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By Ryan Aber
Staff writer raber@oklahoman.com
NORMAN — OU freshman Gabby Gregory doesn’t want a repeat of the last Bedlam meeting.
In that game, Jan. 8 in Stillwater, the Sooners came back from a 13-point deficit with 2:18 to play to stun the Cowgirls.
“I hope that it doesn’t have to come down to that,” Gregory said. “I hope we come out here and we just punch them in the face from the start.
“Just being an Oklahoma kid, you want to beat Oklahoma State in everything you do, no matter what you’re playing.”
Gregory grew up in the Tulsa area, regularly making the trip down I-44 to watch the Sooners.
Football, basketball, softball — it didn’t matter the sport, she was there.
“Ever since I could walk,” Gregory said.
Now a freshman on the women’s basketball team, Gregory is living her dream and playing a big role for the Sooners heading into Tuesday’s Bedlam game in Norman.
She’s looking forward to her first home Bedlam experience and isn’t one to shy away from the importance of the game.
“Just having all those OSU fans and that ugly color everywhere, it was just a different feeling,” Gregory said of the first meeting. “You can’t describe it. It’s just different from all the other Big 12 games you play.”
Gregory has become one of OU’s most important pieces, moving into the starting lineup nine games into the season and showing steady improvement on both ends of the floor — especially defensively.
Gregory readily admits she didn’t play much defense at Tulsa’s Holland Hall High School.
“I’ve been able to play defense, I just never had to,” Gregory said. “It was always, ‘You have to be on offense so on defense is where you rest.’”
Sooners coach Sherri Coale will regularly share clips with Gregory of things she needs to polish.
In a game earlier this season, Gregory struggled at defending on the weak side and Coale pointed it out with a clip.
“Every day in practice, I was always making sure I was there (where she needed to be) because I did not want it to be my fault if the post caught the ball or somebody drove,” Gregory said.
That attention to detail, and ability to grasp concepts quickly, have brought Gregory along quicker than most freshmen.
“There have absolutely been some mountains that she’s run into and she pops back for a minute, ‘Woah, I’ve got to be good defensively every night. I’m not going to let that happen again,’” Coale said. “That steadiness or what resolve to, ‘All right, I can fix that,’ is what has propelled her. Because it’s one thing and then she fixes it and then there’s something else and then she fixes it.
“Her ability to not get caught in the Groundhog Day cycle (is impressive).”
Staff writer raber@oklahoman.com
NORMAN — OU freshman Gabby Gregory doesn’t want a repeat of the last Bedlam meeting.
In that game, Jan. 8 in Stillwater, the Sooners came back from a 13-point deficit with 2:18 to play to stun the Cowgirls.
“I hope that it doesn’t have to come down to that,” Gregory said. “I hope we come out here and we just punch them in the face from the start.
“Just being an Oklahoma kid, you want to beat Oklahoma State in everything you do, no matter what you’re playing.”
Gregory grew up in the Tulsa area, regularly making the trip down I-44 to watch the Sooners.
Football, basketball, softball — it didn’t matter the sport, she was there.
“Ever since I could walk,” Gregory said.
Now a freshman on the women’s basketball team, Gregory is living her dream and playing a big role for the Sooners heading into Tuesday’s Bedlam game in Norman.
She’s looking forward to her first home Bedlam experience and isn’t one to shy away from the importance of the game.
“Just having all those OSU fans and that ugly color everywhere, it was just a different feeling,” Gregory said of the first meeting. “You can’t describe it. It’s just different from all the other Big 12 games you play.”
Gregory has become one of OU’s most important pieces, moving into the starting lineup nine games into the season and showing steady improvement on both ends of the floor — especially defensively.
Gregory readily admits she didn’t play much defense at Tulsa’s Holland Hall High School.
“I’ve been able to play defense, I just never had to,” Gregory said. “It was always, ‘You have to be on offense so on defense is where you rest.’”
Sooners coach Sherri Coale will regularly share clips with Gregory of things she needs to polish.
In a game earlier this season, Gregory struggled at defending on the weak side and Coale pointed it out with a clip.
“Every day in practice, I was always making sure I was there (where she needed to be) because I did not want it to be my fault if the post caught the ball or somebody drove,” Gregory said.
That attention to detail, and ability to grasp concepts quickly, have brought Gregory along quicker than most freshmen.
“There have absolutely been some mountains that she’s run into and she pops back for a minute, ‘Woah, I’ve got to be good defensively every night. I’m not going to let that happen again,’” Coale said. “That steadiness or what resolve to, ‘All right, I can fix that,’ is what has propelled her. Because it’s one thing and then she fixes it and then there’s something else and then she fixes it.
“Her ability to not get caught in the Groundhog Day cycle (is impressive).”