Failure to finish

[bluesooner17]

Sooners let 15-point lead slip away in OT loss at Red Raiders

By Tyler Palmateer
Transcript Sports Editor

Oklahoma was in full control as it tried getting back on the right side of its quest to climb the league standings.

But with a little more than 10 minutes left to play, Texas Tech had other ideas.

OU let a 15-point lead slip away down the stretch in Lubbock and the Red Raiders stole a 89-84 victory in overtime Wednesday behind a late surge.

Taylor Robertson scored 26 points, Madi Williams scored 20 and Mandy Simpson added a career-high 19, but the Sooners were undone by defensive lapses and 23 turnovers.

Texas Tech made 24 of 28 free throws and 11 of 34 3-pointers. Andrayah Adams scored a game-high 29 points, hitting 4 of 10 from long range and 9 of 10 charities.

OU second-leading scorer Ana Llanusa traveled with the team but did not play for the fourth consecutive contest due to back issues.

The Red Raiders came in as the second-best scoring team in the Big 12, with OU not far behind in third. All went according to plan early on for the Sooners, who were trying to get coach Sherri Coale her 500th career victory.

OU led 61-46 with 1:35 left in the third quarter after an 8-1 run. But Tech scored 14 of the game’s next 16 points going into the fourth quarter, eventually trimming the deficit to 69-68 with 2:54 left off a pair of Adams’ free throws.

The Sooners (10-8, 3-3 Big 12) led by five with 1:15 remaining, but gave up an offensive rebound

that led to Adams’ fourth and final 3-pointer, and Chrislynn Carr’s two free throws tied the game at 75 with 25 seconds left.

Robertson missed a 3 in the final seconds, forcing overtime.

That was just enough of an opportunity for Tech to finish its comeback. The Red Raiders (13-4, 2-4) outscored OU 14-9 in the final period, shooting 4 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line.

Williams missed a 3-pointer at OU’s end that could have tied the game in the final seconds.

Simpson’s career night was also one of her most efficient as a Sooner, despite six turnovers. She made 7 of 9 shots, 5 of 6 from the line and added nine rebounds and six assists.

OU travels to Kansas State on Saturday.

 

[atlantasooner]

Anyone care to make a guess on OU's final record now that we have seen some Big 12 play??

 

[Soonercuda]

Right now without Ana we are dependent on Taylor making shots. She shot well in the first half of both the TCU and Tech games and we were in shape to win both games. But in both second halves Taylor struggled shooting and when she struggles we are below average. We need Ana to get better to give us another scoring option...we have missed her the last two games. With all the minutes Taylor has to play now I wonder if she is wearing down in the second half.

 

[SKSooner]

right now without ana we are dependent on taylor making shots. She shot well in the first half of both the tcu and tech games and we were in shape to win both games. But in both second halves taylor struggled shooting and when she struggles we are below average. We need ana to get better to give us another scoring option...we have missed her the last two games. With all the minutes taylor has to play now i wonder if she is wearing down in the second half.

this is spot on. 100%.

 

[SoonerSpock]

When you are payed all but 2 minutes against WVU and 1 minute against Tech in 6 conference games you are definitely being overworked. She played all 40 minutes against Baylor, OSU, ISU and TCU.

Of course with Ana out the team is more dependent on Taylor and she is taking a lot of rushed, forced shots with a hand in her face. Kind of damned if you do and damned if you don't. But the real difficulty last night was Tech had 22 points off of turnovers and OU had 5.

https://soonersports.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2019-20/texas-tech/boxscore/10590

 

[soonermike22]

I was at the TCU game and definitely thought OU was playing tired in the 4th Q. Just looking at the stats of the TT game, we got outscored in the 4th to tie it, and in OT to lose.
Just one more coaching criticism, but a HC has to sub enough to keep playing's from being gassed and losing the game in the latter part of games. I think we have failed to do that. I understand not having depth, but their are ways to use subs around TV timeouts and
quarters to give longer rests to players.

 

[betterstill]

Gotta get Llanusa back. Opponents can harass Robertson to death and have to worry about Llanusa taking advantage of the gaps they leave when doing this. Williams is excellent but we need more.

 

[scrybe]

This loss was one of the most frustrating (at least for me) in a long time. We had the game under control, should have won it, and let it get away from us in the last 11-12 minutes.

While I agree it's probably true that Taylor was tired in the second half from being chased and hounded constantly, in my opinion it wasn't poor shooting or lack of scoring that doomed us. It was those 23 turnovers. We scored plenty of points and multiple players were in double figures. But we lost because we kept giving the ball back to TT. To their credit they took advantage of our inability to protect the ball.

 

[sooner8693]

I posted several weeks ago that as a coach I would be concerned about how far in to the season TR and Mandy S could go while playing the entire game every game. It has got to be taking a toll on the legs and probably mentally as well.

 

[scrybe]

Taylor scored 26 points and Mandy had what soonersports.com described as a "career game." So there is that.

 

[SoonerSpock]

Taylor scored 26 points and Mandy had what soonersports.com described as a "career game." So there is that.

But Taylor went 3/12 and 6/19 BTA the last 2 games for 29% after averaging 48% BTA the first 16 games. Is that an indication of tired legs, better defenses or poor shooting. I suspect all of the above. That and she has upped her shots BTA with Ana on the bench by 60% and most of those shots to me appear to be contested, forced shots that she normally would not take.

 

[scrybe]

But Taylor went 3/12 and 6/19 BTA the last 2 games for 29% after averaging 48% BTA the first 16 games. Is that an indication of tired legs, better defenses or poor shooting. I suspect all of the above. That and she has upped her shots BTA with Ana on the bench by 60% and most of those shots to me appear to be contested, forced shots that she normally would not take.

Nothing there that I would disagree with.

Still, I believe poor ball security was the chief reason for the loss to TT.

 

[SoonerSpock]

Nothing there that I would disagree with.

Still, I believe poor ball security was the chief reason for the loss to TT.

No question Tech scored 22 points off of turnovers. OU scored 5. You just do not win games when you have 23 TOs. Despite the win in Pukeville when we had 30. There is always an anomaly that defies the norm.

 

[TheMont]

I'm assuming no one here was willing to pay for Texas Tech's premium streaming service, so we don't really know how, exactly, TTU's comeback occurred. But gassing out and turnovers are a reasonable assumption.

Unfortunately, this loss washes out our comeback win at Stillwater.

Desperately need Ana back.