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January 14, 2010

Rough road for Sooners

By Clay Horning

Transcript Sports Editor

WACO, Texas -- It doesn't get any easier for the Sooner women. Sunday they get No. 8 Texas A--M at Lloyd Noble Center. Then it's Missouri, Kansas and Iowa State, three more Big 12 programs likely to be dancing come March.

Too bad, Oklahoma won't be building off a victory.

On the other hand, the Sooners may still have proven something at Baylor's Ferrell Center, where the No. 9 Lady Bears had their way, 57-47, Monday night.

They sure can execute the first page of a game plan.

Just a freshman, Baylor center Britney Griner entered averaging more than 19 points. OU didn't want her to touch the ball in the lane and she didn't very often, finishing with 12 points, half of them at the free-throw line. She only attempted eight shots. Famous for her dunks, she spent the night below the rim, hounded by two or three Sooner defenders whenever she touched the ball. She committed seven turnovers.

The problem was how Griner affected the game on the other end of the court. She blocked 11 shots, changed many others and, eventually, broke OU's offensive will.

"We failed to want the basketball," OU coach Sherri Coale said. "She can affect your shot, but she can't affect your swagger unless you let her.

"If you don't run to try to get open. If you don't do your job, you won't be open, you won't have to shoot and you won't have to miss."

OU committed a reasonable 14 turnovers, six less than Baylor, and remained well in the game until late, with Baylor leading 37-33 at the midway point of the second half. But OU couldn't get shots, not good ones, and the ones they got didn't go in.

Perhaps OU played so much defense it didn't have anything left for the other end of the court. Team captain Amanda Thompson didn't accept that notion.

"It's hard, but it's not an excuse," she said. "Me personally, I could have done a better job offensively."

Thompson made 3 of 15 shots, one better than Nyeshia Stevenson's 2 of 15. Those numbers paved the way to 30.2 percent (19 of 63) field goal shooting overall. OU shot 29.4 percent (10 of 34) before the half and led 25-24. The Sooners couldn't get away with those kinds of numbers for two halves.

"You have to play the way you play," Coale said. "We play together, we play with rhythm, we play with cadence ... we didn't do any of that."

Point guard Danielle Robinson led the Sooners with 15 points, but OU's most effective offensive player was Abi Olajuwon. She went right at Griner and finished with 10 points on 4 of 8 shooting. Yet after committing two fouls in the first minute, Olajuwon wasn't available again until the second half.

The game turned after both teams missed on several possessions, the score stuck at 37-33. It was Baylor that finally made something happen, getting points on seven of eight trips down the floor.

By the time Lady Bear guard Kelli Griffin converted from long range with 4:40 remaining, Baylor led 52-37. The Sooners scored the next seven points, but the deficit was too much and the time to short.

Clay Horning

366-3526

cfhorning@normantranscript.com

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