Prairie View A&M finished off its historic season with a 82-40 loss to No. 1 seeded Baylor in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Brittney Griner and the Lady Bears proved to be too much for the Lady Panthers even though Prairie View A&M came out of the gates fighting against No. 1 seeded Baylor.
Trailing 22-10, Prairie View A&M embarked on a 5-0 run to cut its deficit to seven points.
Latia Williams made a jumper with 11 minutes remaining in the first from an assist by LeReahn Washington.
Gabrielle Scott then followed it up with a pull up from three-point range after a pass from JaQuandria Williams to cut Baylor’s lead to 22-15.
“It all started with us believing that we could compete with Baylor,” Williams said. “For the first couple of minutes we were running with them, and the gym was quiet. It was silent. No fans were cheering or anything.
We just couldn’t execute. We started believing in ourselves and started to run a little bit.
We just couldn’t execute in the end like we wanted.”
Scott had led Prairie View A&M with eight points at the half in just 11 minutes off the bench. Scott finished her NCAA Tournament debut with a team-high 14 points.
Williams had six points going into the locker room at the half, but Prairie View A&M’s efforts were overshadowed by the presence of Brittany Griner, who had 23 first half points and seven rebounds.
She finished with 33 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.
Baylor held a 44-22 lead at the half and just added on in the second half as Griner continued to orchestrate the Lady Bears.
Despite the loss, Prairie View A&M set the standard for the program by making its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance by three Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Championships in a row.
The Lady Panthers finished the season with a 17-15 record.
“I’m incredibly proud of them: our team, our players, the seniors,” said head coach Toyelle Wilson.
“This game doesn’t justify or define our season. Baylor was just a lot bigger than us. They played like the number one overall seed in the tournament.”
Senior guard Williams, who has been a pillar in the most successful run in program history, finished her career as one of the most prolific players in program history.
She leaves Prairie View A&M with 1297 career points and 803 career rebounds.
She is one of only two players in the last decade for Prairie View A&M to record over 1200 career points and 800 career rebounds. Gaati Werema finished her career with 1529 points and 977 rebounds.
Prarie View A&M
Tuesday, June 24, 2025