No April Fools: Baylor Lady Bears headed back to the Final Four

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Baylor’s hashtag #TTT (Together To Tampa) is now a reality.

The No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Baylor Lady Bears (35-1) defefeated 2-seed Iowa 85-53 in the Elite Eight  on Monday evening to clinch a spot in the Final Four for the first time since 2012. The Lady Bears finished the 2011-2012 season with a perfect 40-0 record and the program’s second national championship. 

With Iowa’s only lead coming at 2-0 at the 9:38 mark of the first quarter, Baylor controlled the game from start to finish. It was at the 1:39 mark of the second quarter, however, that Baylor turned the relatively competitive contest into another dominant blowout. 

Baylor has now won their four postseason games by 32, 57, 39 and 25 points.

Leading 31-23 at the midpoint of the second quarter, Baylor doubled their lead in the final moments of the half before an Iowa basket ended the half and the Lady Bears went into the break up 41-27. Baylor quickly extended their lead out to 55-35 to begin the second half and never looked back on their way to victory. 

On the court it was Lauren Cox who was the story of the night despite the pregame discussion of Baylor senior Kalani Brown and Iowa senior Megan Gustafson. Cox, named a Third-Team All-American by the AP on Monday, scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Lady Bears. She also dished out 5 assists, collected 2 steals and blocked 2 shots. 

Gustafson and Brown were named First and Second Team All-Americans by the AP and were able to plenty of damage of their own. Brown scored 14 points and grabbed 7 rebounds with 3 blocked shots while Gustafson scored 23 points with 9 rebounds. 

Joining Cox with a double-double was Baylor sophomore DiDi Richards with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Richards also totaled 6 assists and 6 steals in the contest. 

The Lady Bears will face 2-seed Oregon on Friday. The Ducks upset 1-seed Mississippi State on Sunday to earn their spot in the Final Four.