Dec. 8, 2011

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WACO, Texas - All-American Brittney Griner scored 20 points and Odyssey Sims added a double-double of 19 points and 11 assists to lead top-ranked Baylor University to 72-41 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team Thursday night at the Ferrell Center.

The Lady Bears (9-0), ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls, opened up a close game early against the Panthers (2-5) with a 14-0 first-half run that gave them the momentum they needed to extend their winning streak at home to 28 games in a row in front of a crowd of 7,066.

Freshman Ashley Green, making her first collegiate start, finished with a team-high 11 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Courtney Lindfors added seven points and six rebounds, with junior Sami Tucker scoring five points to go with her seven rebounds.

"Overall, I am just proud of our players effort," Milwaukee head coach Sandy Botham said. "Their fight, their determination - they never gave up. This was the goliath and they responded well."

Milwaukee held Baylor to its lowest scoring output of the season with the 72 points, topping the previous low of 76 points against then-#6 Tennessee. What makes that more impressive is that the Lady Bears have played a pair of Top-10 teams in their nine games so far this season. UWM also held Griner to four points and six rebounds below her per-game season averages coming in (24 ppg/11 rpg).

"I thought defensively we showed some tenacity," Botham said. "They had three in double-figures. We played the zone - played the percentages and they knocked down their three's in the first half. With her (Griner's) size, she is unquestionably one of the best players in the country and it's tough to stop a player like that, even with two of our players on her."

Milwaukee was playing shorthanded to start with after regular starter Emily Decorah went out with a knee injury in practice earlier this week. And with Griner and her nation-best 5.1 blocks per game patrolling the paint, the Panthers ended up launching 16 three-pointers in the first half alone and a season-high 29 on the night.

Back and forth early with Milwaukee playing very well, a three by Green at the 14:04 mark cut the deficit to just three at 8-5. UWM would then go cold, missing six field goal attempts and turning the ball over four times over the course of a 14-0 Lady Bears run that gave them control of the game at 22-5 and essentially decided the game.

For the contest, the Lady Bears ended the night at 48.3 percent (29-of-60) compared to 28.3 percent (15-of-53) for the Panthers. UWM forced 17 BU turnovers, which was above its average, and lost the rebounding battle by a respectable 42-to-31 count.

With Milwaukee holding Griner in check for most of the first half, Sims picked up the pace and finished with a solid all-around stat line. In addition to her double-double, she added five rebounds and six steals.

The Lady Bears 28-game home winning streak dates back to March 7 of 2009 and they improved to 93-1 in the regular season against non-conference opponents under head coach Kim Mulkey.

The tough five-game road trip comes to a conclusion Sunday for the Panthers, tipping off at #24/23 Oklahoma Sunday at 2 p.m.