Norman — She was already a warrior.
Her coach, Sherri Coale, said so all the time. The fans, those who fill the lower bowl of Lloyd Noble Center, who come to the good games and the mismatches, knew it, too. Average a double-double and you’ll be very appreciated.
But the way Amanda Thompson’s been playing for about a month, and even more so since the last night of the regular season, has been an epiphany for those watching and Thompson herself.
Her season averages are 13.2 points and 10.5 rebounds. It is for numbers like that the Sooner forward and senior team captain was named first-team All-Big 12.
But since Feb. 10, the day Oklahoma topped Baylor 62-60 in overtime, a stretch now 11 games long, her averages are 16.8 points and 12 rebounds. Over her last four games they are 20.3 points and 14 rebounds.
“She’s a passionate senior who’s inspired as she plays the last stretch of her collegiate career,” Coale said. “And she wants to make sure she goes out leaving everything on the floor.”
But, said Coale, that’s just part of it. The other part is how one huge game sometimes begets a slew of huge games. For instance, those four-game averages of Thompson’s began with a 29-point, 11-rebound outing the last night of the regular season.
“I think the confidence she takes from, say, the Oklahoma State game on Senior Day, I think that has fueled her,” Coale said. “She sees herself a little bit differently.”
Maybe, or perhaps that game perpetuated her already feeling a little differently. Point guard Danielle Robinson goes back to the locker room scene following OU’s 18-point homecourt loss to Texas.
“Something triggered (in her),” Robinson said. “I’ve never seen her react in such a positive way as I did in that locker room after the game. She spoke like a true captain … But she knew she couldn’t just speak to everybody, she knew she had to make changes herself.”
It was two games later, against Baylor, she finished with 19 point and 19 rebounds. In Thompson’s mind, that was the turning point.
“I felt like, if I’m out there grabbing 16 or 18 boards, how many extra possessions will we have?” she said. “I just think like that … I’ll do anything to make my team better.”
But the most interesting part of the transformation has been Thompson’s realization that she had a bigger game inside of her, even one she could bring to the floor with some consistency.
“I wouldn’t say that I’ve figured it out, but I was unaware (of what I could do),” she said. “And this year I’ve taken myself places that I didn’t think I could go. And when I felt that for the first time, I felt like I wanted to find that feeling more and more.”
She has.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
