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Baylor beats Stanford, now one win away from history

NCAA Women's Final Four - Stanford v Baylor

DENVER, CO - APRIL 01: Brittney Griner #42 of the Baylor Bears looks to go up for a shot in the first half against Chiney Ogwumike #13 of the Stanford Cardinal during the National Semifinal game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship at Pepsi Center on April 1, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

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No team in the history of major college basketball, men’s or women’s, has ever won 40 games in a season much less gone 40-0.

Kim Mulkey’s Baylor Lady Bears are now one game away from doing just that.

Stanford was able to surround Brittney Griner, limiting the AP Player of the Year to 13 points on 3 of 9 shooting, but that didn’t matter as Baylor (39-0) won 59-47 in Denver.

Odyssey Sims scored 11 points and senior guard Terran Condrey, who entered the game averaging one point per game in the tournament, scored 13 off the bench to provide the added scoring punch Baylor needed.

It’s easy to think that the Lady Bears are solely about Griner, and with the impact that she can have at both ends of the floor that’s easy to do.

But if anything was learned by casual fans on Sunday night, it’s that Baylor’s used a lot more than just Griner’s game-changing abilities to get to 39-0.

Stanford senior Nneka Ogwumike scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds, but no other Cardinal (35-2) player reached double figures and as a result it’s Baylor who will play Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

The Cardinal needed to be able to knock down some perimeter shots and they were unable to do so, going 2 of 17 from beyond the arc. And outside of Nneka, Stanford shot 11 of 37 from the field as Baylor did a good job of limiting their good looks.

Baylor and Notre Dame met back on November 20th, with the Lady Bears winning 94-81 in Waco.

Skylar Diggins and Natalie Novosel combined to score 55 points for Notre Dame, but Griner was unstoppable with 32 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Baylor whipped Notre Dame 52-37 on the boards, grabbing 20 offensive rebounds. Clearly Notre Dame will need more form Devereaux Peters and Natalie Achonwa (combined six points, 12 rebounds) in the rematch if they’re to win.

Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.