Box Score

80

58

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

ÃÆ'Æ'à € ' ¢ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢' ¬ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢ÃƒÆ' ¢' ¬ ¹Through what she calls the "roughest, toughest year" of her life away from the court, the highlight of Baylor coach Kim Mulkey's day is coaching a Lady Bear team that has been dealt more blows than a heavyweight boxer.

ÃÆ'Æ'à € ' ¢ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢' ¬ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢ÃƒÆ' ¢' ¬ ¹"When I turn that corner out of that tunnel every day, I know what I'm getting out of them as people, I know what I'm getting out of them as competitors," Mulkey said. "It really is the highlight of my day."

ÃÆ'Æ'à € ' ¢ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢' ¬ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢ÃƒÆ' ¢' ¬ ¹Using just six players until clearing the bench with 11.8 seconds left, Mulkey directed the second-seeded Lady Bears to an 80-58 win over seventh-seeded Michigan Sunday night in making the Sweet 16 for the 10th year in a row and 14th time overall.

ÃÆ'Æ'à € ' ¢ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢' ¬ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢ÃƒÆ' ¢' ¬ ¹"This team has gone through a lot of adversity this year and we've fought through all of it and stayed together," said 6-4 sophomore forward Lauren Cox, who registered her fourth straight and 16th career double-double with a team-high 18 points and 16 rebounds. "Getting to the Sweet 16 is really important to us. That was obviously one of our goals. We just want to get over the hump of that Sweet 16 and Elite Eights and get ourselves to the Final Four."

ÃÆ'Æ'à € ' ¢ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢' ¬ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢ÃƒÆ' ¢' ¬ ¹With all five starters scoring in double figures, including 17 points apiece from the backcourt tandem of Alexis Morris and Juicy Landrum, the Lady Bears ran their winning streak to 30 in a row.

Baylor (33-1), looking for its first Final Four since winning it all in 2012, will face sixth-seeded and 13th-ranked Oregon State (25-7) on Friday in the region semifinals in Lexington, Ky. The Beavers upset third-seeded Tennessee, 66-59, handing the Lady Vols their first-ever home court loss in the NCAA tournament.

Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said the Lady Bears are equal in talent to No. 1 seeds Notre Dame and Louisville and are "the biggest, best rebounding team that we faced all year long."

"What we have played against, (they're) as talented as any team in the country."

The Wolverines (23-10), trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history, had a five-point lead eight minutes into the game and trailed by just eight at the halftime break, 42-34.

"I thought we hung tough in a lot of spurts," Barnes said. "We turned the basketball over early. I thought if we hadn't done that, we might have put ourselves in a little bit of a better position. In the second half, they really wore us down and did a great job on Katelynn (Flaherty) and Hallie (Thome). They're an incredible team."

Flaherty and Thome did their part in keeping Michigan in the game, combining for 30 of the team's 34 first-half points. The 6-foot-5 Thome was a perfect 9-of-9 from the floor, while Flaherty drained four 3-pointers and scored 12 of her 18 points in the first two quarters.

Cox, who rotated with 6-7 junior center Kalani Brown in defending Thome, said the Michigan center is "really long and really skilled around the basket." In the second half, when she missed her last seven shots, "we kind of bodied up to her a little bit and just had to time our blocks better."

Brown, in particular, was challenged by Mulkey at the half to "go up and block the big girl's shot."

After hitting 13-of-20 in the first half, Flaherty and Thome were just 4-of-18 and scored 10 points combined in the second half.

"I thought some of the shots they missed was fatigue," Mulkey said, "but some of their shots were just Juicy, Kalani, Cox and those guys just grinding it out and saying, `You know what, you're as tired as we are, but whoever defends the best is going to win.'''

Constantly fighting over and around screens, Landrum held Flaherty to just 2-of-9 shooting and six points in the second half. She added four assists, three steals and only one turnover in 39 minutes and knocked down three 3-pointers.

"I think Juicy Landrum needs to be written about," Mulkey said. "That kid coming off screens, guarding Flaherty. She's a hard kid to guard. We tried Morris on her, but I said, `Forget it, put Juicy on her.' You can't wear Morris out."

Turning Michigan's 19 turnovers into 28 points, Baylor was able to get out in transition and had a 12-0 edge in fast-break points. Michigan had a tough time keeping up with the lightning-quick Morris and Landrum.

"Coach always tells us that when me and Alexis are together, we just need to run," Landrum said. "I feel like when we push the ball, it makes us a better team," said Morris, who added six rebounds, five assists, two steals and only one turnover.

Brown overcame a slow start to finish with 16 points, eight rebounds, six blocks and four assists. Senior forward Dekeiya Cohen, who hit just 4-of-10 from the free throw line, finished with 12 points and nine rebounds after having zero boards at the half.

"I challenged Dekeiya at halftime," Mulkey said. "She had no rebounds. She's our best offensive rebounder. And she almost finished with a double-double. She accepted that challenge in the second half and got us nine boards, and a lot of them were offensive boards."

Continuing a season-long trend, Baylor dominated in the post, finishing with a 49-30 rebounding edge and outscoring the Wolverines, 50-26, in the paint. Thome said Baylor's guards were helping down when the ball went into the post, "getting little touches, then Kalani locked down on my baseline hook."

In the other side of the Lexington Regional bracket, top-seeded Louisville (34-2) cruised to a 90-72 win over Marquette and will face the winner of Monday's game between fourth-seeded Stanford (23-10) and 12th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast (31-4).

"I know now it's win or go home, and I have to take every game seriously," Morris said. "I can't take players lightly, I can't take anything lightly. It's just me having to be more mature."