Sooners W BB EARN a big victory 99-91 over BYU!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Women's Basketball Team EARNED a tough win in LNC last night over the #16/#17 ranked BYU Cougars 99-91 in 1-overtime.

They EARNED the victory by coming back from an early deficit in the first quarter as the Sooners could not buy a buy a bucket for over 4 minutes in the quarter. The Sooners rushed out to a 7-4 lead in the first minute and a half before going cold and trailing 19-9 four and half minutes later. The only bucket in those minutes was a Williams jumper. OU closed the quarter with a 10-7 run highlighted by two 3-pointers by Llanusa and Robertson. Williams led the Sooner offense in the 1st quarter with 8 points. Llanusa had 6. The Sooners committed 6 turnovers in the quarter and twice had several chances down low to make a bucket and came away with 0 points. BYU shot well in the first quarter as they were 11 of 20 in the first quarter with 3 treys from the field. The first quarter was a rough one for the Sooners but they managed to only trail by 7 points.

OU played well to open the 2nd quarter. The Sooners had closed to within 3 points on a 2-point field goal by Robertson at the 4:47 mark. (5 different Sooners scored during this 10-6 run.) BYU responded with a traditional 3-point play by Gonzales to push their lead back to 6. OU scored on 3 free throws to get back within 3 with a about 3 1/2 minutes left in the half. At the 3:17 mark of the 2nd quarter, Llanusa was attempting to score on a right handed layup when she didn't jump well on the shot and fell to the floor along the baseline. You could hear her distress as the crowd fell silent. While the coaches and trainers attended to Llanusa for a while she was sitting on her knees with her feet under her and leaning forward. I thought that was a strange position for her to be in if it was a severe knee injury. After she stretched out lying on her back, the staff got her up slowly and she was assisted to the bench by coaches. It looked like Llanusa was unable to put much weight on her right foot. This was not a good sign for the Sooners in a tough game with a little over a half left to play. Llanusa sat on the bench at first but before the half as over, she was helped to the locker room. Coach Baranczyk added no additional information about Llanusa in her post-game comments.

After the injury timeout, BYU scored on a 3-pointer by Graham. (She had 10 3-point buckets for BYU.) A Tucker bucket for OU and a 3-point bucket by Tot sandwiched a single free throw by BYU to make the score 39-37 BYU. An OU foul allowed 2 free throws for BYU to end the half at 41-37 with BYU leading. Tot led the Sooner scoring in the 2Q with 6 points. Robertson had 4 with Scott, Llanusa, Williams and Tucker each adding 2 each. The lone 3-point bucket was by Tot.

OU started the second half with Washington, Tucker, Robertson, Williams and Lampkin on the floor. As the 3rd got starter a key thing happened in the game I thought. Williams fouled for the 3rd time in the game at the 9:39 mark. Williams had stayed out of foul trouble in the first half until, the last two minutes when she picked up 2 quick fouls. With 3 fouls, with basically 2 quarters remaining, Williams would have to be careful with the team already without Llanusa. BYU got the first bucket of the quarter to go up by 6 once again. Williams converted a nice 3-pointer for OU which started a 7-2 run for the Sooners with 2 additional buckets by Lampkin and Tucker to give the Sooners the lead at 44-43. On the next trip down the floor, Coach Baranczyk removed Williams from the game with the Sooners ahead to save a crucial 4th foul by Williams. The OU team responded with a 9-2 run behind 6 free throws (4 by Washington, 2 by Tucker) and a 3-pointer by Vann to hold a 53-45 lead in the game 4:54 left in the quarter. Things looked pretty good at that point for the Sooners.

But BYU showed their poise and talent as they scored 11 straight points to retake the lead 56-53. OU helped BYU with 3 turnovers during the Cougar run. A key Robertson 3-pointer stopped the BYU run and tied the game at 56-all. All night long BYU had a player in Robertson's face no matter where she was on the offensive end. The 3-point bucker was Robertson's 7th point of the game. Lampkin capped the scoring in the quarter with a nice layup to give OU the lead to end the quarter at 58-56. The lead by the Sooners was EARNED by their play in the third quarter.

