Brittney Griner and No. 1 Baylor bounced back from their first loss in 20 months in emphatic fashion.
Griner broke the NCAA women’s record for dunks in her career and the Lady Bears beat UT Martin, 82-67, on Saturday night in Hawaii.
The eighth dunk of her career wasn’t part of the plan to rebound from the loss to Stanford a night earlier, but the record is something she’d like to extend.
“It’s pretty cool — I got to get some more now,” said Griner, who now has eight dunks in her career breaking a tie with former Tennessee star Candace Parker.
Griner scored 16 of her 18 points in the first half and rested most of the second half once the Lady Bears (3-1) established firm control.
That took longer than expected for the defending national champs as the unranked Skyhawks (1-3) hung around early, using 3-pointers to try to compete against a foe that overmatched them from the start. Baylor played without All-American point guard Odyssey Sims, who strained her hamstring in a 71-69 loss Friday to No. 4 Stanford.
Griner passed Parker with her record-breaking one-handed jam less than seven minutes into the game. She broke away from a double-team, dribbled once and dunked with her right hand, getting the loudest cheer of the night from the mostly empty gym.
“I faced up to see if I could find somebody cutting and (the defender) was just kind of playing up so I just stepped through and went,” Griner said.
Griner, who is one of only seven women to dunk in NCAA history, dunked four times as a freshman, once as a sophomore and twice in last season’s NCAA tournament.
Heather Butler scored 28 points and Jasmine Newsome scored 24 for UT Martin in defeat.
At Saint Joseph’s 50, No. 5 Maryland 49: Chatilla van Grinsven scored 18 points and the Hawks (2-1) stunned the Terrapins (2-1) after holding them scoreless over the final seven minutes.
Alyssa Thomas had 16 points and 15 rebounds, and Laurin Mincy added 14 points for Maryland.
TOP 25 MEN
No. 4 Ohio State 69, Rhode Island 58: Deshaun Thomas scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the Buckeyes (2-0) beat the Rams (0-3) at the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament in Uncasville, Conn.
No. 20 Notre Dame 78, BYU 68: Jack Cooley had 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Irish (3-1) past the Cougars (2-2) in the third-place game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York.
ELSEWHERE
At Virginia 83, Seattle U. 43: Akil Mitchell had career highs with 14 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers past the Redhawks.
The Cavaliers (2-2) led 44-13 at halftime and cruised home for coach Tony Bennett, a former Washington State head coach.
The Redhawks (1-1) shot 20 percent in the first half (5 of 25) and only kept the game as close as it was because the Cavaliers had a tough time breaking their full-court press. Virginia had 19 turnovers, but Seattle turned them into just 10 points.
Deshaun Sunderhaus led Seattle U. with nine points.
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