Number 16 seeded Prairie View A&M University’s season ended after suffering an 82-40 loss to No. 1 seed Baylor in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament on Sunday inside Ferrell Center.Gabrielle Scott led Prairie View with 14 points off the bench as PVAMU (17-15) earned the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s automatic bid for the third year in a row.
This was the second match-up against Baylor in Waco in three consecutive years in the tournament. The other was to Connecticut.
Latia Williams added 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds. The Lady Panthers shot 25 percent from the floor.
Brittney Griner recorded a double-double with 33 points and 10 boards to complement six blocks. She shot 12-of-17 from the field while the Lady Bears connected 56 percent overall. Griner recorded her 61st career double-double.
BU (33-1), the No. 1 team in the AP and ESPN polls, won their 31st straight game since an early-season loss to Stanford, another top seed.
Odyssey Sims had 12 points and 10 assists, and Destiny Williams had nine points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
PVAMU trailed 22-15 midway through the first half when BU called a timeout after Gabrielle Scott hit a three pointer that gave PVAMU five points in just 35 seconds.
The Lady Bears scored the next five points coming out of the timeout to start a 17-4 run that put them ahead 39-19 late in the first half. Griner scored 10 in the spurt and had 20 in the first half.
”This one game doesn’t justify our season,” Prairie View head coach Toyelle Wilson said. ”Baylor was a lot bigger than us. They had a lot more ammo. They played like the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.”
The Lady Panthers managed a stellar start in the opening minutes. PVAMU got a steal and had three straight offensive rebounds before Kiara Etienne hit a three-pointer to give the Lady Panthers their only lead at 6-5.
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