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Oklahoma women seek growth, hope offensive woes are in the past
Tyler Palmateer
CNHI Sports Oklahoma @TPalmateer83
Oklahoma wants its women’s basketball practices to feel the same every day, regardless of where the Sooners stand in the winloss column.
Four straight losses can challenge that mindset.
The Sooner coaches and players caught themselves pressing during games over the course of a recent losing streak, coach Sherri Coale admitted.
Much of that pressure was released after OU busted a shooting slump in a victory over then-No. 16 South Florida last week.
It has OU (4-5) feeling better about itself going into Saturday’s 2 p.m. home game against unbeaten New Mexico (11-0).
“We made some plays and executed, and confidence comes from demonstrated ability,” Coale said. “Once you do it, you’re like, ‘OK, that wasn’t that hard. I can do that again.’ The mental focus sort of shifts from making mistakes to making plays.”
Scoring the basketball helps, too.
OU didn’t shoot better than 37 percent from the field in consecutive losses to Oregon, Little Rock, Florida and South Dakota State.
Senior guard Gabi Ortiz made eight 3s and finished with 31 points as the Sooners shot 53.8 percent against South Florida. It was OU’s second-best output this season and the key reason why confidence, not uncertainty, is beginning to circulate the locker room again.
What broke the spell?
Senior center Vionise Pierre-Louis’ return helped. She scored 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting against the Bulls after missing one game due to an undisclosed injury.
Also, redshirt junior guard Gileysa Penzo, one
of the team’s more knowledgeable passers on offense and best communicators on defense, provided a spark in the starting lineup.
Coale described the evolution of a shooting slump as beginning with missed good looks — OU struggled hitting layups at one point recently — and ending with individual players forcing bad shots 1-on-1 situations.
“Now you go away from even getting [good shots],” Coale said, “and trying to do it a different way.”
Penzo helped halt the trend in just her second career start, showcasing ability to reverse the ball, or “the vanilla-part-of-theprocess pass that makes offense have rhythm and cadence,” as Coale put it.
With Penzo on the floor, Ortiz noticed a difference in the shots she was getting, but added that South Florida also left her open at times.
“[Penzo’s] play was fantastic and it really helped our offense. … I think the ball movement was better with her. She knows where to get the ball,” Ortiz said.
Penzo is a projected starter against the Lobos, who average 88.1 points per game and own a victory over then-No. 16 Marquette.
An OU victory would do more than mark just backto- back quality wins. The Sooners could use another positive performance ahead of next week’s trip to No. 1 Connecticut.
No one wants to start another losing streak.
“It really tests your gut,” Ortiz said. “It tests your character, how committed you really are to it. We could have just felt sorry for ourselves and came out again, and lost again and kept it going. There were several moments in that South Florida game where we could’ve curled up in a ball like we did before, and could have gone another direction.
“I’m just happy we turned it the other way.”
Tyler Palmateer
CNHI Sports Oklahoma @TPalmateer83
Oklahoma wants its women’s basketball practices to feel the same every day, regardless of where the Sooners stand in the winloss column.
Four straight losses can challenge that mindset.
The Sooner coaches and players caught themselves pressing during games over the course of a recent losing streak, coach Sherri Coale admitted.
Much of that pressure was released after OU busted a shooting slump in a victory over then-No. 16 South Florida last week.
It has OU (4-5) feeling better about itself going into Saturday’s 2 p.m. home game against unbeaten New Mexico (11-0).
“We made some plays and executed, and confidence comes from demonstrated ability,” Coale said. “Once you do it, you’re like, ‘OK, that wasn’t that hard. I can do that again.’ The mental focus sort of shifts from making mistakes to making plays.”
Scoring the basketball helps, too.
OU didn’t shoot better than 37 percent from the field in consecutive losses to Oregon, Little Rock, Florida and South Dakota State.
Senior guard Gabi Ortiz made eight 3s and finished with 31 points as the Sooners shot 53.8 percent against South Florida. It was OU’s second-best output this season and the key reason why confidence, not uncertainty, is beginning to circulate the locker room again.
What broke the spell?
Senior center Vionise Pierre-Louis’ return helped. She scored 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting against the Bulls after missing one game due to an undisclosed injury.
Also, redshirt junior guard Gileysa Penzo, one
of the team’s more knowledgeable passers on offense and best communicators on defense, provided a spark in the starting lineup.
Coale described the evolution of a shooting slump as beginning with missed good looks — OU struggled hitting layups at one point recently — and ending with individual players forcing bad shots 1-on-1 situations.
“Now you go away from even getting [good shots],” Coale said, “and trying to do it a different way.”
Penzo helped halt the trend in just her second career start, showcasing ability to reverse the ball, or “the vanilla-part-of-theprocess pass that makes offense have rhythm and cadence,” as Coale put it.
With Penzo on the floor, Ortiz noticed a difference in the shots she was getting, but added that South Florida also left her open at times.
“[Penzo’s] play was fantastic and it really helped our offense. … I think the ball movement was better with her. She knows where to get the ball,” Ortiz said.
Penzo is a projected starter against the Lobos, who average 88.1 points per game and own a victory over then-No. 16 Marquette.
An OU victory would do more than mark just backto- back quality wins. The Sooners could use another positive performance ahead of next week’s trip to No. 1 Connecticut.
No one wants to start another losing streak.
“It really tests your gut,” Ortiz said. “It tests your character, how committed you really are to it. We could have just felt sorry for ourselves and came out again, and lost again and kept it going. There were several moments in that South Florida game where we could’ve curled up in a ball like we did before, and could have gone another direction.
“I’m just happy we turned it the other way.”
