Baylor women win NCAA Tournament crown
Fred Jeter | 4/12/2019, 6 a.m.
At the end of Chloe Jackson’s college basketball journey, she found a pot of gold.
The 5-foot-8 guard was named tournament MVP after leading Baylor University of Waco, Texas, to the NCAA Tournament’s women’s championship Sunday in Tampa, Fla.
Jackson’s 25 points, five assists and two steals made the difference in the Bears’ 82-81 win over the University of Notre Dame before 20,127 fans at Amalie Arena.
Her twisting layup in heavy traffic with 3.9 seconds left put Baylor ahead for good.
From Upper Marlboro, Md., Jackson played one season at North Carolina State University and two at Louisiana State University before arriving at Baylor this season as a graduate transfer.
Dominating on the inside for Baylor was 6-foot-7 senior Kalani Brown, with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Brown has impressive blood lines. Her mother, Dee, starred at Louisiana Tech and her father, P.J., played at Louisiana Tech and then 11 seasons in the NBA.
This was Baylor’s third NCAA title under Coach Kim Mulkey. The Bears previously won the championship in 2005 and 2012.
Baylor, finishing 37-1, played the last 11 minutes of Sunday’s game without one of its top players, junior Lauren Cox, who suffered a knee injury in a tangled rebound attempt. Cox had to be taken off the floor in a wheelchair.
