Place Brittney Griner in the women's basketball history is secure.
Blocked layups, snagging rebounds, hitting shots over two and three defenders helpless, she towered over the competition all season long to earn player of the year and outstanding player in NCAA tournament honors.
She was simply dominant in adding to the national champion to keep it on Tuesday night.
Blocked layups, snagging rebounds, hitting shots over two and three defenders helpless, she towered over the competition all season long to earn player of the year and outstanding player in NCAA tournament honors.
She was simply dominant in adding to the national champion to keep it on Tuesday night.
Griner had 26 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks to lead Baylor to 80-61 win over Notre Dame in the NCAA Basketball Championship for women, capping an unparalleled 40-0 season for the Lady Bears.
"Brittney Griner, if she won today or not, will go down in history in the women's game and, if not the greatest position players, one of the most," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "I'm so glad she has that ring now."
When the buzzer sounded, Griner celebrated the end, Hamming Code it up as she helped take down the nets and dance with Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.
She began her coach Kim Mulkey on her shoulders in short, just as it has done for the Lady Bears in this long period.
"It means everything for us to get a coach," said Griner, referring to the struggle Mulkey with Bell's palsy in the tournament. "It was like she was not there for us, and we told her every second that we could hear loud and clear, for all her she was saying."
Baylor became the seventh women's team to run through the period of the tide and the first in NCAA history to win 40 games. It was the second National Championship for Baylor, who also won the title in 2005.
"Looking back when we get older, I'm always going to remember this moment always going to remember the confetti fall and be here with the team," Griner said.
Baylor did it in almost wire to wire victory, finishing with a flourish when something less than bringing the title back to Waco would have been a major disappointment.
To 6-foot-8 Griner was right in the center of operations Lady Bears took control. Every time Notre Dame made a run in the second half to cut the deficit, Griner had the answer. She showed many post moves, hitting turnaround jumpers and hooks that the Irish had no way to stop - even when they collapsed around her.
"Brittney Griner comes to work every day," Mulkey said. "A lot of great players think they are all as they go half through the exercises and they come to practice and they dog it. The child comes to work and to win their bin every day."
Notre Dame was under the title game for the second straight season, having lost to Texas A & M with six points last year.
Senior-heavy crew coach Muffet McGraw is made finishing the season with a certain edge over rival Connecticut - Irish won the Big East regular-season title and won the Huskies in three of four meetings, including the national final.
But like every other team this year, Notre Dame could not solve their superstar, and Baylor.
"I think she is one of a kind," McGraw said. "There is so much that she can do. There have been some must have had some skills like that. But as a post player, she is the best I've seen."
Griner, select the Associated Press player of the year, also was named most outstanding player tournament.
"We would not be here without my team," the junior said. "Any award -. No one does anything if I do not have my team here, we can not get it."
All American point guard Related Diggs did everything she could to keep the Irish (36-4) in the game, scoring 20 points. But senior Natalie Novosel was only five points, going 0 for 11 from the field. Devereaux Peters, also playing his last game, was saddled with foul trouble because Griner. She scored seven points.
Diggs' played a game, "McGraw said. "It's just a big-time player and she would not get a lot of help today."
As Griner, Digg has promised to return for her senior year - both could be involved in the WNBA draft - for the third time in the title.
Notre Dame was an early 9-8 lead before Baylor was 12-2 with a question. The Irish were down by 14 in the first half before cutting their deficit to 34-28 at the break. They got as close as 42-39 and had the ball, but Griner asserted himself, scoring nine of the next 19 points for Baylor to seal the victory.
"They took to flight it," Diggs said. "I just remember that we cut it down to three and they went on the run. I saw 10, 12, 14, 16, 19 We could not get rebounds when they missed shots."
Odyssey Sims added 19 points and fortune Williams had 12 for the Lady Bears, who outrebounded Notre Dame 46-27 and now have a third unbeaten season in women's basketball in the last four years. UConn, which has gone undefeated four times, it did in 2009 and 2010. Texas and Tennessee are also unbeaten seasons.
Baylor victory also gave President Barack Obama some bragging rights. He did just that Baylor beat Notre Dame in the title game.
With 1:04 left and the game well in hand, Mulkey took out Griner and the two shared a long hug. The fiery coach went down the bench and hugged each of his players while holding back tears.
"I'm just so happy," Mulkey said. "That old saying," you're so happy you cry. "I can not stop crying."
Mulkey, who made a net cut her daughter Mackenzie - a freshman on the team - and son Kramer, has won a title as a player of the Louisiana Tech) and the Olympic gold medal (in 1984) and two titles as a coach. Only five coaches of women having more than one title at the top level of NCAA competition.
Mulkey has downplayed the 40 works, noting that her former coach and mentor at Louisiana Tech Leon Barmore won 40 games in 1980. This was before women's basketball was controlled by the NCAA, which did not maintain records for 1982 season.
It was the second meeting between the groups in this period. Baylor also won the first, with 13 in Waco on November 17 That win gave the woman, the preseason WNIT title.
As usual, Griner put on display in the warm-ups, exciting the crowd with a series of impressive dunks - including one-handed throw down a double-pump slam, and second it hung on the edge. She dunked twice in the tournament, match Candace Parker dunks for most of a woman in NCAA tournament game and the secondary process (seven).
She could not understand one against the Irish.
The woman Bears had a strong cheering section that included Griffin - dancing in his seat at the end of the game - and country music star Trace Adkins. He was a freshman walk on football player at Louisiana Tech in early 1980 when Mulkey was a senior there.
Notre Dame had its own star fan of the former U.S. Secretary Condoleezza Rice, who earned graduate school. The Irish were wearing their green uniforms for the first time since the loss of the title last season.
