Baylor takes down LSU

INDIANAPOLIS — The end of Baylor's remarkable, uplifting redemption story will be told on the final night of the season.

Resilient when they fell behind, determined when they got the lead, the Lady Bears are going to the national championship game.

Baylor got 21 points from Sophia Young and major contributions from Emily Niemann and Abiola Wabara to beat LSU 68-57 last night in an impressive Final Four debut for a program that once was the worst in the Big 12.

''Wow! That's a good team we just beat,'' said Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, who looked misty-eyed as she pumped two fists up to the roaring Baylor fans.

The Lady Bears (32-3) have brought a new feeling of pride to a campus stained by scandal in the men's basketball program. They'll take a 19-game winning streak — the longest one going in NCAA women's basketball — into the title game tomorrow night, when they'll meet the winner of last late game between six-time national champion Tennessee and Final Four newcomer Michigan State.

LSU (33-3), seeded No. 1 overall in the NCAA Tournament, jumped out to an early 15-point lead but the Lady Bears came storming back to tie it at halftime. The Lady Tigers, who looked restless at times on offense, also failed to hold onto a six-point lead in the second half.

Baylor just wouldn't go away and went ahead to stay when Chelsea Whitaker, who had eight turnovers in the regional final against North Carolina, sank two free throws for a 52-51 lead with 6:17 remaining.

Young then picked off an LSU pass into the post and Baylor capitalized with Wabara's three-point play for a 55-51 lead. When Young hit a jumper 30 seconds later, Baylor led 57-51 and the Lady Bears had the cushion they needed to hang on down the stretch.

Not even national player of the year Seimone Augustus could save LSU, which missed too many shots against Baylor's 3-2 zone and faltered badly at the end.

Augustus scored 22 points but shot just 10-for-26 and was 0-for-4 from 3-point range.

''Things just didn't fall the way we wanted them to fall,'' Augustus said. ''As far as the team goes, I thought we had a pretty good chance to win the title. To a certain extent, I felt we gave it away. We just didn't fight. They had the fight in their eyes and we didn't.''

Sylvia Fowles, LSU's muscular 6-foot-5 freshman, added 13 points and 12 rebounds and Temeka Johnson had 14 points and seven assists.

But it just wasn't enough against Baylor's defense — the Lady Bears have won 76 games in a row when holding opponents under 59 points.

Niemann gave Baylor a big lift off the bench with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting and Wabara was a difference-maker with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting.

''Its been like that all year, we've had different players step up,'' Mulkey-Robertson said. ''We're not a two-dimensional team with (Steffanie) Blackmon and Sophia Wow, we're playing for a national championship at Baylor University!''

Wabara went scoreless and played only six minutes in Baylor's 71-70 loss to LSU back on Nov. 14, a game in which the Lady Bears rallied from a 21-point deficit.

Mulkey-Robertson has needed just five years to get Baylor to the biggest game in its history.