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Griner leads Baylor over Texas-Pan American

Dec 31, 2009 - 3:47 AM WACO, Texas(AP) -- Brittney Griner had 17 points and eight blocks and No. 5 Baylor opened the game with a 20-2 run in beating Texas-Pan American 100-46 Wednesday night.

Griner also had nine rebounds for Baylor (12-1). Morghan Medlock scored 16. Melissa Jones and Ashley Field scored 13 each.

Bianca Torre scored 20 for Texas-Pan American (2-11), which was held to 25 percent shooting.

Griner went to the bench with Baylor leading 24-5 with 10:29 in the first half and Texas-Pan American scored on its next three possessions but never got closer than 13 points the rest of the game. Baylor led 48-23 at the half.

Griner opened the second half with a three-point play and blocks on two consecutive Texas-Pan Am possessions. She came close to the second triple-double in Baylor history, after recording 34 points, 13 rebounds and a Big 12-record 11 blocks on Dec. 16 against Oral Roberts University.

Just 13 games into her freshman year, Griner needs two blocked shots to set Baylor's single-season record for blocks. Danielle Wilson blocked 86 shots in the 2006-07 season. But Griner said stats like that aren't on her mind during a game.

"They're really not too important," she said. "I like to get blocked shots so the other team can't score. I'm basically playing my game, not setting out each game, 'OK, I need to do this to achieve this.' I don't ever do that."

Baylor held a 72-40 lead with 9:50 left in the game before going on a 12-2 run to double-up Texas-Pan Am and take an 84-42 lead with 6:50 to play. Texas-Pan Am then went scoreless until hitting its next basket with 2:01 left.

Griner has one dunk this season - Nov. 24 in a 104-45 win over Jacksonville State - and didn't attempt one against Texas-Pan Am.

Baylor employed a full-court press throughout much of the game, forcing Texas-Pan Am into 17 turnovers which resulted in 23 points for Baylor.

"It's about Baylor now," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "It's focusing on getting us back in the shape we were in before the holidays. That's why we pressed. That's why we changed our defenses, just to try to get into some type of conditioning, to work on Baylor."