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Sooner women learning to manage lack of frontcourt depth
Vionise Pierre-Louis spent time in November answering questions about what life might be like playing extensive minutes for Oklahoma.
So far — with five games left until the postseason — so good.
The bench behind OU’s senior center remains thin, but Pierre-Louis worked through another battle inside during a 74-65 loss at No. 3 Baylor on Monday.
She scored 19 points and blocked five shots against the Bears and their star post players Lauren Cox and Kalani Brown.
“I’m doing a great job this year of keeping healthy,” Pierre-Louis said. “I take care of my body before games, after games, so it’s not really a wear and tear on my body. It’s just fatigue, stamina and sustaining it throughout the game.”
Pierre-Louis’ 15.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game lead OU, and keeping her fresh will make a big difference in OU’s run at a 19th straight NCAA tournament.
Instead of participating in some of the team’s sprints in practice, she’ll do sit-ups and catch medicine-ball passes from student manager Sierra Bailey to limit her knees and back.
Otherwise, heading into Saturday’s 7 p.m. game at Kansas, Pierre-Louis is ready for extensive action. She’s averaging 26.3 minutes per game. “She can still play 30, for sure,” OU coach Sherri Coale said.
Lately when Pierre-Louis can’t play as many minutes, or is off the floor at key times, Sooner forward Ijeoma Odimgbe has emerged as a key factor.
The junior struggled to find the court in December but has played at least 10
minutes in each of the last three games, including a near season-high 15 minutes at Baylor.
Odimgbe blocked three shots in 10 minutes last week against West Virginia. Her basketball mind is catching up with her athleticism, according to Coale.
“For a while there the game was just so fast for her. She was mentally behind the play and you couldn’t always see this great athleticism. Now you’re starting to see it because she’s more in the moment, she’s more aware,” Coale said.
Pierre-Louis could achieve perfect stamina and perhaps still find herself sitting on the bench. She averages nearly four fouls per Big 12 game and fouled out of three straight at one point in January.
Odimgbe has quietly improved in the process.
“Me being in foul trouble almost forces her to do that. She’s growing 10 times more than what she would in practice. I’m just excited for her,” Pierre-Louis said.
Her minutes were important against Baylor, too, a game OU had tied at 60 with just over five minutes left. The Sooners had the ball down 64-63 near the two-minute mark before the upset opportunity evaporated down the stretch.
It was nothing to celebrate, but served as a good sign to Coale that some of the Sooners’ struggles are turning around. One of the obstacles has been lack of front-court depth, which Pierre-Louis and Odimgbe seem to be in the process of figuring out.
“Our execution in the second half was pretty bold and pretty sure [at Baylor]. Defensively we cleaned up the problems we had in the first quarter and guarded ‘em really well,” Coale said. “I still think we can play better. There are lots of really good things.”
Vionise Pierre-Louis spent time in November answering questions about what life might be like playing extensive minutes for Oklahoma.
So far — with five games left until the postseason — so good.
The bench behind OU’s senior center remains thin, but Pierre-Louis worked through another battle inside during a 74-65 loss at No. 3 Baylor on Monday.
She scored 19 points and blocked five shots against the Bears and their star post players Lauren Cox and Kalani Brown.
“I’m doing a great job this year of keeping healthy,” Pierre-Louis said. “I take care of my body before games, after games, so it’s not really a wear and tear on my body. It’s just fatigue, stamina and sustaining it throughout the game.”
Pierre-Louis’ 15.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game lead OU, and keeping her fresh will make a big difference in OU’s run at a 19th straight NCAA tournament.
Instead of participating in some of the team’s sprints in practice, she’ll do sit-ups and catch medicine-ball passes from student manager Sierra Bailey to limit her knees and back.
Otherwise, heading into Saturday’s 7 p.m. game at Kansas, Pierre-Louis is ready for extensive action. She’s averaging 26.3 minutes per game. “She can still play 30, for sure,” OU coach Sherri Coale said.
Lately when Pierre-Louis can’t play as many minutes, or is off the floor at key times, Sooner forward Ijeoma Odimgbe has emerged as a key factor.
The junior struggled to find the court in December but has played at least 10
minutes in each of the last three games, including a near season-high 15 minutes at Baylor.
Odimgbe blocked three shots in 10 minutes last week against West Virginia. Her basketball mind is catching up with her athleticism, according to Coale.
“For a while there the game was just so fast for her. She was mentally behind the play and you couldn’t always see this great athleticism. Now you’re starting to see it because she’s more in the moment, she’s more aware,” Coale said.
Pierre-Louis could achieve perfect stamina and perhaps still find herself sitting on the bench. She averages nearly four fouls per Big 12 game and fouled out of three straight at one point in January.
Odimgbe has quietly improved in the process.
“Me being in foul trouble almost forces her to do that. She’s growing 10 times more than what she would in practice. I’m just excited for her,” Pierre-Louis said.
Her minutes were important against Baylor, too, a game OU had tied at 60 with just over five minutes left. The Sooners had the ball down 64-63 near the two-minute mark before the upset opportunity evaporated down the stretch.
It was nothing to celebrate, but served as a good sign to Coale that some of the Sooners’ struggles are turning around. One of the obstacles has been lack of front-court depth, which Pierre-Louis and Odimgbe seem to be in the process of figuring out.
“Our execution in the second half was pretty bold and pretty sure [at Baylor]. Defensively we cleaned up the problems we had in the first quarter and guarded ‘em really well,” Coale said. “I still think we can play better. There are lots of really good things.”
