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Jimcs50
04-03-2005, 10:10 PM
Lady Bears overcome 15-point deficit


INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The end of Baylor's remarkable, uplifting redemption story will be told on the final night of the season.

Baylor gets offensive
What won the game for Baylor was the adjustments that Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson was able to make thanks to the versatility and depth of her bench.
The key to this game was the play of Emily Niemann and Abiola Wabara and the fact that Sophia Young took what LSU gave her instead of trying to force her offense inside. Wabara is known as a defensive stopper, but against LSU her offensive aggressiveness was critical in the second half. And Niemann, a sophomore reserve, held her own on defense plus gave Baylor a jump start at the end of the first half that carried over into the second.

Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles, at times, were the only viable offensive threats for LSU, whereas Baylor got more on the offensive end from different people.

Resilient when they fell behind, determined when they got the lead, the Lady Bears are going to the national championship game.

Baylor got 21 points from Sophia Young and major contributions from Emily Niemann and Abiola Wabara to beat LSU 68-57 on Sunday night in an impressive Final Four debut for a program that was once the worst in the Big 12.

"Wow! That's a good team we just beat," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, who looked misty-eyed as she pumped two fists up to the roaring Baylor fans.

The Lady Bears came storming back from an early 15-point deficit to tie it at halftime. The Lady Tigers, who looked restless at times on offense, also failed to hold onto a six-point lead in the second half.

Baylor just wouldn't go away and went ahead to stay when Chelsea Whitaker, who had eight turnovers in the regional finals against North Carolina, sank two free throws for a 52-51 lead with 6:17 remaining.

Young then picked off an LSU pass into the post and Baylor capitalized with Wabara's three-point play for a 55-51 lead. When Young hit a jumper 30 seconds later, Baylor led 57-51 and the Lady Bears had the cushion they needed to hang on down the stretch.

Not even national player of the year Seimone Augustus could save LSU, which missed too many shots against Baylor's 3-2 zone and faltered badly at the end.

Augustus scored 22 points but shot just 10-for-26 and was 0-for-4 from 3-point range.

"Things just didn't fall the way we wanted them to fall," Augustus said. "As far as the team goes, I thought we had a pretty good chance to win the title. To a certain extent, I felt we gave it away. We just didn't fight. They had the fight in their eyes and we didn't."


Kim Mulkey-Robertson celebrates her team's first ever trip to the national title game.

Sylvia Fowles, LSU's muscular 6-foot-5 freshman, added 13 points and 12 rebounds and Temeka Johnson had 14 points and seven assists.

But it just wasn't enough against Baylor's defense -- the Lady Bears have won 76 straight games when holding opponents under 59 points.

Niemann gave Baylor a big lift off the bench with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting and Wabara was a difference-maker with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting.

"It's been like that all year -- we've had different players step up," Mulkey-Robertson said. "We're not a two-dimensional team with (Steffanie) Blackmon and Sophia. Wow, we're playing for a national championship at Baylor University!"

Wabara went scoreless and played only six minutes in Baylor's 71-70 loss to LSU back on Nov. 14, a game in which the Lady Bears rallied from a 21-point deficit.

Mulkey-Robertson has needed just five years to get Baylor to the biggest game in the program's history. After a long tenure as an assistant at Louisiana Tech, she moved to Baylor in 2000, inheriting a program that had gone 7-20 the season before.

The Lady Bears won 21 games in her first season and they've been on the rise ever since.

For a while, though, they looked lost in this one. Baylor trailed 24-9 and Young was struggling. But Mulkey-Robertson, a feisty point guard in her playing days, kept encouraging, pleading and cajoling and the Bears fought back.

They tied it at 28 at halftime, only to fall behind 47-41 when Johnson, LSU's supercharged 5-foot-3 point guard, drove for a basket midway through the second half. But the Lady Bears answered quickly.

Blackmon, who usually teams with Young in a formidable inside combination, was quiet in this one with only seven points. But her bucket and three-point play highlighted a 9-2 run that sent Baylor into a 50-49 lead.

Fowles countered with two free throws to put LSU back in front with 6:54 to play, but that was the last time the Lady Tigers would lead. Whitaker made her two free throws and the Lady Bears started to pull away.

The frenetic pace that had been expected with these two quick, athletic teams never developed. Both kept the other from running and the game immediately turned into a half-court contest, with each probing the other's defense for a decent shot.

Lowest preseason rankings for eventual national champs
1992-93 Texas Tech 15
1993-94 North Carolina 9
1991-92 Stanford 7
1995-96 Tennessee 6
1990-91 Tennessee 6
1978-79 Old Dominion 6
* Baylor was preseason No. 8

Baylor has been reeling from the death of men's player Patrick Dennehy, who had been missing for six weeks before his body was found a few miles from campus in July 2003. Former player Carlton Dotson was charged in the death and NCAA violations later were uncovered in the program.

Then along came Mulkey-Robertson and her Lady Bears to help set things right at the world's largest Baptist school.

"It's the past so we really don't dwell on it anymore," said Young, who had never played basketball before coming to the United States from the West Indies at the age of 15. "We're just trying to be the shining light for Baylor."

They certainly are doing that. The school already had national championships and Olympic gold medals in track.

By late Tuesday, it could have a basketball title.

ALSO SEE
Women's College Basketball Scoreboard

Baylor Clubhouse

LSU Clubhouse

RECAPS
8:34 2nd Half
(1) Tennessee 53
(1) Michigan State 47

Final
(2) Baylor 68
(1) LSU 57

Jimcs50
04-03-2005, 10:14 PM
They lost first game of year at LSU by 1 point. This win more than made up for it.

Ginofan
04-05-2005, 08:39 PM
Neiman is killing M.State from the outside, girl is clutch! 5/6 from the arc and it's only halftime! She barely sets up her shot before it's going threw the net, it's just really amazing to watch her shot.

Taco
04-06-2005, 07:30 AM
Very Cool Baylor Babes!!!!!