Denver, CO – One win away from perfection, Brittney Griner and the Baylor Lady Bears are headed for a rematch with the Fighting Irish to decide the national championship.
Griner scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds, and Baylor's defense shut down Stanford, 59-47, in a Final Four matchup Sunday night.
Terran Condrey also scored 13 and Odyssey Sims added 11 for the Lady Bears (39-0), who used a big run in the second half to take control of the game at Pepsi Center.
The Fighting Irish beat Connecticut, 83-75, in overtime in Sunday night's first national semifinal to set up the final.
With a victory on Tuesday, Baylor would become the first team, men's or women's, to finish a season 40-0. The Lady Bears have already beaten the Fighting Irish, 94-81, on Nov. 20 in Waco. Griner had 32 points and 14 rebounds in that matchup.
Baylor's lone previous appearance in the title game resulted in a victory over Michigan State in 2005.
Despite being in the Final Four for a fifth straight year, the Cardinal have no championships in that span. Stanford reached the title game in 2008 and 2010 before losing to Tennessee and Connecticut, respectively.
Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 22 for Stanford (35-2), which had a 32-game winning streak broken. Its only other loss this season was at Connecticut on Nov. 21.
With Heisman Trophy winning Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III cheering from near the court, the Lady Bears started to pull away in the second half.
A jumper from Amber Orrange gave Stanford a 31-29 edge inside 17 minutes left, but jumpers from Condrey and Sims started a 17-3 spurt that changed the complexion of the game.
Jordan Madden had a three-point play and a layup for five straight points during the burst, which ended on Condrey's layup with 8 1/2 minutes left.
Stanford, which shot 33 percent, never got closer than six the rest of the way.
The Cardinal used backdoor cuts to take a slim lead in the first half and held Griner without a field goal from about nine minutes left in the opening stanza until she scored with about 12 minutes remaining in the game.