Norman — “I really did,” Amanda Thompson said.
On Senior Day, the Sooner senior and captain had a feeling and boy was she right. Playing the game of her collegiate life, and sparking her teammates to come along for the ride, Thompson led the Oklahoma women to their most dominant victory of the season.
The No. 10 Sooners smashed No. 20 Oklahoma State 92-65 Sunday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center.
The highlight of any Senior Day is almost always the postgame hoopla and Sunday’s was very good with Thompson, Abi Olajuwon and Nyeshia Stevenson drawing cheers and tears from the lion’s share of what remained of the season’s biggest crowd (12,387). Yet OU was so strong, the in-game Sooners may have upstaged the post-game Sooners.
Thompson was unstoppable, canning 11 of 15 shots and all four of her 3-point tries to finish with a career-high 29 points to go with 11 rebounds and six assists. Danielle Robinson added 13 points and nine assists against just two turnovers, while Jasmine Hartman enjoyed her biggest game to date with 14 points and four assists.
OU took its first 10-point lead with 8:30 remaining in the first half. With 4:28 remaining in the half, the Sooners had pushed the advantage to 42-20.
The rout was on.
“And then Jasmine started hitting 3s and I thought ‘This is going to be all right here,’” Thompson said. “And then Carlee (Roethlisberger) started draining 3. I thought Abi was going to take a 3.”
She didn’t, but reserve post Joanna McFarland did and knocked it down. It was that kind of day for OU.
“It was OU’s night,” OSU coach Kurt Budke said.
The Sooners were shooting better than 70 percent most of the first half and finished shooting 57.8 percent (34 of 59) and 59.3 percent (16 of 27) from 3-point land. Meanwhile, OSU shot 37.1 percent (23 of 62).
“Just a fitting performance for this group of seniors, who have given so much to this program and their commitments and the way they’ve gone about their business and growth,” Sooner coach Sherri Coale said. “They deserve to have a day like today, for it not to go to the wire and for us to have an opportunity to get them out so that the fans could appreciate their careers.”
Cowgirl point guard Andrea Riley, the Big 12’s leading scorer, finished with 25 points on 8 of 19 shooting, but received little help. Precious Robinson came off the bench to score 12 points in 16 minutes, yet no other starter had more than seven points.
Riley envied the Sooners.
“I would be happy if we were 9 for 13 in the first half from 3, too. It gives you a lot of confidence,” she said. “They just stuck with it. They couldn’t miss.”
The victory locked up the third seed at the Big 12 tournament, which begins Thursday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Earning a first-round bye, OU meets the winner of Baylor-Colorado at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
“We’ve put ourselves in position to do some special things in the postseason,” Coale said. “We don’t really know exactly what that position will be until after next week.”
OU knows where it will be, though. Back at Lloyd Noble Center, March 21. And if the Sooners play another game on their home court like Sunday’s, they’ll be in awfully good shape.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
