By Clay Horning
STILLWATER -- This time, Oklahoma made the other team wilt. This time, the Sooner women answered every challenge. And if they didn't play well for 40 minutes, they were still engaged for the duration.
It is the difference between so many narrow victories and defeats this season and what happened Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Taking nary a possession off, the Sooners never allowed the Cowgirls to take flight. And when Oklahoma State point guard Andrea Riley, the Big 12's leading scorer, managed to get something going after the half, OU point guard Danielle Robinson responded with even more.
The Sooners walked out with a 77-66 victory that might have been a little tighter, but not much. Because when the time came win or lose, it was all Sooners.
"I feel like it was effort," OU team captain Amanda Thompson said. "The Texas game we had no effort, no fight, nobody looked like they wanted to win. Today, I saw it in everybody's eyes that we wanted to win and we knew that we would do whatever it took."
A clich?, but nonetheless true, that meant outhustling the Cowgirls. OU went to the free throw line 25 times to OSU's 18, hitting 23 to OSU's 15, and owned an amazing 49 to 31 rebounding advantage, much of it built upon 20 offensive boards.
"You just cannot win in this league and give up 20 offensive rebounds," OSU coach Kurt Budke said.
But for the 6,264 watching inside the arena, the difference was Robinson. Budke said the thought the contest matched up the nation's two best point guards. Whether or not he's right, Robinson dominated.
She finished with 36 points, six assists and a Big 12 single-game record for perfect foul shooting, making all 16 of her tries. She just missed making half her shots from the field, canning 10 of 22, yet that was a whole lot better than Riley, who netted 30 points on 11 of 34 shooting that included four 3-pointers and 4 of 5 free throws.
The postgame press conference seemingly over, OU coach Sherri Coale had a last word without being asked.
"I don't know that I've seen a finer individual performance from a point guard than what you saw from Danielle today," she said.
Coale added it wasn't about the points but leadership, the way Robinson guided the team on the floor. That was exemplified by Robinson's single turnover.
Riley had five.
Of the Sooners last 26 points, scored over the game's final 7:51, Robinson scored 20 of them and assisted on the Sooners two other field goals over the span.
"She's a great player," Riley said. "She's one who makes plays and she made plays today."
The remaining points during the Sooners 26-16 stretch run belonged to Abi Olajuwon at the free-throw line, part of her 14-point second-half outburst.
Also for the Sooners, Nyeshia Stevenson added 12 points and Amanda Thompson netted six to go with her game-high 10 rebounds.
Tegan Cunningham scored 16 for the Cowgirls, but after she and Riley, Megan Byford was next with seven.
Robinson didn't want all the credit.
"It was a team effort," she said.
Maybe the best one of the season.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
