HONOLULU — Stanford snapped defending national champion Baylor’s 42-game winning streak Friday, winning 71-69 when Player of the Year Brittney Griner missed a short turnaround at the buzzer.
Griner scored 18 of her 22 points in the second half, helping the Lady Bears rally from a 14-point deficit in the first half. Her shot at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Stanford celebrated the victory. It was the Lady Bears’ first defeat since losing to Texas A&M in the regional finals of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Baylor went 40-0 last year.
Chiney Ogwumike scored 18 points to lead the fourthranked Cardinal (3-0), who lost to Baylor in the national semifinals last season by 12 points. Her reverse layup gave Stanford a four-point lead with 22 seconds left.
Destiny Williams responded with the first three-pointer of her career to pull Baylor (2-1) within one.
Toni Kokenis made 1 of 2 free throws. Baylor got the rebound and advanced the ball to half-court before calling timeout to set up the final play.
It was the fifth-longest winning streak in NCAA women’s history. Stanford also ended Connecticut’s NCAA record 90-game run in 2011.
Baylor was the heavy favorite to repeat as champion with their entire starting five back from last season. The Lady Bears cruised to a 89-51 victory over No. 6 Kentucky on Tuesday before heading to Hawaii for the three-game Rainbow Wahine tournament.
Baylor had to play the last 35 minutes of the game without preseason All-America guard Odyssey Sims, who strained her hamstring early in the first half.
Without their playmaker, the Lady Bears fell down by 14 points before rallying within 31-29 at the break.
Taylor Greenfield had 16 points, Kokenis 15 and Joslyn Tinkle added 11 for Stanford.
TOP 25 MEN
NO. 3 KENTUCKY 101, LAFAYETTE 49
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kyle Wiltjer hit seven three-pointers and scored 23 points, Alex Poythress added a careerhigh 22 and No. 3 Kentucky routed Lafayette in its home opener.
The Wildcats (2-1) shot 65 percent from the field, including 11-of-19 shooting from three-point range, and Wiltjer set the tone by hitting his first two to open the game. He finished 7 of 11 in three-pointers, including 5 of 8 in the second half.
Poythress followed up his 20-point effort in Tuesday night’s 75-68 loss to No. 9 Duke by hitting 9 of 10 shots and grabbing 5 rebounds. That led a good night for Kentucky’s heralded freshman class as Nerlens Noel added 15 points, Willie Cauley-Stein 14 and Archie Goodwin (Sylvan Hills) 13.
Tony Johnson scored 13 points for Lafayette (1-2).
In other games involving Top 25 teams, T.J. Warren had 21 points to lead No. 6 North Carolina State to a 94-76 victory over Massachusetts at the Puerto Rico Tipoff on Friday. Richard Howell added 19 points and nine rebounds and Lorenzo Brown had 11 points and 10 assists for the Wolfpack (3-0), who shot 8 for 18 from three-point range. North Carolina State will play Oklahoma State in the championship game of the tournament Sunday. Jesse Morgan had 15 points for UMass (2-1). Chaz Williams and Terrell Vinson each added 13 points for the Minutemen. ... Shabazz Napier scored all 16 of his points in the final 10 minutes and Ryan Boatright also scored 16 to lead No. 23 Connecticut to a 77-71 victory over Wake Forest in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Napier scored 10 points during a 12-0 run that put the Huskies ahead for good midway through the second half. UConn (3-0) took a 65-55 lead on DeAndre Daniels’ driving layup with 6:18 remaining. Wake Forest (1-1) pulled to 73-69 on Travis McKie’s three-pointer with 53 seconds left, but Napier made four free throws over the final 28 seconds to clinch it for UConn. ... Alex Oriakhi had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Earnest Ross added 16 points and No. 14 Missouri beat Nicholls State, 74-54 in Columbia, Mo. The Tigers (3-0) put to rest their tendency to start slowly — at least for one game — after senior forward Laurence Bowers promised to fix the team’s energy problems after Missouri shot 23 percent in the first half Tuesday night against Alcorn State. Missouri used a 7-0 run within the first four minutes and wouldn’t relinquish the lead after that. Missouri shot 22 of 51, including 39.3 percent in the first half, bettering its 31 percent from its first two games. The Tigers also hit 7 of 12 from three-point range and outrebounded Nicholls State 41-25. ... Ronald Roberts had 21 points and 16 rebounds to lead Saint Joseph’s to a 79-70 overtime victory over No. 20 Notre Dame on Friday night in the semifinals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic on Friday night at Barclays Center in New York. Roberts scored the first seven points of the overtime as the Hawks pulled away, outscoring the Fighting Irish 13-4 in the extra 5 minutes. Saint Joseph’s closed regulation on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 66-66. The Hawks (2-0) will play Florida State in tonight’s championship game. The Seminoles (3-0) beat Brigham Young 88-70. Jack Cooley had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (2-1), who didn’t score over the final 4 minutes of regulation and first 4 minutes of overtime.
SEC WOMEN
Georgia tops SC State
Anne Marie Armstrong scored 14 points and Erika Ford added 10 to lead No. 10 Georgia to a 62-46 victory over South Carolina State in Athens, Ga. Georgia (3-0) forced 29 turnovers by South Carolina State (1-1) and won the rebounding battle 51-33. With 6:36 to play, Paris Alston scored on a layup to pull South Carolina State within 50-41, but Georgia scored eight consecutive points to pull away.
Sports, Pages 30 on 11/17/2012