Brittney Griner is a beast. She is the Wilt Chamberlain of the women’s game. Yesterday vs. the greatest women’s college basketball program of all time in UConn, she could not be stopped. Nine blocked shots and countless other altered shots made it nearly impossible for the Lady Huskies to score in the paint. In fact there was a little over 5 minutes left on the clock when UConn shot it’s first free throw.

At one point UConn led 50-39. They had 10 2 point baskets and 10 3 pointers. Announcer and former NBA Coach Jeff Van Gundy made the comment that Baylor needs to guard the perimeter and force the UConn players to drive the ball into Griner. Coach Kim Mulkey must’ve heard him because that is exactly what the Bears did. And it resulted in a block party for Brittney. Byt the time the Huskies scored again it was 52-49. Final Score: Baylor 66- UConn 61.

Griner scored 25 points, 12 of those from the free throw line. Many of those free throws came late in the game. “That’s the first thing I looked at,” Griner said, holding the stat sheet that showed she made all seven free throws - six in that game-ending 27-11 spurt. “I just knew I had to knock them down, stayed calmed and did everything I needed to do.”

Griner, who also had nine rebounds, was one rebound and one block short of a triple double. “The obvious answer is she’s just a lot bigger than any kid that she’s going to be playing against,” said UConn’s Geno Auriemma, who coached Griner on the U.S. national women’s basketball team this past offseason. “She’s developed a little bit of an aggressiveness and a few more ways to score than she’s had in the past and that’s made it really difficult to defend her.”

Odyssey Sims added 23 points for BU. “We said going into the game, Sims is going to decide this game,” Auriemma said. “Brittney is going to get what Brittney gets every night. And that was a typical Brittney game.”

“I think (our players) were very mature in the locker room at halftime, very focused,” coach Mulkeysaid. “They understood, you’re not just playing the current UConn team, you’re playing a very proud tradition.”

“Shot blocking is the one thing I love the most,” Griner said. “To me that’s better than a dunk, or anything like that.”

Griner and Kelly Faris traded two free throws each around the 5-minute mark before the Lady Bears went ahead to stay on Terran Condrey’s 3-pointer that made it 58-56 with 4 1/2 minutes left.

“She wanted to get it into Griner, who was relocating in there, trying to get deeper and get deeper. She just saw an opportunity where the defender gave her an open look,” Mulkey said. “If it goes in, you pat her on the back. And if it doesn’t, you go, `Why didn’t you get it to Griner?”‘