Griner, Baylor recover in time; Notre Dame 3-for-4 vs. Uconn

39-0 Bears wear down Stanford; Irish win match of familiar foes

DENVER — There was a time in the second game of the Women’s Final Four on Sunday night when Stanford appeared to have figured out how to prevent Brittney Griner from being Brittney Griner. The 6-8 Baylor center looked rattled, missing makable shots on one end, not blocking any on the other. Stanford had the bodies, albeit not as tall, but just as able, to successfully doubleteam her down low. What the Cardinal were doing was working, and, at halftime, Baylor was ahead by just two and looked to be in a bit of trouble.

In the second half, the basketball world righted itself. Stanford couldn’t keep up over the long haul, Griner gradually made her significant presence known, and Baylor wound up exactly where it belonged, reaching Tuesday’s national championship game with a decisive 59-47 victory against the game but overmatched Cardinal.

Griner is now one game from a perfect 40-0 season and her school’s first national title since 2005. Standing in her way? Notre Dame, which, for the second year in a row, will be playing in the national final.

While Stanford and Baylor were meeting for the fourth time ever, Notre Dame and Connecticut were playing for the fourth time in three months. The Fighting Irish and the Huskies have played once a month in 2012: Jan. 7, Feb. 27, March 6, and, finally, April 1. Anyone for May? The two Big East heavyweights said all week that they wished they were playing someone else in the first national semifinal, but when push came to shove — and it certainly did in what turned out to be a ragged, bruising battle — the rematch of the rematch of the rematch required overtime before the Irish pulled away to win 83-75.

For the second consecutive year, Notre Dame defeated Uconn to get to the championship game. This one wasn’t easy or a thing of beauty, but it was convincing in the end, with the Irish outscoring the Huskies 16-8 in overtime after a wild final minute of steals and industrial strength defense in regulation.

This was the eighth meeting in the past two seasons for the Fighting Irish and Uconn, four in 2010-11 and four more this season. Uconn had won 12 consecutive games in the rivalry when Notre Dame upset the Huskies in last year’s national semifinal 72-63. This season, Notre Dame won both regular-season meetings, but Uconn stormed back in the Big East tournament final, winning 63-54.

The Fighting Irish were asked after Sunday’s game if victory was sweeter because they beat Uconn.

“Yes,” said guard Skylar Diggins, who scored 19 points and deftly led the Irish charge in overtime.

“Yes,” said forward Devereaux Peters, who added 17 points.

“It’s great getting to the championship game, and it’s the exact thing that happened last year,” said Brittany Mallory, who hit two big threepoint shots in overtime. “But we’ve had a battle with them all year. We played them three times before this game. And they won the last game that we had. It couldn’t be a better way to go to the championship.”

“I think it’s great for the Big East — two straight years, two Final Four teams,” Peters said. “What a game like this for fans to watch. I know basketball fans all around the country were foaming at the mouth seeing this, and when it went into overtime, you could see even the Stanford-baylor crowd got into it. Yes, it’s that much sweeter because it’s Uconn.”

All this Big East familiarity allowed one of the game’s great talkers to do what he does best and blab away in the days leading to the Final Four.

Asked what concerned him most about Notre Dame coming into the game, Uconn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Everything. This is the eighth time we’re playing them in 12 months, and it’s crazy, isn’t it? I mean, it’s just ridiculous. Everything. Everything.”

Fighting Irish coach Muffet Mcgraw was just as happy going into the game to see Geno’s team as he was to see hers.

“I think it’s great for the Big East to know that we’ve got two great teams, Final Four teams, in the conference,” she said, quickly adding, “It’s a shame that we continue to play each other in the Final Four. I think you kind of look forward to getting out of conference when you get to the NCAA tournament and seeing some different teams.”

With the old familiar foe now vanquished, she will get her wish Tuesday. A different team awaits.