Baylor goes for perfection in the Women’s Final Four

Associated Press

DENVER

An hour after losing in last season’s regional finals, Brittney Griner sent Baylor coach Kim Mulkey a text.

The message was simple: the 6-foot-8 junior phenom took responsibility for the loss and said it wouldn’t happen again.

So far Griner has fulfilled her promise, helping Baylor to an undefeated season and has the team two victories away from the first 40-win season in NCAA history.

“She was the only kid that texted me within an hour of the loss,” Mulkey said. “She said she was sorry that she didn’t deliver. When you have a kid as talented as she is, you knew she was going to come back an even better player. She’s stronger, she’s forceful. She’s dominant.”

Standing in the way of a second national championship for Baylor (38-0) are Stanford and the Ogwumike sisters. The Cardinal (35-1) are making their fifth straight trip to the Final Four and are hoping to win their first title in 20 years.

While Stanford and Baylor haven’t played each other in four seasons, the other semifinal game features two teams who know each other inside and out. Notre Dame and Connecticut are facing each other for the eighth time in the past 14 months.

“I’d much rather play teams you don’t know so much about,” Mulkey said. “I don’t think we played Stanford since Nneka is a freshman. Have to make sure I’m not overmedicated and forgotten something. We are familiar with Stanford.”

Connecticut-Notre Dame

The UConn-Notre Dame semifinal matchup at the Final Four offers no secrets or surprises.

The Big East bullies are meeting for the fourth time this season and for the eighth time in the past 14 months.

Coaches Geno Auriemma of Connecticut and Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame say this grudge match between such familiar foes will come down to execution and effort with a dollop of desire mixed in for good measure.

Forget the Xs and Os and leave the bag of tricks behind. They know each other’s plays and personnel about as well as they know their own.

“There’s no mystery left,” Notre Dame guard Brittany Mallory said. “There’s not going to be any surprises. It’s all about heart, who is going to play the hardest, who is going to execute and play well.”

The Huskies are motivated by revenge — they lost to the Fighting Irish 72-63 at the Final Four last year after sweeping the season series and beating Notre Dame in the conference tournament as well.

The Fighting Irish are driven by the mantra of unfinished business — after dumping UConn, they lost to Texas A&M in the title game a year ago.