NORMAN — The Oklahoma women may have played their worst basketball of the season for about 30 minutes.
Without energy or execution, and having scored on just 5 of 19 second-half trips down the floor, OU trailed Kansas State by nine points with almost 10 minutes remaining.
Then the Sooners went from horrid to stellar in the blink of an eye. Defense went from reasonable to outstanding. Offense went from stuck in the mud to relentless. OU knocked off Kansas State 68-62 and did it going away.
“We find ways to win games,” OU coach Sherri Coale said. “That’s pretty important down the stretch and in the months of February and March. It’s pretty important to find ways to grind them out.”
The Sooners committed 22 turnovers but none over the last 6:41. Aaryn Ellenberg came out of a seven-game shooting slump by hitting four of her last five shots. And OU, after trailing 48-39 with 9:49 remaining, closed the game on a 29-14 run by scoring on 14 of 18 possessions to close the game.
Just like that.
Whitney Hand led OU with 16 points while playing every minute. Ellenberg finished with 12 points, Sharane Campbell with 11 and Morgan Hook 10.
Freshman Sooner post Kaylon Williams led both teams with 11 rebounds.
“I feel like, for some reason, this team has fight,” Hand said. “It is a special thing to look into everyone’s eyes and see how they all want to win really badly. I am really proud of our finish.”
The win keeps OU (17-8, 9-4 Big 12) in lock step with Texas A&M for second place in the conference, with a road game at Iowa State on Saturday. Kansas State (16-9, 7-6) remained in fourth place in the league standings.
“It’s huge, obviously,” Coale said. “We’ll talk about it now, (but) when I wake up in the morning, the game at Iowa State will be the biggest game on our schedule.”
Yet maybe the Sooners won’t be under as much pressure, not after the way they closed out the Wildcats.
A layup from Campbell, one possession after she blew a layup, began OU’s march to victory.
Then Ellenberg hit a 3-pointer, Hook hit a deuce, Campbell hit two more free throws and another layup, all in successive possessions. Because Kansas State didn’t quit scoring either, it only brought OU within 53-50.
After an empty trip, Ellenberg scored in the lane, Hook hit a 3-pointer after Williams kept a possession alive with an offensive rebound, Williams hit two free throws, Ellenberg hit another 3, Campbell added another layup and Hand scored from the left elbow.
That run of consecutive possessions put the Sooners up 64-61 with 2:37 remaining.
OU finally suffered two straight empty trips, but steals from Campbell and Ellenberg kept the Wildcats grounded.
After Campbell made one of two free throws with 43 seconds to play, Kansas State did not have another chance to tie or take the lead.
Point guard Brittany Chambers led the Wildcats with 17 points, but was harassed into nine turnovers without an assist. Tasha Dickey added 15 points and Jalana Childs 11.
“We competed most of the game with poise,” Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said, “and most isn’t enough.”
The Sooners may not have done that, but were terrific when they had to be.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
