AMES, Iowa – In the game in which Baylor, the nation’s top-ranked basketball team, scored a season-low 57 points, Brittney Griner was the difference. The 6-8 Baylor junior scored 26 points and blocked four shots as the Lady Bears held Iowa State scoreless over a five-minute span late in the game to beat the gritty Cyclones 57-45 Saturday night at Hilton Colisum. Anna Prins scored 17 points for Iowa State, which falls to 9-4 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12. Baylor is 15-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Chelsea Poppens scored a layup with 6:11 left in the game to draw Iowa State within 47-40. But the Cyclones would not score again until Prins’ three-point basket with 43 seconds remaining. By then Baylor led 56-43.
The key stretch of the game was the first three minutes of the second half during which a 12-3 Baylor run capped by a bucket by Griner gave the Bears a 36-24 lead at the 17-minute mark. Iowa State had to play catchup for the balance of the game. Baylor’s Jordan Madden had 11 points for the Lady Bears and Lauren Mansfield had 10 points for Iowa State, the only other player in the game scoring in double-figures for either side.
Baylor dominated the boards early and Iowa State made only 2 of its first 10 shots while getting only one offensive rebound in the first nine minutes. Griner’s fourth straight bucket for the Lady Bears gave Baylor a 13-5 lead with 11:19 left in the first half.
Iowa State counter-attacked, controlling the pace. A pair of three-point buckets from Lauren Mansfield, the second with 5:10 left in the first half, gave the Cyclones a 15-13 advantage. Greiner continued to get to the free-throw line, with five straight points at the charity stripe giving Baylor back the lead, 22-17 with 2:28 to go. Brynn Williamson hit her second three of the game with 38 seconds left in the half and a Cyclone defensive stop as time expired left Baylor clinging to a 24-21 advantage.
Iowa State plays at Kansas Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST in Lawrence, Kan.
