Griner, No. 1 Baylor beat No. 3 Connecticut

— Brittney Griner scored 25 points, including the 3,000th of her career, to help No. 1 Baylor rally past third-ranked Connecticut 76-70 on Monday night, extending the Lady Bears’ winning streak to 23 games.

Griner became the eighth player in Division I history to reach the milestone, doing it on two free throws with 1:05 left. She finished with 21 points in the second half.

The defending national champion Lady Bears’ only loss this season came in Hawaii against Stanford back in November. Baylor (25-1) went 40-0 last season en route to the school’s second national championship.

Baylor led 54-53 midway through the second half before Griner took over. She scored seven points during the burst, and her put back made it 67-61 with five minutes left.

UConn (24-2) rallied behind Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis to make it a 67-65, but Griner answered with a put back. Then she hit the two milestone free throws 1:30 later to make it 73-67 and seal the win.

Mosqueda-Lewis finished with 26 points.

Sports, Pages 21 on 02/19/2013

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