Norman — The 12th-ranked and third-seeded Oklahoma women shared Lloyd Noble Center with the women’s basketball programs of Georgia Tech, Arkansas-Little Rock and South Dakota State Saturday, where all four programs took turns with the media before an hour of open practice time on the arena floor.
Tonight, it’s for real when Georgia Tech meets UALR at 6:16 p.m. When that’s over, OU and South Dakota State will tip off 30 minutes later.
Thirty-two of 64 teams in the women’s NCAA Tournament began play Saturday. The remaining 32, including the Norman sub-regional, part of the Kansas City Regional, begin tourney play today.
Games will be going on all over the country beginning a few minutes after 11 a.m. when Vanderbilt and DePaul begin play in Cincinnati. The Sooners’ game with the Jackrabbits is the day’s final contest.
Today’s winners meet Tuesday, as the tourney’s whittled to 16 teams. OU is supposed to be one of those teams, even getting the chance to advance on its home court.
“I think it’s a good advantage, but we still can’t just relax because we’re at home and get to sleep in our own beds,” senior team captain Amanda Thompson said. “We just need to take advantage of it and play like we’ve always played.”
Is that enough?
OU will begin finding out today.
