OU Women's Basketball Notepad: Sooners not just winning, but topping good squads
Dec. 5—Need to know
The Sooners women, now 7-1 following Saturday's 94-63 victory over Mississippi State, are not just winning, but taking down apparently good teams.
The combined record of the opponents they've beaten is 30-22.
Mississippi State left Norman still 7-2, Minnesota is 6-4, Buffalo is 4-2 and South Dakota, though 4-4, has played the toughest schedule, taking losses to No. 1 South Carolina of the SEC, Northwestern of the Big 10 and No. 18 Texas A&M of the SEC, as well as OU. Most recently, South Dakota topped Pitt, of the ACC, in overtime.
If OU can knock off one ranked team, it can get to 11-1 before it must play a game anywhere but Lloyd Noble Center, when it opens Big 12 play at Texas Tech on Jan. 2.
Coming up, all at home, the Sooners have Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, No. 21 BYU on Friday, Utah on Dec. 21 and Wichita State on Dec. 29.
Notable
—Perhaps coach Jennie Baranczyk's rotation will tighten as the Sooners edge toward and get into conference play, OU has won 7 of 8 to date by playing and getting contributions from many players.
Beyond the starting five of Taylor Robertson, Madi Williams, Ana Llanusa, Nydia Lampkin and Kelbie Washington, four others — Neveah Tot (24), Skylar Vann (20), Liz Scott (20) and Kennady Tucker (12) — logged double digit minutes Saturday and all contributed: Tot with five assists (and no turnovers), Tucker with six points, Vann and Scott both with nine points and Vann with seven rebounds.
It's a far cry from 10 players total and starters having to play brutally long minutes.
—Rebounding well: The Sooners won the battle of the boards 40 to 39, grabbing 34 defensive rebounds and six offensive rebounds. Six may not seem like much on the offensive glass, but it's not so bad when you shoot 50.8 percent (33 of 65) and the 10 offensive boards the Sooners allowed wasn't so bad either, given the Bulldogs missed 43 shots, shooting 36.8 percent (25 of 68).
Tip-ins
Skylar Vann missed the SMU game on Tuesday for undisclosed health reasons, but was back Saturday and in form, posting a +20 plus/minus in just 17 minutes of court time ... The Sooners are 7-1 in the regular season for the first time since 2015-16, when they began 9-1, losing to North Texas, while knocking off a list non-conference opponents that included BYU, Utah, Boston College and Washington, among others ... The Sooners are shooting 44.1 percent overall, 34.1 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Saturday marked the third time this season OU has shot 50 percent or better from the field.
Clay Horning
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Follow me @clayhorning
