WACO — Kim Mulkey still remembers exactly where she was when she got the news.

The iconic Baylor women’s basketball coach, days off winning her third national championship as a coach, was taking a bath at her Central Texas home when she got the call from Lady Bears trainer Alex Olson.

Everyone was prepared for the worst after All-American forward Lauren Cox crumpled to the floor with a knee injury just 11 minutes shy of a ring. With the way she fell, the assumption was a torn ACL. Even Cox expected it.

“Everyone had the same thought when they saw it. That’s the kind of pain that I was in,” Cox said. “I thought that I’d have to sit out next year, get surgery, do the rehab, all that.”

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Mulkey said of Cox going down. “I was very emotional because you just saw a young lady who was down on the floor screaming in agony, and you couldn’t do anything but put on a brave face.”

A visibly shaken Baylor squad escaped the national title game with a one-point win with Cox sidelined. Not even 24 hours later, Cox had to put celebrating her first NCAA championship aside to get an MRI at Southwest Sports Medicine Orthopedics in Waco.

Which brings us back to Mulkey. She expected Olson to tell her about about ligament tears, timetables and surgery. Instead, he gave Mulkey the best news she never expected. Cox only suffered an MCL sprain and bone bruise. There would be some rehab – but no surgery.

“Are you kidding me?” Mulkey dumbfoundedly kept asking Olson. “Are you kidding me?”

No kidding. Mulkey gathered herself for a few moments, and then picked up the phone and called Cox, who was relaxing in her bedroom after getting the good news.

“Lauren Cox,” Mulkey started. “You owe me 10 minutes of stress-free basketball.”

Cox just laughed on the other end.

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