• Lady Bears’ run ends with 5th Elite Eight in 6 years

    Lady Bears vs. Notre Dame

    Entering this season, Baylor women’s basketball fans could have been excused for expecting a bit of a downturn. The team had graduated its leading scorer (and one of the best players in program history) for the second straight season. Furthermore, the roster featured just one senior, and more than 2/3 of the team’s minutes would go to freshmen and sophomores.

    But that’s not what the Lady Bears saw; they saw games to be won, and they did so in style. Head coach Kim Mulkey’s squad claimed a fifth straight sweep of the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the Elite Eight for the 5th time in 6 years.

    That, unfortunately, is where Baylor met a buzz saw. The Lady Bears lost to the No. 2-ranked Fighting Irish Sunday night, 77-68.

    “I think the older you are, the more experience you have, those teams usually are the ones that make it to the Final Four,” Mulkey told USA Today before the game. “I’ve said it many times. I don’t count this team out, but I still think we’re young. And I think in a year or two, watch out.”

    So what does next year hold? The Lady Bears lose only one player from this year’s squad — Sune Agbuke, who will now be able to focus on her law school studies full-time — but will bring in the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class. Most notablym Baylor will add a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans in freshman posts Kalani Brown and Beatrice Mompremier, plus junior guard Alexis Jones, who was a freshman All-American in 2013 and second-team All-ACC in 2014 before transferring from Duke.

    Here’s to a sixth straight Big 12 title and another deep NCAA run in 2016!

    Sic ’em, Lady Bears!