Post matchup may prove pivotal to outcome
OKLAHOMA CITY — For one of the rare times in their careers, Mississippi State’s Teaira McCowan and Baylor’s Kalani Brown will be at eye level with an opponent.
Whichever 6-7 center gets the best of the matchup Sunday could vault their team into the Final Four.
McCowan got Brown’s attention by scoring 20 of her career-high 26 points in the fourth quarter of the Bulldogs’ Sweet 16 victory over Washington on Friday.
“Big, strong, big in the post,” Brown said. “Got to block her out and do my work early or get punished. You can’t let her get deep. Just do my work early, run the floor hard.”
Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer inserted McCowan into the starting lineup in place of Chinwe Okorie at the start of the NCAA Tournament, and she has been dominant. Schaefer said he kept McCowan in a reserve role for most of the season because he wanted her to earn the Southeastern Conference’s Sixth Woman of the Year this season. She earned the honor, and Schaefer said having that goal helped her develop.
“For young kids, sometimes that’s what they need,” he said. “They need a vision. They need someone to point them in the right direction. She went and got it.”
Brown is the Lady Bears’ leading scorer and rebounder for the season with 15.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and she shoots 67 percent from the field. McCowan said she has faced Brown on the AAU circuit and knows she is in for a tough night.
“I think it’s just going to be size going against size,” McCowan said. “It’s going to be a great matchup.”
Baylor’s backup post players are formidable, too, with 6-4 Beatrice Mompremier, 6-4 Lauren Cox and 6-3 Khadijah Cave having added solid contributions throughout the season. The depth has allowed the Lady Bears to feature big lineups and still push the pace — Baylor ranks second nationally with 89.6 points per game.
While the Lady Bears’ post players get much of the attention, coach Kim Mulkey pointed out that her team leads the nation in 3-point shooting percentage. Baylor is shooting 40.5 percent from beyond the arc as a team.
Schaefer watched the Lady Bears’ interior players dominate in a 97-63 rout of Louisville on Friday.
“Seeing them yesterday in person was really impressive,” he said. “When you scout in person, the thing that the film doesn’t show is quickness, speed, how truly big someone is. Yesterday I got that up close and in person.”
Baylor is trying to get to the Final Four for the first time since winning the national title in 2012, while Mississippi State will try to make it for the first time.