Maybe we got our hopes a bit high for the Lady Bears during their exciting uphill competition against the top-ranked Connecticut Huskies at Sunday night’s Final Four matchup down in San Antone, but surely you understand. When the Baylor Lady Bears are on the basketball court, amazing things can and do happen. Regularly.

For several minutes at the start of the second half, even the most skeptical of us began to think dreams could become reality, even against a powerhouse like the UConn Huskies, who entered the arena with 76 straight victories, all of them won by double-digits. The drive and action we saw from the Lady Bears brought fans to their feet, brimming with hope.

When the clock ran out, the score was 70-50 in favor of the Huskies and the athletes on the court were exhausted after playing their young hearts out. And yet, on that long drive back to Waco for Baylor fans, they could console themselves that they had given the UConn brigade some hair-raising moments.

Great beginnings

Certainly, what we saw in San Antonio Sunday night was talent that needs just a little more time for veteran Coach Kim Mulkey to shape and refine into a feisty, tightly organized, confident team. The Lady Bears, heavily reliant on freshmen this year, lacked in the teamwork, shooting precision and solid defense that so characterize the celebrated Huskies.

There were often revealing moments when UConn players almost instinctively sensed opportunities and seized them, with team members snaking through holes in the Baylor defense, always relying on their familiarity with one another to make plays count.

Yet, battling exhaustion and a team that had far more experience than they did, the Lady Bears taught the Huskies they couldn’t ever coast in this game — not with players like Brittney Griner hovering over them and Mulkey shouting orders and observations from the sidelines (and, as usual, being a lively show in herself). By the second half, the Huskies were taking reckless shots.

Things to come

Who didn’t feel that momentum in the early part of the second half when Baylor quickly closed a 13-point gap to just three points? True, it didn’t last and the long strain on this immensely talented, baby-faced team clearly took its toll. But those of us who watched from the Alamodome stands Sunday or in our easy chairs at home in Waco now eagerly await the coming of next season.

As Coach Mulkey noted, all were a little surprised her young team got so far, considering its relative inexperience. But what we saw Sunday night was not the end of a season but an exciting prelude to some great seasons yet to come.