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On the right foot
Fast finish, huge performances deliver Sooners opening victory
For about 33 1/2 minutes it was unclear what to make of coach Sherri Coale’s new look and horrendously young basketball team. Western Kentucky won 24 games and reached the NCAA tournament last season, yet was still picked only fourth in the Conference USA preseason coaches’ poll.
Then again, of the 12 players on Oklahoma’s roster, only four were even on campus a year ago and only two closed the season in the starting lineup.
So how would the Sooners respond when the Lady Toppers closed within seven points on back-to-back 3-pointers from Dee Givens with 6:47 remaining?
Very well, thank you.
Though the final score was the same sevenpoint differential — 9083 — WKU was never closer than those seven points and had to close on a 16-6 run just to do that.
In between, OU took the lead as far as 17 points, went on a 17-3 run from the 6:39 mark of the fourth quarter to the 2:31 mark of the fourth quarter, putting the game way on the tail end of three huge individual performances from a sophomore and two freshmen.
The sophomore is Shaina Pellington, who closed her freshman season in OU’s starting five and Friday finished with 33 points and nine rebounds.
Pellington made 10 of 24 shots, 3 of 9 3-pointers and 10 of 13 free throws. She may not have shot 50 percent, but she wasn’t playing hero ball either.
She could get about any shot she wanted and her 3-point stroke is legitimate. A year ago, she attempted just a trio of trifectas all season long. Her 33 points represented a program record for season openers, as well as the entire month of November.
Off the bench, shooting guard Taylor Robertson set a new Sooner freshman record with eight 3-pointers to finish with 24 points.
“That’s pretty cool, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Robertson said. “They were putting me in a great position to score.”
Meanwhile, fellow freshman Madi Williams, who’s bound to remind fans of former Sooner standout Amanda Thompson, finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Freshman point guard Tatum Veitenheimer added 11 points, all in the second half, canning 3 of 4 3-pointers along the way.
“I think we have a lot of options. I think versatility is a strength of ours,” Coale said. “The more they play together and the more they get a feel for one another in live competition, the better that’s going to be.”
Givens led WKU with 21 points. Merrill Abdelgawad added 17 and Raneem Elgedawy finished with 14.
Robertson’s first 3-pointer, with 5:36 remaining in the first quarter, gave the Sooners the lead for good.
It was a sloppy game filled with turnovers — 51 in all — yet by the time it was over, OU had offered a bit of what it might be able to do this season.
“I thought we did some really good things and we did some not-so-good things,” Coale said. “There were moments of brilliance and moments of recess.”
When it mattered most, there was more of the brilliance.
“I thought,” said Coale, “our guys handled it.”
Clay Horning
Senior Sports Columnist @ClayHorning
Fast finish, huge performances deliver Sooners opening victory
For about 33 1/2 minutes it was unclear what to make of coach Sherri Coale’s new look and horrendously young basketball team. Western Kentucky won 24 games and reached the NCAA tournament last season, yet was still picked only fourth in the Conference USA preseason coaches’ poll.
Then again, of the 12 players on Oklahoma’s roster, only four were even on campus a year ago and only two closed the season in the starting lineup.
So how would the Sooners respond when the Lady Toppers closed within seven points on back-to-back 3-pointers from Dee Givens with 6:47 remaining?
Very well, thank you.
Though the final score was the same sevenpoint differential — 9083 — WKU was never closer than those seven points and had to close on a 16-6 run just to do that.
In between, OU took the lead as far as 17 points, went on a 17-3 run from the 6:39 mark of the fourth quarter to the 2:31 mark of the fourth quarter, putting the game way on the tail end of three huge individual performances from a sophomore and two freshmen.
The sophomore is Shaina Pellington, who closed her freshman season in OU’s starting five and Friday finished with 33 points and nine rebounds.
Pellington made 10 of 24 shots, 3 of 9 3-pointers and 10 of 13 free throws. She may not have shot 50 percent, but she wasn’t playing hero ball either.
She could get about any shot she wanted and her 3-point stroke is legitimate. A year ago, she attempted just a trio of trifectas all season long. Her 33 points represented a program record for season openers, as well as the entire month of November.
Off the bench, shooting guard Taylor Robertson set a new Sooner freshman record with eight 3-pointers to finish with 24 points.
“That’s pretty cool, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Robertson said. “They were putting me in a great position to score.”
Meanwhile, fellow freshman Madi Williams, who’s bound to remind fans of former Sooner standout Amanda Thompson, finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Freshman point guard Tatum Veitenheimer added 11 points, all in the second half, canning 3 of 4 3-pointers along the way.
“I think we have a lot of options. I think versatility is a strength of ours,” Coale said. “The more they play together and the more they get a feel for one another in live competition, the better that’s going to be.”
Givens led WKU with 21 points. Merrill Abdelgawad added 17 and Raneem Elgedawy finished with 14.
Robertson’s first 3-pointer, with 5:36 remaining in the first quarter, gave the Sooners the lead for good.
It was a sloppy game filled with turnovers — 51 in all — yet by the time it was over, OU had offered a bit of what it might be able to do this season.
“I thought we did some really good things and we did some not-so-good things,” Coale said. “There were moments of brilliance and moments of recess.”
When it mattered most, there was more of the brilliance.
“I thought,” said Coale, “our guys handled it.”
Clay Horning
Senior Sports Columnist @ClayHorning
