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Strong individual performances can’t prevent second straight loss for Sooners
By Clay Horning
Senior Sports Columnist
It would would have been a fantastic victory.
Mot of the way, the Oklahoma women couldn’t buy a call and for all but the opening two minutes, took on Kansas State without starting guard and secondleading scorer Ana Llanusa, who suffered a left ankle injury, the severity of which remained unknown after the game.
“I loved our effort,” Sooner coach Sherri Coale said. “I thought our team fought and scratched.”
In the end, though, it was just another loss, OU’s second straight and sixth in eight games.
In overtime, the Wildcats topped the Sooners 87-85.
The final margin came down to the last of Kansas State’s 20 offensive rebounds, when Peyton Williams first wrestled the ball away from OU’s Madi Williams, then drew the latter’s’ fifth foul going back up.
She hit both her free throws to put K-State on top by four points. On the other end, Taylor Robertson was fouled shooting a 3-pointer.
Robertson made the first two tosses and fired a chest pass toward the basket on the third, hoping to grab the rebound and tie it up. However, the ball failed to graze the rim, the Wildcats the ball with less than a second remaining.
Had OU prevailed, many would have shared the Sophomore shooting guard Taylor Robertson finished with 27 points on 9 of 15 shooting and 4 of 8 3-point shooting, giving her a single-season Sooner record for made 3s (116).
Freshman guard Gabby Gregory added a careerhigh 20 points, including eight straight after getting hit with a replay-aided “intentional” foul for delivering what appeared to be an inadvertent shot to Savannah Simmons’ mouth late in the third quarter as she dripped the ball.
Peyton Williams took the free throws for Simmons, making one, but Gregory’s 8-0 run give the Sooners their biggest lead, 64-57, early in the fourth quarter.
“It just fired me up and I wasn’t going to let anything other than us stop us,” Gregory said.
Pushed into long action in Llanusa’s absence, Moore product Jessi Murcer blundered by dribbling out the clock at the end of the first quarter, failing to get a shot off, but responded by scoring the first seven points of the second quarter, finishing with nine and a team-high six assists.
“We just came together for her,” Roberston said, citing Llanusa. “She’s a big part of our team and when she went down, we all kind of locked arms and said let’s get this one for her.”
Reserve post Aspen Willington came up big, too, finishing with nine points and three blocked shots in almost 17 minutes.
However, general cold shooting — OU made 38.7 percent overall (29 of 75) — and eight straight empty possessions that encompassed two turnovers and nine missed shots after Gregory created that seven-point edge cost the Sooners dearly.
OU went cold in overtime, too, getting a short baseline bucket from Robertson to open the extra period, before going empty its next three trips as Kansas State took an 80-77 lead.
The Sooners were never on top again.
Peyton Williams finished with 31 points and 19 rebounds for the Wildcats. Ayoka Lee added 24 and 13.
Though Simmons only finished with seven points and three rebounds, she did it playing 32 minutes three days after having four wisdom teeth removed — explained Kansas State coach Greg Mittie — a good bit of it after Gregory’s shot to her chops.
The Sooners will try again at No. 2 Baylor on Saturday.
By Clay Horning
Senior Sports Columnist
It would would have been a fantastic victory.
Mot of the way, the Oklahoma women couldn’t buy a call and for all but the opening two minutes, took on Kansas State without starting guard and secondleading scorer Ana Llanusa, who suffered a left ankle injury, the severity of which remained unknown after the game.
“I loved our effort,” Sooner coach Sherri Coale said. “I thought our team fought and scratched.”
In the end, though, it was just another loss, OU’s second straight and sixth in eight games.
In overtime, the Wildcats topped the Sooners 87-85.
The final margin came down to the last of Kansas State’s 20 offensive rebounds, when Peyton Williams first wrestled the ball away from OU’s Madi Williams, then drew the latter’s’ fifth foul going back up.
She hit both her free throws to put K-State on top by four points. On the other end, Taylor Robertson was fouled shooting a 3-pointer.
Robertson made the first two tosses and fired a chest pass toward the basket on the third, hoping to grab the rebound and tie it up. However, the ball failed to graze the rim, the Wildcats the ball with less than a second remaining.
Had OU prevailed, many would have shared the Sophomore shooting guard Taylor Robertson finished with 27 points on 9 of 15 shooting and 4 of 8 3-point shooting, giving her a single-season Sooner record for made 3s (116).
Freshman guard Gabby Gregory added a careerhigh 20 points, including eight straight after getting hit with a replay-aided “intentional” foul for delivering what appeared to be an inadvertent shot to Savannah Simmons’ mouth late in the third quarter as she dripped the ball.
Peyton Williams took the free throws for Simmons, making one, but Gregory’s 8-0 run give the Sooners their biggest lead, 64-57, early in the fourth quarter.
“It just fired me up and I wasn’t going to let anything other than us stop us,” Gregory said.
Pushed into long action in Llanusa’s absence, Moore product Jessi Murcer blundered by dribbling out the clock at the end of the first quarter, failing to get a shot off, but responded by scoring the first seven points of the second quarter, finishing with nine and a team-high six assists.
“We just came together for her,” Roberston said, citing Llanusa. “She’s a big part of our team and when she went down, we all kind of locked arms and said let’s get this one for her.”
Reserve post Aspen Willington came up big, too, finishing with nine points and three blocked shots in almost 17 minutes.
However, general cold shooting — OU made 38.7 percent overall (29 of 75) — and eight straight empty possessions that encompassed two turnovers and nine missed shots after Gregory created that seven-point edge cost the Sooners dearly.
OU went cold in overtime, too, getting a short baseline bucket from Robertson to open the extra period, before going empty its next three trips as Kansas State took an 80-77 lead.
The Sooners were never on top again.
Peyton Williams finished with 31 points and 19 rebounds for the Wildcats. Ayoka Lee added 24 and 13.
Though Simmons only finished with seven points and three rebounds, she did it playing 32 minutes three days after having four wisdom teeth removed — explained Kansas State coach Greg Mittie — a good bit of it after Gregory’s shot to her chops.
The Sooners will try again at No. 2 Baylor on Saturday.