SOONERS OPEN SEASON ON ROAD AT SOUTH DAKOTA

[OU_Tom]

[MsProudSooner]

South Dakota is ranked as #5 in the Women's Mid-Major Basketball Top 25.

https://collegeinsider.com/womens-mid-major-top-25

[OU_Tom]

Game time. Here are your starters

[OU_Tom]

Wow. OU wins it at the wire

[OU_Tom]

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/ ... 349393001/

[OU_Tom]

https://soonersports.com/news/2021/11/9 ... o-win.aspx

Here is link to sooner sports game highlights
https://soonersports.com/watch/?Archive ... pe=Archive

[OUBeliever56A]

I watched the game last night on ESPN+ with one eye as I was doing other things. Here are my captures from the game.

= The Sooners won a tough road game against a good team with a strong vocal crowd against them. The Sooners never let them selves concede to the South Dakota team and crowd. Down the stretch when pushed hard by the Coyotes, the Sooners found a way to maintain the lead and win the game and therefore breaking a 20-game home winning streak for South Dakota. this was a good win for the Sooners.
= Last night the trio of M Williams #23, T Robertson #30 and A Llanusa #22 scored 55 points to keep up with the effort of the South Dakota trio of Korngable #2, Lamb #22 and Shervin #34 with 58 points.
= The Sooners overcame a barrage of turnovers early in the game (many were traveling calls) in the first half to 37-33 at half time. the 21 total turnovers by the Sooners need to be reduced going forward.
= The Sooners still have some issues down low with their F-C players. It looks like to me that OU can play on the perimeter with Williams, Robertson and Llanusa. To be a strong team, the post game and rebounding needs to be strong as well. the Coyotes outrebounded the Sooners 41-39 last night. Early in the game OU struggled to get a rebound let alone win the rebound contest.
= I thought Coach Baranczyk managed the game well and her disposition on the sidelines was outstanding. She remained positive and handled substitutions and rotations well especially early. Williams and Washington's foul troubles were handled well by Coach 'B'.
= The offense was a bit of a struggle last night but when the Sooners finally got the ball to Williams (3:20 minutes into the game) the offense got on track. Williams is instant offense if she is one-on-one against a defender. OU could not go wrong having Williams get the ball in scoring position about 60% of the time. Llanusa stepped up and played very well at a time when Williams was in foul trouble and Robertson was having trouble finding spots on the floor. Llanusa's effort was a strong one following a year missed due to injury. Robertson is a classic spot shooter with a quick release. If the two point guards Washington and Tot can penetrate to Robertson's side and kick the ball out to Robertson, there will be lots of 3's going in the scorebook. Robertson made the most of her touches for the most part on 5 of 11 and 4 of 9 3-point shooting. Svoboda, #33, may have played the best amongst the OU 'bigs' but she needs to work hard on position on rebounds. Vann, #24, had a decent outing in the paint as well and shot free throws well (4 for 4).
= On defense, the Sooners were erratic I thought. South Dakota was very efficient on offense and utilized their player's strength well. Playing defense on Korngable and Lamb was a tough thing as they just never give up on a play or a scoring attempt. Defensive rebounding needs to be emphasized as South Dakota easily got offensive rebounds by hustle and effort I thought. Robertson led the Sooners with 8 rebounds last night. While that is a strong effort by Robertson, it can not become the norm.

I think the Sooner women can be a fun team to watch with their quickness at the guard position and the trio of Williams, Llanusa and Robertson leading the way. If they can find a couple strong players in the paint and work hard on defense they can be a stronger team in 2021-2022.

Boomer Sooner!