CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND! Baylor defeats Oregon in the Final Four, 72-67

BAYLOR IS CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND! It wasn’t easy at all, though.

Talk about a game of entirely different styles. Baylor pounded the paint, as per usual. Oregon lit it up from behind the arc. The first quarter saw a couple of runs back and forth that ended in a 19-15 Baylor lead. Oregon started hitting from range in the second quarter, putting the Ducks up one by the end of the half.

The battle of paint vs. range continued in the third as Baylor took a one point lead into the 4th. Fouls started building up for key players on both teams, DiDi Richards picked up her 4th foul early in the quarter as well as Oregon’s Satou Sabally.

The Lady Bears recovered from a 3 point deficit to gain a 1 point lead with just over 3:30 to play. Baylor pushed it to a 3 point lead with just under 2 minutes. Oregon got a couple wide open looks from three, however, and hit one of them to tie it up once more. Chloe Jackson responded and got a massive bucket with under a minute to put Baylor up 2. Kalani Brown cleared a defensive rebound and got possession with the shot clock turned off.

Lauren Cox got fouled and was sent to the free throw line. She hit both free throws to give Baylor a 4 point lead with under 19 seconds. The Ducks missed a couple of three point attempts and Baylor secured the rebound with 3.4 seconds. The rest was history.

Fun stat, Oregon hit 12 3s. Baylor didn’t hit a single one.

Baylor’s 72-67 win over 2 seed Oregon advances them to the national championship, where they will face the winner of UCONN and Notre Dame.

SIC ‘EM LADY BEARS! Bring it home!