Brittney Griner gets first triple-double in Baylor history, Bears beat ORU 101-76
By APWednesday, December 16, 2009
Griner gets first triple-double in Baylor history
WACO, Texas — Brittney Griner had a record-setting night all around.
The Baylor star had the first triple-double in school history and set a Big 12 record with 11 blocks in the sixth-ranked Bears’ 101-76 win over Oral Roberts Wednesday night.
Griner finished with 34 points and 13 rebounds, breaking the conference record of 10. Melissa Jones came close to a triple-double of her own, with 15 points, nine rebounds and nine steals.
“Those kids are big-time players,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said of Jones and Griner. “There are so many adjectives to describe these two, but I can tell you this, I’m a blessed coach. They brought their lunch pail. (Jones) brings it every day and (Griner) is learning to bring it every day.”
Morghan Medlock scored 16 for Baylor and Ashley Field had 15 points.
Baylor (9-1) held the highest-scoring team in the nation well below its average of 91.6 points. Oral Roberts (7-3) shot 38.6 percent and had 27 turnovers, many in the lane as shooters altered their shots to avoid Griner.
Kevi Luper scored 32 for Oral Roberts. She came into the game as the leading scorer in the country with 27.1 points a game.
Griner played 36 minutes and had only one brief rest before sitting for good with Baylor up 93-72 with 2:43 remaining.
Griner made 12 of her 20 shots from the field, but missed three dunk attempts.
“I told her to go up with two hands,” Mulkey said. “Go up there with two hands and dont get lazy. She got lazy on those dunks.”
The Golden Eagles scored 28 points in the first half, their lowest this season.
The game came one day after the death of the death of the school’s founder and namesake, one of the first preachers to embrace television in the 1950s.
“It’s going to be a huge week at school with what that man means to our university and what he’s done for our kids,” Oral Roberts coach Jerry Finkbeiner said. “He loves basketball. That was his passion, besides evangelism.”
