Big 12 Conference championship game one to remember, but not enough saw it

posted by anngaff, a Women Talk Sports blogger
Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 5:04pm EST

About anngaff:

Chief Technical Officer, Women Talk Sports. I competed in Track & Field and Cross-Country in college at the University of Nebraska and competed professionally in Track & Field (3000m Steeplechase) fr...more

It was the matchup we all expected. "This is how it is when Baylor and A&M play, every time," said A&M head coach Gary Blair, referring to the intense, high-quality game of basketball played between two fantastic teams, leading to a down-to-the-wire finish that left Baylor on top, 61-58, in the championship game of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament.

Early in the first half, A&M had led by as much as 12 points. But halfway through that half, Brittney Griner turned it on and did what she does best: scored. Griner put up 20 straight points for the Bears, giving them the momentum they needed to take control of the game by the middle of the second half.

A&M fought hard and had strong performances from All-Big 12 team members Danielle Adams and Tyra White, as well as freshman Adaora Elonu, who put up 10 points and 5 rebounds to fill in when Adams was getting denied by the taller Brittney Griner.

In the end, the difference was Brittney Griner's 31 unstoppable points as well as Destiny Williams' game-high 11 rebounds.

The crowd at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City was loud and enthusiastic, but they were just 4,250 strong, at a major conference final where two of the nation's top five teams faced off.

The question is, "Why?" It was an 11:00am game on a Saturday morning, perfect timing for a family outing. It didn't conflict with any of the men's tournament games. The ticket prices are affordable. And oh yeah - two of the best teams in the nation were playing.

Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair wanted to discuss this issue at length in the post-game press conference.

"People won't tune in to women's basketball because supposedly it's like watching paint dry. You got 18,000 people over there [at the Sprint Center, where the men's Big 12 tournament is being held this week] and they won't come over here. If they even came over and played pickup against one of these teams, they would see how good the game is."

"I appreciate the media. That's where the game has changed, because the media has been so good to women's basketball and we're going to continue to grow."

When asked if pushing the women's postseason play back a week would help, Blair said it would, "Let's not piggyback on the men. Go get your own crowd, get your own following. If it went that next week, we might be packing the regional arenas too because the men's final would be on a Monday and we could have the weekend."

"Let's try something because we have to grow our game. What's happening across the nation is that 30 teams are drawing, and the other 280 are just not drawing. Something has to change."

Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey thought that the Big 12 Tournament would do very well in Texas, "If this game was played in Dallas today, how many people do you think would have been there? 10,000 or 12,000? There are just parts of the country that draw. It is attributed to the personality of the coaches, how good the league is...we work really hard at selling the sport to our fans. I would love for this tournament to be somewhere in Texas before Griner graduates…who wouldn't?"

I asked seniors Danielle Adams and Sydney Colson and junior Sydney Carter of Texas A&M what they thought could be done to better the fan support of women's basketball. Check out their answer in the video below:

The 2011 Big 12 All-Tournament Team:

Melissa Jones, Baylor
Brittney Griner, Baylor
Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma
Tyra White, Texas A&M
Danielle Adams, Texas A&M

Notable stats:

Game high points: Brittney Griner, Baylor, 31 (Big 12 championship game record)
Game high blocks: Brittney Griner, Baylor, 7 (Big 12 championship game record)
Game high rebounder: Destiny Williams, Baylor, 11
Game high assists: Sydney Colson, Texas A&M, 5
Number of times the score was tied: 12
Number of times the lead changes: 7

Check out all of our Big 12 Conference Basketball Championships.

View anngaff's Profile

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March Madness 2011

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