By Clay Horning
The 13th-ranked Oklahoma women did a lot of things Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena, site of their 77-66 victory over Bedlam rival and 10th-ranked Oklahoma State.
Though Nebraska (21-0, 8-0 Big 12) appears destined to run away with the conference crown, the Sooners are now tied for second place with Iowa State and OSU instead of tied for fourth, very nearly out of position for a first-round bye at the Big 12 tourney.
Most important, OU showed some fire for just about the whole 40 minutes. As upset as she was with her team after an 18-point loss to Texas last Wednesday, coach Sherri Coale said she was that proud of her team Saturday.
Still, the fact remains, though OU might have given maximum effort for 40 minutes, had its second half in Stillwater yielded the same production as its first half, OSU would have won Bedlam.
Over the first 20 minutes, OU shot 32.4 percent (11 of 34), watched five players rack up two fouls, including every starter but Nyeshia Stevenson. Also, though it led on the boards, its 24-22 rebounding advantage was fairly negligible and even 7 of 9 free throw shooting was a net negative compared to OSU's 11 of 14.
Yet if the Sooners had little to show for their hard work at the half, that all turned around when they returned for the second half.
OU's second half stats jumped off the page.
The Sooners outrebounded the Cowgirls 25 to 9 after the break and the effort on the boards set a tone that seemed to allow everything else to fall into place.
"The rebounding advantage was huge for us," Coale said.
That effort also got the Sooners to the line 16 more times and they made every toss, while the Cowgirls hit 1 of 4 from the stripe in the second half.
Then there was Abi Olajuwon, who played 8 minutes in the first half, eventually exiting with two fouls and making way for the more effective Joanna McFarland. But that after the half, when she scored all 14 of her points and grabbed seven rebounds.
"She's got a personality bigger than this room and she needs to impose that in games and I thought in the first half she was a bit of a wallflower," Coale said of her senior center. "... In the second half, she played with more personality."
Not just Olajuwon, but OU began to hit shots as a team, canning 51.7 percent (15 of 29) after the half.
A lot of that was point guard Danielle Robinson, who scored 24 post-intermission points, though not all. Robinson scored 20 points over the final 7:51, yet even before she took over the game, OU was still nursing a two-point lead.
"We focused on every possession," Robinson said. "Coach told us to make it a two possession game and take it from there."
That's what the Sooners did. If they can keep doing it, they could be off and running the rest of the season.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
