{"id":21637,"date":"2019-04-08T12:01:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T17:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/?p=21637"},"modified":"2019-04-08T12:57:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T17:57:33","slug":"baylor-lady-bears-2019-ncaa-national-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2019\/04\/baylor-lady-bears-2019-ncaa-national-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Baylor Lady Bears: 2019 NCAA national champions!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21640\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wbb-natlchamps-apr19.jpg\" alt=\"Kalani Brown lifts the national championship trophy as the Lady Bears celebrate on stage\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wbb-natlchamps-apr19.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wbb-natlchamps-apr19-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wbb-natlchamps-apr19-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wbb-natlchamps-apr19-1024x512.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Time to celebrate, y&#8217;all: The Baylor Lady Bears are <a href=\"https:\/\/baylorbears.com\/news\/2019\/4\/7\/womens-basketball-lady-bears-win-national-championship.aspx?path=wbball\">2019 NCAA women&#8217;s basketball national champions<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>After building a big lead early, the Lady Bears overcame injury to perhaps the team&#8217;s most irreplaceable player to pull out an 82-81 win over Notre Dame.\u00a0Call it the game of a million storylines:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Senior Kalani Brown, after seeing her team fall short each of her first three years at Baylor, scored 20 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to lead her team to the title.<\/li>\n<li>Point guard Chloe Jackson, the team&#8217;s only other senior &#8212; and who transferred to Baylor less than a year ago &#8212;\u00a0scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Lady Bears.<\/li>\n<li>Junior Lauren Cox, who head coach Kim Mulkey calls &#8220;the heart and soul of our team,&#8221; had to be wheeled off the floor with an injury late in the third quarter &#8212; a loss that could have completely devastated a lesser team.<\/li>\n<li>Freshman\u00a0NaLyssa Smith, pressed into prime-time duty after Cox&#8217;s injury, scored 14 big points off the bench &#8212; and every one of them was needed in the one-point victory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Nc525pZTSrY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Through it all &#8212; the pressure, the lineup changes, the injuries, etc. &#8212; the Lady Bears stuck together. Lots of teams talk about being a family, but those who watched the championship game nationwide on ESPN saw it on full display Sunday. When Cox got hurt, it wasn&#8217;t a coach who was holding her close; it was a mother (now <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/909143\/2019\/04\/06\/after-tragedy-baylors-kim-mulkey-embraces-new-grandson-chance-at-national-title\/\">a grandmother<\/a>). In that moment, Mulkey wasn&#8217;t thinking about her team&#8217;s championship chances; she was thinking about a young woman&#8217;s pain.<\/p>\n<p>After Cox went down &#8212; taking out not only the team&#8217;s &#8220;heart and soul,&#8221; but the Big 12&#8217;s Defensive Player of the Year &#8212;\u00a0Notre Dame immediately went on a run that erased a 12-point Baylor advantage and gave the Irish the lead\u00a0with less than four minutes to go. It would have been understandable if Baylor had fallen apart completely; instead, the Lady Bears rallied together.\u00a0Jackson hit the game-winning shot with just six seconds left, and when the final buzzer sounded, the team erupted in celebration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[WATCH: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Nc525pZTSrY\">Highlights from the game<\/a> || <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/espn\/status\/1115045969203204096\">Brown &amp; Cox&#8217;s emotional postgame moment<\/a> || ESPN&#8217;s postgame interviews with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/video\/clip?id=26466275\">Mulkey<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/video\/clip?id=26466311\">Cox<\/a> || <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaylorWBB\/status\/1115062244562354176\">Trophy celebration<\/a> ||\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lGNjDpCXLck\">Baylor&#8217;s postgame press conference<\/a>\u00a0||\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GetUpESPN\/status\/1115251330690506752\">Mulkey&#8217;s ESPN interview Monday morning<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The national championship is the third in Baylor women&#8217;s basketball history, as the 2019 Lady Bears join the <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2012\/04\/lady-bears-claim-2011-12-ncaa-championship\/\">2012<\/a> and 2005 teams in bringing home the title. Only UConn and Tennessee have ever won more championships, and over the last 15 years, only the Huskies can say they&#8217;ve claimed more national titles than the Lady Bears.<\/p>\n<p>So today, we celebrate. Join us for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaylorWBB\/status\/1115233998362566656\">a celebration in the Ferrell Center<\/a> this afternoon (or watch online, via Baylor Athletics&#8217; social media). Get your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bkstr.com\/baylorstore\/shop\/apparel-and-accessories\/sports-shops\/basketball-gear--1?cm_sp=BasketballFY19-_-HeroChampions-_-461\">national champions gear<\/a> from the Baylor Bookstore. And start making your plans to cheer on the Lady Bears again this fall in the Ferrell Center.<\/p>\n<p>Sic \u2019em, Lady Bears!<\/p>\n<p><strong>[MORE READING: Game recaps from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/womens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/26464415\">ESPN<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college-basketball\/2019\/04\/08\/baylor-national-championship-chloe-jackson-kim-mulkey?xid=socialflow_twitter_si&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=sinow&amp;utm_medium=social\">Sports Illustrated<\/a><\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbnation.com\/college-basketball\/2019\/4\/8\/18300332\/baylor-lady-bears-womens-ncaa-basketball-tournament-always-knew-champions\">SB Nation<\/a>,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsday.dallasnews.com\/college-sports\/collegesports\/2019\/04\/07\/baylor-holds-notre-dame-ncaa-womens-title-82-81\">Dallas Morning News<\/a><\/em>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wacotrib.com\/sports\/baylor\/lady_bears_basketball\/together-to-the-top-lady-bears-win-it-all-in\/article_9ee80c09-61b8-54ca-8358-10e87c3abf34.html\">Waco Tribune-Herald<\/a><\/em>, and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/baylorlariat.com\/2019\/04\/07\/we-did-this-for-you-baylor-overcomes-injury-fourth-quarter-storm-to-claim-third-national-championship\/\">Baylor Lariat<\/a><\/em> || ESPN: &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/womens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/26464439\/baylor-kim-mulkey-complete-long-road-back-ncaa-championship\">Baylor, Kim Mulkey complete long road back with NCAA championship<\/a>&#8221; || ESPN: &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/womens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/26466045\/injured-cox-proud-baylor-holds-title\">Injured Cox &#8216;proud&#8217; after Baylor holds on for title<\/a>&#8221; || The Athletic: &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/910965\/\">It\u2019s all about family: Baylor claims its third national championship<\/a>&#8220;]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Time to celebrate, y&#8217;all: The Baylor Lady Bears are 2019 NCAA women&#8217;s basketball national champions! After building a big lead early, the Lady Bears overcame injury to perhaps the team&#8217;s most irreplaceable player to pull out an 82-81 win over Notre Dame.\u00a0Call it the game of a million storylines: Senior Kalani Brown, after seeing her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-athletics","category-honors","category-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}