1st Place OU Sooner Women BB'ers Host OSU in Bedlam Saturday Eve

[OUBeliever56A]

As the late game of a DH Saturday, the Oklahoma Sooner Women will host Oklahoma State in a Bedlam matchup at LNC at 6 PM on Saturday night in LNC. The Sooner Women are 5-1 in the Big 12 and hold first base in the conference all by themselves. Oklahoma State is 3-3 in the conference and are coming off of a loss at Ames against Iowa State on Wednesday night. The Sooners are 15-2 overall and are ranked 15th/12th and hold a NET rating of #43. Oklahoma State is unranked and holds a NET ranking of #47. It appears that the NET ranking and the polls are not seeing the game in the same way.

The game set for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+ with Chad McKee and Dan Hughes on the call. Brian Brinkley and Kevin Henry will call the action on the Sooner Radio Network (KREF 99.3 FM/1400 AM in Norman and KOKC 95.3 FM/1520 AM in OKC).

Here is the staff writers article about the Belam matchup.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/1/20 ... ble-center

Two milestones could be reached on Saturday night during the game. Ana Llanusa is 8 points away from scoring 1500 points for her career. Taylor Robertson has 493 made THREE's in her career. The All-Time career mark is 497 by the Ohio State player Kelsey Mitchell. T-Rob needs 4 to tie Mitchell and 5 to set a new mark.

The game itself looks to be a good matchup between the Sooners and the Cowgirls. OSU scores 76.9 PPG which is 10 points less than the Sooners. OSU allows 66.1 PPG. OU allows 74 PPG. Oklahoma wants to play at a faster pace than OSU but they are not far apart on style. Except for their free throws, OSU shoots just as well as the Sooners shoot on average. OU out-rebounds OSU by 8 boards per game. Both teams earn about the same number of offensive rebounds. OU holds slight edges in Assists, TO and Steals.

OSU is led 2 starting guards and a forward off the bench. Alnatas (G 5'7") and Chastain (G 6'0) score 13.8 and 11.9 PPG. Chastain pulls down 5.4 rebounds a game. 6th person, Garzon (F 6'1") adds 11.6 PPG and 3.6 boards. The other 3 starters for the Cowgirls average 9.8, 9.1 and 9.1 PPG. 17.6 rebounds as well. OSU starts 4 guards and 1 forward but soon swaps out to play a second forward (Garzon) about half of the time.

On defense against OSU, the Sooners will need to help Tot to keep the taller OSU guards from posting her up if the Sooners play a women-to-woman defense. Llanusa and Williams will likely match up with Alnatas and Chastain. When Garzon enters the game, the Sooners might need Tucker on the floor to match up with OSU. When OU runs their zone, they will have to cover the guards out front and watch Chastain on the elbows of the free shot line and be aware down low of the OSU bigs. The Sooners defense will be a key in the game I think. They have to stop OSU as much as possible. Staying out of foul trouble will be important for the Sooners as well by staying away from the reaching fouls.

On offense the Sooners need to run often and wisely by taking care of the ball. Shooting well will solve a lot of problems as well. The Sooners need to come out of the locker room ready to play and put up a 20+ 1st quarter to put OSU on their heels and then keep putting the pressure on. A third straight double-double by L Scott would be a good thing on Saturday. A Saturday that includes a trio of Williams-Llanusa-Robertson all scoring 17+ would also be very nice. The substitutes, Tucker, R Scott and Culliton may play important roles for the Sooners on Saturday. Tucker could help on defense against the 3 good offensive Cowgirls when they are all in the game. R Scott may be needed to relieve Tot on defense if OSU tries to post up Tot. Culliton may get some extra minutes inside if the Sooners pick up ticky tacky fouls. I think the was the game is called by the officials will be important. If it is called close, the game tempo could be slowed way down. If the officials let the two teams play, it should be an entertaining game.

The Sooners are coming off a really nice effort at TCU on Wednesday. The Sooners needs to build upon that effort and win over OSU in a second strong effort in a row.

Good luck to the Sooners on Saturday evening.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Big 12 Standings and Records for the Women's Big 12 teams before the action on Saturday and Sunday are below:

1st - Oklahoma - 5-1 and 15-2 overall. Ranked #15 by AP and #12 by Coaches. #42 in NET rankings.
T2nd - Baylor - 4-2 and 13-5 overall. Ranked #RV26 by AP and #24 by Coaches. #24 in NET rankings.
T2nd - Iowa State - 4-2 and 12-4 overall. Ranked #18 by AP and #17 by Coaches. #14 in NET rankings.
T2nd - Texas - 4-2 and 13-6 overall. Ranked #25 by AP and Coaches. #11 in NET rankings.
T5th - Kansas - 3-3 and 13-4 overall. Ranked #RV36 by AP and RV34 by Coaches. #30 in NET rankings.
T5th - Oklahoma State - 3-3 and 13-5 overall. Not ranked. #47 in NET rankings.
T5th - Texas Tech - 3-3 and 15-4 overall. Not ranked. #65 in NET rankings.
T5th - West Virginia - 3-3 and 12-5 overall. Ranked #RV37 in AP and not ranked by Coaches. #68 in NET rankings.
9th - Kansas State - 1-5 and 12-7 overall. Not ranked. #70 in NET rankings.
10th - Texas Christian - 0-6 and 6-11 overall. Not ranked. #145 in NET rankings.
The Bedlam game between OSU and Oklahoma tips off at 6 PM in LNC. Oklahoma seems to have hit their stride in 2023 the last couple of games. I think that will continue on Saturday evening. Oklahoma will win the game and remain a game in front of the rest of the Big 12 teams.

