NORMAN — Can they do it?
That’s the question. Because nobody’s done it yet. Nobody has knocked off Baylor. Nobody has come close. The Lady Bears (19-0, 6-0 Big 12) are a unanimous No. 1 in the polls. They are beating opponents by an average score of 81.7 to 51.6. Since Big 12 Conference play began, Baylor has won each of its six league games by 44, 22, 27, 22, 8 and 25 points.
The eight-point margin was a 52-44 victory at Texas Tech. The only other time the Lady Bears have been played within 10 points was a 76-67 victory over No. 7 Tennessee. Baylor also holds a 94-81 victory over No. 2 Notre Dame.
Can the Sooners (12-5, 4-2) stack up against a team nobody has stacked up to all season?
“I think it’s a challenge,” shooting guard Aaryn Ellenberg said. “I think we can really go out there and play well.”
There are some things in OU’s favor.
The Sooners are coming off important wins over Kansas State and Texas. A year ago, against very nearly the same group of Lady Bears, OU fell by only a point, 82-81, at Lloyd Noble Center. On the other hand, this year’s Sooners don’t have the experience of last year’s Sooners.
“I love the fact that we’re playing at home,” OU coach Sherri Coale said. “I think our guys take some solace in the familiarity of this environment. And I think sometimes it’s good to go into games like this with a bunch of young guys that don’t know what they don’t know. Just go play.”
A few Sooners not knowing what they don’t know may only be a positive in the sense that they have no personal history with Brittney Griner, the most dominant force in women’s college basketball by a longshot. Nineteen games into her season, the 6-8 and very athletic, junior center is averaging 22.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 5.3 blocks.
“You try to limit her touches,” Coale said, “but she’s going to get what she gets. She’s going to score 20 if she wants 20.”
If OU can’t do a whole lot to control Griner, perhaps it can do much to control itself.
“The most important thing for us is not to shoot ourselves in the foot,” Coale said. “If you give up second-chance opportunities, if you turn it over, then you really put yourself in a bad situation. (Because) those guys are going to make plays when you’re doing everything right.”
So OU can’t make it easy on Griner and it can’t be hard on itself.
What’s left? Sometimes it’s a simple game.
“Make shots,” junior guard and team captain Whitney Hand said. “We’ve got to score. They’re going to get their points. Griner is going to score. It’s what she does. But, for us, we’ve got to score.”
That had been a strength for OU, only less so against conference opponents. Prior to shooting 44.2 percent against Texas, OU made 41.5 percent of its shots at Kansas State, 34.4 percent at Oklahoma State and 34.3 percent against Texas Tech.
Of those games, the Sooners only fell to their Bedlam rival in Stillwater. But it will be much harder to get away with poor shooting against Baylor.
“We’ve got to make shots and, if we can,” Hand said, “I think we can stay with them.”
It’s a plan.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
