Lady Bears to make 9th NCAA tournament appearance in 10 years

For the seventh straight season, the Baylor women’s basketball team is headed to the NCAA tournament.

Despite returning just one starter from last year’s Sweet 16 squad, head coach Kim Mulkey’s Lady Bears are 23-9 and ranked 14th nationally. Baylor has won 20 or more games in each of Mulkey’s 10 years as head coach, earning nine NCAA tournament appearances (and making the WNIT finals in 2003).

A No. 4 seed, the Lady Bears will head to Berkeley, Calif., for the opening rounds of this year’s tournament. In the first round, they will face Western Athletic Conference (WAC) champions Fresno State Saturday at approximately 10 p.m. CT; the game will be televised on ESPN2. A win there would move Baylor on to face the winner of Georgetown/Marist on Monday.

Can a team that is starting three freshmen — even if one of them is Big 12 Freshman of the Year Brittney Griner — go deep in the NCAA Tournament? Turn on the game Saturday night and find out!

Sic ’em, Lady Bears!