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How To Hit A Big Dunk: Brittney Griner's Tweet Comes True For Baylor

Baylor's Brittney Griner (42) dunks as Florida State's Leonore Rodriguez (10) and Alexa Deluzio (3) look on; Baylor defeated Florida State 85-47 on Tuesday in Waco, Texas.
Tony Gutierrez
/
AP
Baylor's Brittney Griner (42) dunks as Florida State's Leonore Rodriguez (10) and Alexa Deluzio (3) look on; Baylor defeated Florida State 85-47 on Tuesday in Waco, Texas.

There's nothing like encouragement to help you succeed. Or maybe you can just create it for yourself. Baylor's Brittney Griner had both Tuesday night as her top-seeded team blew past Florida State 85-47. She had a double double: 33 points and 22 rebounds, as Encourager-In-Chief and former President George W. Bush looked on with former first lady Laura Bush in Waco, Texas. But that wasn't all.

Griner sank three big dunks, according to The Associated Press. Women don't usually land big dunks in basketball; they're shorter than men, so the net's a little higher. But after nailing her first one, the 6-foot-8 Griner apparently tweeted her next goal in the middle of the game, reports ESPN:

Griner has a career 18 dunks, three more than all other players combined in women's NCAA history, ESPN says. Baylor will face Louisville on Sunday.

Another senior who had a big night was the University of Delaware's Elena Delle Donne, who racked up 33 points while Vice President Joe Biden and a packed home crowd cheered on the Blue Hens. Delaware, Biden's alma mater, upset third-seeded North Carolina 78-69. Philly.com reports that Delle Donne's career point total now stands at 3,006. Delaware is seeded sixth in the Sweet 16 and will face second-seeded Kentucky this weekend.

In other action: Notre Dame put away Iowa 74-57. Next up for the Fighting Irish: Kansas. LSU took out Penn State 71-66 to face California. And Stanford crushed Michigan, 73-40, and will face Georgia on Saturday.

Other teams advancing to the Sweet 16 are UConn and Maryland, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and Nebraska and Duke. You can check the women's brackets here.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Korva Coleman is a newscaster for NPR.