Oklahoma Sooners Women's BB Exhibition Game Tonight - 6 PM

[OUBeliever56A]

The 2022-2023 Women's Basketball Season 'opens' tonight in Lloyd Noble Center at 6 PM with an exhibition game against Emporia State. Here is the staff writers article about the game tonight.

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/11/1 ... oria-state.

I am sure many fans of the Women's Basketball Team is exited to see the second edition of the of Coach Baranczyk's Sooners tonight. I know I am. My expectations are sky high for the team this season. The Sooners only lost Lampkin, Gregory and White from last year's team while adding the transfer, Joens and the four talented freshman joining the team. I think the depth of this team will be amazing and that they can play the game several ways when needed.

Good luck to the team tonight as the season 'opens', The game will be able to be seen via ESPN+ if you cannot be at LNC.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners introduced Nevaeh Tot, Ana Llanusa, Taylor Robertson, Madi Williams and Liz Scott as the Sooner starters against Emporia State in their exhibition game on Thursday night. Nine other Sooners played in the game with 2 Sooner players not dressed. Kaley Perkins was in attendance but not dressed out. She showed no signs of an injury that I could tell. Kelbie Washington was not at the game that I could identify last night. The crowd was a bit sparse last night but had some energy when OU played well.

Last night the Sooners struggled with Emporia State last night. The Sooners started slowly with cold shooting early. Emporia State led 17-15 after the first quarter which was surprising. Oklahoma started to take control in the 2nd quarter with a 26 point quarter and led 41 to 35 at half time. The second half started very quickly for the Sooners with strong defensively play led by Nevaeh Tot as she had a couple steals and strong offense to open the half. Down the stretch, the Sooners did play pretty well with some effective depth and talent. The Sooners won the game 90-67 in a deceptive score that indicates better play than the Sooners actually provided, IMO.

After the starters, the second wave of Sooner players included Reyna Scott (G), Kennedy Tucker (G), Skylar Vann (F), Kiersten Johnson (F/C) and Aubrey Joens (G) and Beatrice Culliton (C). Rounding out the play in the final minutes were Kayla Cooper (G), Jordan Moser and Emma Svoboda.

I thought that the players that played well, or as I expected them to, last night were Llanusa, Tot, Tucker, Vann and Liz. Scott. Llanusa looked like about 90-95% of her excellent play in 2021-2022 but she still was quick, energetic and looked ready-to play. Tot was at her best last night I thought in many ways. She has seemed to up her game starting in mid-season last year. Tucker just played very solid last night in her non-starter role. She does not make many mistakes at all and adds a defensive presence for the Sooners. Vann just plays well to me. She plays taller than she is, she can shoot and she rebounds. She did play 'inside' last night instead of the usual outside on the perimeter game she played last year a good portion of the time. Scott just consistently does what she does inside and contributing in a strong supportive player.

Veteran players Robertson and Williams did not look enthused last night to me. Williams had a couple of moments where she was the All-American player that she can be but those were few. Robertson looked a bit stiff and even slow at times last night. She was 1 for 10 shooting in the game and 1 for 9 from 3-point range. Newcomer freshmen Johnson, Reyna Scott, Culliton and transfer Joens all showed that they can help the Sooners this season. I think that Reyna Scott may provide the most impact as she looks to be a scorer that is still fitting into the offense from the outside. She can go to the bucket and score it looks like to me. Johnson and Culliton are different players inside, but both have up-side. Culliton to me is the classic post-up center on both ends of the court. I thought she worked hard and has some fire inside of her. Johnson is long and lanky and maybe still growing into her skills. It will interesting to see if she can be an outside-big player and the long-inside-big player that can help the Sooners. Joens is a opportunistic guard that can shoot the 3 and hustle her way into a game's important moments at times. Kayla Cooper (FR-G) played just a bit last night and showed some quickness and good play during that time. Inside players Emma Svoboda and Jordan Moser both got minutes also as the Coach Baranzyck cleared the bench in the final minutes of the game. Svoboda still looks like an solid inside player to me.

I understand it was an exhibition game last night and that the game was more for the newer players than the veterans, but the Sooners will need to step up their game on Monday at 4 PM against Oral Roberts University to open with a strong performance to open the season. I would expect the same starting lineup on Monday afternoon with 6 others playing good minutes. Those six are Tucker, R Scott, Joens outside and Vann, Johnson and Culliton inside. A lineup that I am interested to see play the up-tempo full count full-speed Sooner style of play is Tot, R Scott, Llanusa, Williams and Vann. All five can shoot, play defense and run with high efficiency. It is a small lineup, but most ever team would have a problem matching up with that five. With Robertson and either Johnson or Culliton added to that bunch, the Sooners could be 7 deep playing high-speed, high scoring high-energy basketball.

Good luck to the Sooners on Monday night in LNC at 4 PM.

Boomer Sooner!

[SoonerMike]

I thought the team showed typical early season problems with poor shooting, passes not quite in sync, and working in new players. The positives were great effort on defense with lots of good body position to cut off driving lanes and use of hands to deflect passes and dribbles, including lots of tie-ups. Freshmen Johnson. Culliton, and R Scott showed great promise as did transfer Joens. They looked like a top 25 team with uptempo style that was a bit ragged early in the season. With the depth we have, playing time will be a problem for coaches and players, but nice to have too much depth rather than not enough.
I think we will be better this year than last, and when Madi and TRob play up like the All Conference players they are, we will be formidable