 |
Photo
by John Young |
Baylor
Lady Bears 2011 - 2012 National Champions
On
April 3, 2012, the heavily favored Baylor Lady Bears led by
junior center "Miss
All-Everything," Brittney Griner, won their first NCAA championship
during the Griner era. The
6-foot-8 phenom began laying the foundation for super
stardom ever since she enrolled at the university.
As a defensive force of nature, Griner set the NCAA single-season blocks record in her freshman campaign
with 223 rejections. She also set both the NCAA single game block record
(14) against Georgetown on March 23, 2010, as well as, the
tournament record with 40 block shots.
Her
6.0 blocks per game average during her freshman year
of 2009-2010 was second in
the NCAA behind St. Mary's 6-4 junior forward, Louella
Tomlinson, who averaged 6.5 blocks per game.
That year she finished third in the conference in both scoring and rebounding
with 18.4 points per game gathering 8.5 rebounds per
contest, while posing three triple-doubles to tie for the most in a
season in Big 12 history, and was two shy of tying the
league career mark.
For
the 2010-2011 season the sophomore averaged a team-leading
23.0 points
and 7.8 rebounds a game. In addition, she has blocked a
nation-best 170 shots (an average of 4.7 blocks per
game). Her career blocks after her sophomore season
stood at 391.
As a junior during the 2011-2012 basketball season
Griner Averaged 23.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and a nation's
high 5.2 blocks per game, to help lead Baylor to a
perfect 40-0 winning season. To date, she has amassed a career
total of 2,425 points and 599 block shots, becoming the
first NCAA player to score more than 2,000 points with
500 blocks shots. Griner needs just 65 blocks to become
the all-time shot block leader. With a career average of
5 blocks per game, a healthy Brittney Griner should own
the record outright by game 14. With nearly the entire
team returning for the 2012-2013 season. The Baylor Lady
Bears will be the prohibited favorite to repeat as
NCAA National Champions.
