| Sophomore Amber Gregg scored 23 points on Sunday night to lead UTSA. |
LUBBOCK ? Sophomore guard Amber Gregg poured in a team-high 23 points, but it wasn’t enough, as five Baylor players scored in double figures to lead the Lady Bears to an 87-82 overtime victory against UTSA on Sunday night in NCAA Tournament first-round action at United Spirit Arena. The loss ended the Roadrunners' season at 24-9 (school record for wins).
Senior guard Monica Gibbs ended her stellar four-year career with 16 points and 11 assists to go along with eight rebounds and the Stillwater, Okla., native recorded her 16th double-double of the season, which pushed her career total to 40. Meanwhile, senior forward Onika Anderson grabbed a game-high 14 boards and scored a dozen points en route to her 16th double-double of the season and sophomore guard Jordan Stark added 16 points.
Melissa Jones led the Lady Bears (28-5) with a team-high 21 points, while Jhasmine Player added 15 points.
Gibbs opened the extra frame with a pull-up jumper to give UTSA a 71-69 lead, but Baylor took a 77-72 advantage after an 8-1 run with under two minutes to play. Stark hit three freebies to pull UTSA within two at 77-75, but the Lady Bears went 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the final minute to hold on and avoid becoming the first No. 2 seed in tournament history to fall to a 15th-seed. UTSA was the first 15 seed to even force overtime in the postseason event that crowns the National Champion.
Gregg and Stark connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to cap off a 17-3 run to start the second half and UTSA took a 46-39 advantage with 16:02 to go in the stanza. However, a Melissa Jones jumper gave Baylor a one-point edge with less than nine minutes showing on the clock. Anderson then netted four of the next eight points for the Roadrunners, which put them back on top, 64-60. The Lady Bears scored five quick points to regain the advantage with 4:02 left. Gregg’s free throws knotted the game at 67 with less than a minute to play in regulation. Jones knocked down two free throws to give Baylor a two-point lead, but Stark answered with two of her own to send the game into overtime.
UTSA took its first lead of the game, 11-9, on Stark’s 3-pointer from the right wing with 12:42 to go in the first half. Player then made a pair of free throws to tie the contest 30 seconds later, but Pawlaczyk’s three ball from the corner gave the Roadrunners the lead again at the 11-minute mark of the frame. The Lady Bears went on a 14-5 run over the next six minutes to push their lead to half dozen. Gibbs then connected on a pull-up three from the top of the key that cut Baylor’s edge to three with 2:12 to go. Gregg was good on a pair of freebies with less than a second remaining in the half and the Birds went into the locker room down by seven (38-31).
Baylor played without the services of head coach Kim Mulkey, who was hospitalized earlier in the day with a reaction to medications she was taking for a kidney stone that was removed on Friday in Waco. Leon Barmore, whom Mulkey played for and coached with at Louisiana Tech,coached the Bears in the win.