baylorbears.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1573>, Jordyn Oliver<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10006>, DiJonai Carrington<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10073> and Caitlin Bickle<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10004> have all had to miss time due to COVID-19 protocols this season.

RICHARDS RETURNS TO FLOOR AFTER SPINAL INJURY, FEATURED ON ESPN'S SPORTSCENTER
     Oct. 24, Moon Ursin<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10010> and DiDi Richards<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10008> collided in mid-air during a practice scrimmage, leaving Ursin with a concussion and Richards with a Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality (SCIOWRA). Ursin returned to practice after clearing concussion protocol in mid-November while Richards' rehab began immediately after she briefly lost feeling below her knees. Richards was first confined to a walker to assist her in walking, but by mid-November, she was completing individual drills and workouts with medical and strength & conditioning staff. Richards shocked doctors, team medical staff and coaches with the rate of her rehab. Thirty-eight days after the injury, she played 30 minutes off the bench at South Florida Dec. 1. She scored a bucket 13 seconds into her entry, and picked up where she left off last season by leading Baylor with seven assists. Dec. 6 in Fayetteville, Ark., she resumed her starting role, getting her first start at point guard and finished the contest with a game-high eight assists. She led the Big 12 in assists per game in 2019-20, ranked 13th in the nation and had the NCAA's sixth-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9:1.
     Her return to the floor sparked interest from ESPN with Mechelle Voepel writing a feature on her recovery, and Scott Van Pelt led off his Tuesday edition of SportsCenter, covering Richards' return with the "Best Thing I Saw Today" segment.

___________________________________
Kyle Robarts | Associate Director, Athletics Communications (WBB, WTEN)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-3042 | C: 254-405-9492

[cid:image008.png at 01D723F1.7F4A3860]<http://baylorbears.com/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 14163 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0008.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 6589 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0009.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3963 bytes
Desc: image003.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0010.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3173 bytes
Desc: image004.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0011.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.png
Type: image/png
Size: 616 bytes
Desc: image005.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0012.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.png
Type: image/png
Size: 439 bytes
Desc: image006.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0013.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.png
Type: image/png
Size: 13437 bytes
Desc: image007.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0014.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image008.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11689 bytes
Desc: image008.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0015.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BU WBB Game Notes NCAA E8 UConn 3.29.21.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 3618275 bytes
Desc: BU WBB Game Notes NCAA E8 UConn 3.29.21.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210328/56a5b10f/attachment-0001.pdf>