Slam dunk! Baylor freshman Griner gets first dunk for Lady Bears, even if it’s not official

Baylor freshman Griner provides dunk preview

WACO, Texas — Baylor freshman phenom Brittney Griner got her first dunk in a game for the No. 7 Lady Bears, though she is not yet officially the seventh woman to dunk in a college game.

Griner’s right-handed dunk came with 14:25 left Saturday night in Baylor’s 81-52 exhibition victory over Incarnate Word. The 6-foot-8 Griner scored 25 points on 12-of-16 shooting with 11 rebounds (six offensive) and five blocked shots in 25 minutes.

Coach Kim Mulkey said the Lady Bears ran a set play for Griner to get her dunk.

“It was a cleared side and she spun a little bit there and got an opening,” Mulkey said. “She took her time and went up and rattled the rim a little bit. It ignited our team and the crowd.”

More than 6,000 people attended the game, similar to the crowd for the exhibition opener Tuesday when Griner played 19 minutes without a dunk. She had 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks in that game.

With cheers still ringing from her dunk against Incarnate Word, Griner followed with a blocked shot on the ensuing possession. She then scored baskets the next two times Baylor had the ball.

“I was looking for more,” Griner said. “It got me going getting the dunk and feeding off my team’s energy. It had me fighting harder down low to get another one. … It was a clean dunk.”

Griner gets her first chance to dunk in a real game when the Lady Bears play their regular season opener Nov. 15 at eighth-ranked Tennessee.

Her dunks at Houston’s Nimitz High made her a YouTube sensation. She had 52 dunks in 32 games as a prep senior last season.