WACO, Texas – Brittney Griner scored 21 of her 26 points in the first half and No. 3 Baylor bounced back strong with a 75-48 victory over Kansas State on Wednesday night.
The Lady Bears (25-2, 12-1 Big 12), coming off a loss at Texas Tech that ended their 21-game winning streak and knocked them out of the No. 1 spot in the polls, scored the game's first seven points. They led 22-6 only 8 minutes in after Kimetria Hayden's layup.
Griner's 21 points at halftime were only two less than Kansas State (18-8, 8-5) had as a team. Baylor led 41-23 then.
The Lady Bears opened the second half with a 16-3 run during which six different players scored for them to stretch the lead to 57-26.
Melissa Jones finished with 11 points and nine rebounds for Baylor.
Jalana Childs scored 22 points and Brittany Chambers had points for the Wildcats.
Baylor is 18-0 at home this season and has a one-game lead over fifth-ranked Texas A&M (23-3, 11-2) in the Big 12 standings with three league games left. The Lady Bears own the tiebreaker over the Aggies after sweeping both games in the regular season series.
Four days after their winning streak ended in a 56-45 loss at Texas Tech, the Lady Bears overwhelmed Kansas State with another strong defensive effort.
Several times early, Kansas State was forced to throw up difficult shots with the 30-second clock winding down — and made a couple of them. Brianna Kulas banged in a jumper off the glass for the Wildcats' second basket. Stephanie Wittman's desperation jumper fell to get K-State within 17-6.
Baylor came in the game leading the nation by holding opponents to only 31 percent shooting from the field. The Wildcats shot 33 percent (10 of 30) in the first half and finished 37 percent overall (18 of 49).
After Hayden's layup for the early 16-point lead, Chambers hit consecutive 3-pointers to pull the Wildcats within 10 points. They never got closer.
Kansas State only managed to outscore Griner in the first half because Childs hit a jumper in the closing seconds.
