ATLANTA — As soon as the NCAA women's bracket was announced, Sasha Goodlett started getting a flood of texts from her friends.
"They were all saying, 'Ohhh, you have to go against Brittney Griner,'" the Georgia Tech center recalled. "I was like, 'Hey, we have two games before that. Let's not get too caught up in ourselves.'"
Well, those two games are out of the way.
Fourth-seeded Georgia Tech has reached the regional semifinals for the first time in school history, but there wasn't much time to celebrate.
Next up Saturday in the Des Moines Regional: top-ranked Baylor (36-0) and the nation's most dominant player.
The Yellow jackets (26-8) are a huge underdog, like just about everyone who goes against Griner and her supporting cast. Baylor romped through the first two rounds, beating UC Santa Barbara by 41 points, then easing to a 19-point win over Florida that was punctuated by a dunk from the 6-foot-8 phenom — only the second woman to pull off a slam in the NCAA tournament.
While Griner relies on those sort of plays to intimidate her opponents, Georgia Tech talked bravely before boarding the plane to Iowa.
Brittney Griner
On March 22, Griner tweeted "Sorry tweeps won't be tweeting a lot the next couple weeks. Gotta stay focused #RoadToTheFinalFour."
Baylor hasn't lost since falling in the quarterfinals of last year's NCAA tournament, and much of its success has to do with Griner's veteran presence. Griner ranked No. 7 in the country this year in Division I action with 23.1 PPG in 36 appearances.
Follow Griner on Twitter @grinerbrittney.
Odyssey Sims
On March 20, Sims tweeted "36-0, We Headed To The Sweet 16!!!!!!"
Sims, a sophomore guard at Baylor, racked up 526 points and added 162 assists in 36 games this season. Follow Sims on Twitter @simshoops0.
Makenzie Robertson
On March 20, Robertson tweeted "Ready to get this game going and head home! 2 hours…need another W #unfinishedbusiness #BUvsFLORIDA."
Shortly after her tweet, Robertson and the Lady Bears topped Florida, 76-59.
The following day, Robertson tweeted "You don't actually realize how long basketball season is until this time of year…we've been going since last summer #unfinishedbusiness."
Is weariness finally starting to settle in, or will Baylor have enough to finish out the season as a champion?
"They were all saying, 'Ohhh, you have to go against Brittney Griner,'" the Georgia Tech center recalled. "I was like, 'Hey, we have two games before that. Let's not get too caught up in ourselves.'"
Well, those two games are out of the way.
Fourth-seeded Georgia Tech has reached the regional semifinals for the first time in school history, but there wasn't much time to celebrate.
Next up Saturday in the Des Moines Regional: top-ranked Baylor (36-0) and the nation's most dominant player.
The Yellow jackets (26-8) are a huge underdog, like just about everyone who goes against Griner and her supporting cast. Baylor romped through the first two rounds, beating UC Santa Barbara by 41 points, then easing to a 19-point win over Florida that was punctuated by a dunk from the 6-foot-8 phenom — only the second woman to pull off a slam in the NCAA tournament.
While Griner relies on those sort of plays to intimidate her opponents, Georgia Tech talked bravely before boarding the plane to Iowa.
Brittney Griner
On March 22, Griner tweeted "Sorry tweeps won't be tweeting a lot the next couple weeks. Gotta stay focused #RoadToTheFinalFour."
Baylor hasn't lost since falling in the quarterfinals of last year's NCAA tournament, and much of its success has to do with Griner's veteran presence. Griner ranked No. 7 in the country this year in Division I action with 23.1 PPG in 36 appearances.
Follow Griner on Twitter @grinerbrittney.
Odyssey Sims
On March 20, Sims tweeted "36-0, We Headed To The Sweet 16!!!!!!"
Sims, a sophomore guard at Baylor, racked up 526 points and added 162 assists in 36 games this season. Follow Sims on Twitter @simshoops0.
Makenzie Robertson
On March 20, Robertson tweeted "Ready to get this game going and head home! 2 hours…need another W #unfinishedbusiness #BUvsFLORIDA."
Shortly after her tweet, Robertson and the Lady Bears topped Florida, 76-59.
The following day, Robertson tweeted "You don't actually realize how long basketball season is until this time of year…we've been going since last summer #unfinishedbusiness."
Is weariness finally starting to settle in, or will Baylor have enough to finish out the season as a champion?
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