Six of the other teams will play on Saturday:

- Texas Tech visits West Virginia in a Noon tipoff (ESPN+) - Both teams have won 2 of their last 3 games. This is a toss up game for me. I think the best player is Scott for Tech so I will take Tech on the road.
- Kansas visits Iowa State in a 5 PM tipoff (ESPN+) - Iowa State is learning to play without Soares. I will take Iowa State at home though over Kansas. but if Kansas plays well inside, they might upset I-State.
- TCU plays at Kansas State in a 6:30 PM tipoff (ESPN+) - Kansas State should pick up a win over TCU at home.

The remaining two teams play on Sunday:

- Texas visits Baylor in a 4 PM tipoff on ESPN2. The loser fall out of the tie for 2nd place with the winner in no worse than that tie for 2nd. I like the Baylor big players balance for Baylor but their strength is the guards, especially Andrews. Texas seems to rely on several players to play well for them to be successful. I doubt one of the Texas players has a big day againt Baylor. I will pick Baylor to win in Waco.

[OUBeliever56A]

The First Place Oklahoma Sooner Women's Basketball Team kept their head down and kept working on Saturday evening and finally outlasted and outscored the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in a Bedlam matchup that was an excellent example of the Bedlam rivalry. The Sooners won 97 to 93 in a game that OSU spent more time in the lead than OU did.

In the first half, Asi with 13 points, led the effort for OSU as they led OU 48 - 40 at halftime. OSU's lineup was a difficult lineup for OU to match up against most of the game. After a slow 1st quarter in which both teams did not shoot the ball well, the Sooner did lead 19-15. In the 2nd quarter, OU committed 5 turnovers and only put up 12 shots from the field as OSU made 11 buckets in the quarter including 6 three's. OSU outscored Oklahoma 33 to 21 in the quarter. Both teams were shooting well at half with both shooting 44% or better from the field. OSU's 9 for 18 from 3-point territory was a big plus for OSU.

The Sooners found a better grove in the 3rd quarter as they won the quarter by 4 points, 28-24 to reduce the half-time deficit by half with the score 72-68 in favor of OSU. The 4th quarter had two things that changed in favor of the Sooners. OU finally found the grove from long range as they were 5 for 8 from 3-point territory. At the same time, OSU was 1 for 10 from long range. That swing lifted OU by 12 points in the quarter and provided the path to victory. Tot, LLanusa, Vann had 1 each with Robertson adding 2 THREE's in the quarter. OU shot 50% in the quarter also. The Sooners were also on target from the free throw line as they were 8 of 10 from the charity line to close the game out.

Two stats that were important in the game were the 18 - 9 advantage for OSU in second half points and OU's 20 -9 advantage in fast break points. In a rare stat in 2023, OU was outrebounded by OSU 39 to 36 with 5 more offensive rebounds. OU may have had a season low in turnovers with 12, while OSU had 14.

Madi Williams was the very quiet steady scorer for the Sooners as she scored 26 points including 7 FTs and 4 rebounds. Llanusa scored 17 with 2 rebounds and 4 assists. Robertson completed the trio of 5th year seniors with 15 points (all in the second half), 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Liz Scott added 11 points and 8 rebounds while Tot scored 8 points with solid play at the point. Vann led the effort off the bench for the Sooners with 9 points and 4 rebounds. Tucker filled a need on defense for the Sooners trying to slow down the OSU outside shooting with Culliton providing 12 minutes of good play inside against OSU. Joens added 3 points with a big shot in the 3rd quarter. Oklahoma did shorten their bench yesterday as they only played 9 players instead of 11 as they have most of the season. I thought all 9 Sooners that played contributed to the win.

Oklahoma State received a superior effort from #4, Asi, as she scored 26 points for OSU that included 7 three's. She was averaging less than 5 points a game before this week for OSU. But this week she had scored 15 in their game against Iowa State and 26 against OU.

Both teams had some foul issues as 2 players fouled out for each team. A 3rd player for each team also had 4 fouls as the game ended. One official in particular became the primary whistle blower in the second half as the male official probably made 2/3 rds of the calls no matter his position on the floor.

A couple of points of interest occurred in the game.

- With her 17 points, Ana Llanusa raised her career point total to 1509 points and surpassed the 1500-point mark. Congrats to her for her dedication and efforts to return after several injuries during her career.

- Taylor Robertson is edging closer to that 'made 3's' record. She made 2 more against OSU and now has 495 THREE's. She trails Kelsey Mitchell by two. With the next two games on the road, she will likely set a new record while she is away. OU will host TCU in 11 days and we can cheer the effort by Robertson. She has also made a 3 in 60 consecutive games I believe.

OU survived a very strong effort by OSU and won the first Bedlam matchup of 2023.

With the win the Sooners moved to 6-1 in the Big 12 and 16-2 overall. They will lead two teams by a full game come Monday morning. Iowa State won over Kansas yesterday to move to 5-2. One of Texas of Baylor will also be 5-2 after the two teams play on Sunday at 4 PM in Waco. West Virginia and the loser of the Texas/Baylor game will be 4-3.

The next two games for the Sooners in back-to-back road games will be a key to the rest of the Big 12 season. OU travels to Austin on Wednesday to play Texas at 7 PM (on the LHN). The Sooners will then travel to Ames to play Iowa State on Saturday at 3 PM. With a 1-1 week the Sooners should still be in first place in the Big 12. With a 2-0 week, the Sooners could be in the lead in the conference by 2 games.

I hope the Sooners get some good rest this week and they are on the road for two games and play very well in two tough places to play. Good luck to the Women this week.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the article about the win as written by the staff writers.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/1/21 ... win-bedlam

Boomer Sooner!