Williams had re-entered the game with less than a minute to play in the 3rd quarter. When the 4th started, Williams lead the Sooners 9 points of the first 11 for the Sooners. After an opening 3-point bucket by Tucker, Williams scored on a jumper for 2, a bucket in the paint and a 3-pointer from the outside to give the Sooners an 8 point lead 68-60. Once again BYU responded with a 7-point run that ended with another Graham 3-pointer to make the score 68-67 with OU leading. Williams drew a foul at the 5:54 mark and made 2 free throws to raise the lead to 3. In the next BYU trip down the floor, Williams picked up her fourth foul and was replaced by Lampkin. Two three point plays followed by the Sooners. One a traditional 3-pointer by Tot and the second, a rare 3-point play by Robertson on a post up move down low where she made the bucket and a free throw after a foul to give the Sooners a 76-69 lead with 4:32 remaining to play. BYU once again went on a 8-2 run behind two Graham 3-pointers to trail by only 1 point. Robertson scored on her third 3-pointer of the game at the 2:36 mark to give OU a 4 point lead. Williams was re-entered into the game 10 seconds later. BYU re-took the led behind 2 more 3-point buckets by Harding and Graham at 83-81. Skyler Vann scored in the paint on a nice pass from Williams to tie the game with 49 seconds left. The 4th quarter ended with Harding driving down the middle of the lane and lifting the ball towards the basket on a running shot at the last second. The ball did roll inside the rim on the left side but the momentum of the ball caused the ball to spin and roll out on the right side of the bucket where Williams rebounded the ball. Tie ball game, 83-83.

The overtime period started with Washington scoring on two free throws (out of four tosses) to open the scoring. BYU scored on a shot in the paint to re-tie the game. Robertson then recorded her 4th 3-pointer of the game to give OU the lead once again. Two buckets and two free throws by BYU built a 3 point lead for the Cougars, 91-88, with 2:47 left in OT. After the second made free throw, Tot managed to take the ball down the court and beat the majority of the BYU team to the bucket for a layup for an important score. At the 1:10 mark, Williams was left open on the left side standing at the 3-point line. She nailed the shot to give the Sooners the lead for good. Tucker scored in the paint soon after and Robertson closed the scoring with 2 sets of two free throws as BYU was forced to foul. OU won 99-91 in a tough hard fought game between two pretty strong good teams.

Williams led the scoring with 25 with 14 rebounds. A double-double is beginning to be a regular thing for Williams. Robertson scored 23 on only 8 shots from the field. She was 7 of 7 from the free throw line. Two players that stepped up and played well for the Sooners tonight were Tot and Tucker. Both scored 11 points as they both played 32 minutes taking up the minutes for Llanusa. Tucker also added 7 rebounds. Washington and Llanusa added 8 points each and Vann added 7 along with 9 rebounds.

OU outrebounded BYU 39 to 27. The Sooners shot better from the field, the 3-point line and the charity stripe also. OU had 11 steals and 19 assists versus 23 turnovers.

Williams played very well last night. Robertson added a great deal on limited shots. Tot and Tucker also played well. A friend made the comment that he thought Tot was very poised and that she probably learned a great deal last year playing in so many close games last year. I agree with his thoughts. Tot just seems to be 'in control' when she is on the floor.

Where do the Sooners go from here? Llanusa's injury will be key. she was back on the court sitting on the bench with a brace on her right knee and with crutches. She was getting around with her ice pack on the knee but she was not moving quickly by any description. The Sooners play in 11 days against Utah who is likely to be 8-2 at that point. Utah lost earlier this year to BYU by 5 points 85-80. The next game after that is on the 29th of December against Wichita State who is currently 7-2. That is two games in 19 days. That should give OU time to diagnose the injury for Llanusa. If the news is good, maybe she can play against Wichita State in the last tune-up before beginning the tough Big 12 play. If the injury to Llanusa is something that does not allow her to play, someone will have to step up for the Sooners. I am not sure it is possible to replace what Llanusa does with one player. But between a couple players maybe the loss of the positive production of Llanusa can be minimized. I think Washington, Tot and Tucker will be key in doing that. Another possible player that could help is Gregory. she has been a scorer and has played well for the Sooners. She as on the bench again last night but not dressed out. She moves like she could play. I wish I knew what her status was. If she can begin to play and play well, that would be a big boost for the Sooners. To state the obvious, Williams and Robertson will be very important if Llanusa can not play.

As I said, the Sooners EARNED the win in just about every way. The TEAM EARNED the win while playing without Llanusa and Williams both during important stretches of the 3rd and 4th quarters. They showed a great deal of resiliency and more depth than I might have thought the Sooners had. It was a BIG win for the Sooners considering everything.

The attendance was shown as 1,527 for the game. I imagine that each one will return. On the way out of LNC I heard to male students saying that they were glad they cam to watch the women's team and that they were surprised about enjoying the game. I think others would be in that boat if they would come to a game.

Here is the staff article about the game.

https://soonersports.com/news/2021/12/1 ... orman.aspx

Boomer Sooner!