WACO, Texas – Kansas State coach Deb Patterson was pretty blunt and to the point when assessing her team's performance against top-ranked Baylor.
"They just pummeled us in every aspect of the game," Patterson said after the No. 23 Wildcats lost 76-41 on Saturday night. "That was a dominant performance by Baylor relative to what we brought to the floor."
Brittany Chambers got Kansas State (13-5, 4-2 Big 12) off to a fast start, a 7-3 lead when she had all of those points while making her first three shots. She and the Wildcats couldn't keep up that pace.
Brittney Griner had 22 points and 12 rebounds and the Lady Bears (19-0, 6-0 Big 12) extended their school-record home winning streak to 34 games. They are only of only two undefeated women's teams in Division I.
The game was tied at 11 before Griner's three-point play started a game-turning 12-0 spurt. Then came two baskets in less than a half-minute by Shanay Washington, who scored six points while playing only six minutes — two more than in her season debut Wednesday night at No. 17 Texas Tech.
Washington first drove hard through two defenders, then tumbled to the floor while scoring and being fouled in her first Baylor home game in more than a year. Griner excitedly helped her teammate and friend to her feet. Washington made the free throw, then had a short bank shot on the next possession.
"It was good having her back out there on the court," Griner said. "When she drove and got the and-one and hit the floor, I grabbed the top of her head like I used to always do. It was like, 'You're back! Come on! Let's go!' I just told her to keep doing it."
Washington started 32 of 36 games as a freshman in 2009-10, then the guard started the first five games last season before tearing the ACL in her left knee during practice. She is still playing as a sophomore after getting a medical hardship.
All 12 Lady Bears who played scored points, and Washington was the only one who didn't have a rebound. Baylor outrebounded K-State 60-32 and held the Lady Wildcats to 24.6 percent shooting (16 of 65).
"I'm so proud that everybody played. Everybody scored and everybody did something good," coach Kim Mulkey said. "I'm proudest of Shanay. Just to see her back on that floor, but to see what she does when she's on the floor. ... She took a couple of licks, but you hold your breath and realize, just let her play."
Brittany Chambers had 16 points and Tasha Dickey 10 for Kansas State (13-5, 4-2).
Kimetria Hayden added 11 points for the Lady Bears. Destiny Williams had 13 rebounds, her fourth consecutive game and sixth of seven with at least 10 rebounds. Griner played 29 minutes for her 10th double-double this season and 36th in 91 career games.
"Our defense and our rebounding spoke for itself," said Mulkey, who spent the day before her game watching losses by Syracuse, Baylor and Duke, three of the top four men's teams. "I got in that locker room and I think I exploded on them before the game started. I said you better defend and you better rebound."
Baylor has won all six of its games this season against Top 25 teams. Kansas State was coming off a loss against Oklahoma after a five-game winning streak.
The other undefeated women's team is Green Bay (17-0), which hasn't losing to Baylor in the NCAA round of 16 in Dallas last March.
After Chambers stopped and stepped around a defender for a short jumper in the lane just more than 6 minutes in the game, she already had nine points for K-State and the game was tied at 11.
Griner then missed a shot, but Williams grabbed the rebound and got the ball right back to Baylor's 6-foot-8 All-American. Griner made the basket while being fouled.
After making her first three shots, Chambers was 3-of-19 after that. The rest of the Wildcats combined to make 10 of 43 shots.
Kansas State played a No. 1 team for the first time since losing 100-54 in 1990 at Louisiana Tech, when Mulkey was an assistant coach at her alma mater. K-State is 0-4 against top-ranked teams.
"The shots were tougher to get for us," Patterson said. "We weren't efficient or effective, so they just gobbled you up. If you weren't going to play and match their toughness and intensity, they were just going to gobble you up."