Sooner Women's Basketball - Battled Hard but Falls to UCLA 82-73

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OUBeliever56A
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Sooner Women's Basketball - Battled Hard but Falls to UCLA 82-73

Post by OUBeliever56A »

The Oklahoma Women's Basketball Team for the second year in a row lost in the second round of the NCAA Tourney. But in 2023, the Sooners were in the game and even lead at the end of the 3rd Quarter 54-53 over UCLA before finally being beaten by UCLA 82-73.

The 1Q started pretty well as the Sooners used a couple of nice back cuts and drives with the ball to take an early lead. But as the Shooting went cold for the Sooners, UCLA started to shoot well and UCLA took control as the 1Q played on. UCLA led 21-14 after the 1Q.

In the 2Q the UCLA lead grew to 18 at one point before OU started to play a bit better and climbed their way back to within 10 points before trailing by 13 at the half 41-28. Two THREE's by Tot and Tucker kept the Sooners in the game at one point in the 2Q. The first half of the 2Q was a low point for the Sooners in the game.

But the 3Q was certainly a bright spot for Oklahoma as the shots begin to fall and the defense increased against a long, strong and big UCLA team. I knew very little about UCLA before the game. Watching them through the first half, made me envious of the talent that they had on the floor that just kept coming in waves. But in the 3Q, the smaller and yes, less athletic Sooners played very well and got back in the game with a 14-point scoring run that eventually allowed OU to be up by 4 points just before the end of the 3Q and actually led 54-53 at the end of the 3Q.

But the 4th quarter saw UCLA quickly start to assert themselves on the court on offense and the shooting for the Sooners dropped off once again. UCLA outscored OU by ten points in the 4Q to win by 9 points in the end, 82-73.

I thought Vann and Llanusa played very well for the Sooners on Monday night. Williams scored well mostly due to her ability to go to the basket and get fouled. But Williams' inability to take care of the ball (8 turnovers) is a mystery to me. Tot played 35+ minutes and led the offense well and did a good job also. Culliton and Tucker also played strong games for the Sooners on defense and scoring 10 points between them. The mystery last night was the lack of minutes played by Liz Scott and Taylor Robertson. I think their play was limited due to the problems that both players can have on defense. UCLA always had 5 good offensive players on the court. That puts a great deal of pressure on both Scott and T-Rob. In a surprising stat, when Robertson was on the floor last night, the Sooners were outc=scored by 27 points. IMO, that should not be taken as a slap or evidence of Robertson's personal play or ability. It is just a result of matchups on the floor at that time. Robertson was either guarding a player much taller, or much quicker than herself. It is a difficult thing. Scott, after a decent start just dissolved into the bench in favor of Vann, Culliton and a smaller, more defensive lineup at times for the Sooners.

Saying nothing bad about the Sooner women, but if the Sooners and UCLA played 10 times, I think the Bruins would win at least 8 of the games, especially at Pauley Pavillion.

But, I will say this. The Sooners can feel much better about themselves in 2023 with the lost to UCLA than they felt after their loss to Notre Dame in 2021. The Fighting Irish beat OU by 42 points last year in the same round of the NCAA Tourney. The nine-point loss to UCLA was a much better result in 2022.

I want to tip my hat to the trio of Williams, Llansusa and Robertson. They are three wonderful talents that performed well for the Sooners during their 5 year (6 for Llansua) career at OU. Williams is certainly a very talented basketball player that has an upside that is very high. Llanusa has an all-around game that contributes on both end of the floor each game. Her desire to play despite the many injuries is a credit to her in every way. T-Rob is just a terrific shooter of the basketball who plays smart basketball and truly gets the most out of her abilities that is possible. The last two years I have watched the three of them led the Sooners to 51 wins. I feel like a lucky fan to have been able to see the three of them play during that time. Great job by all three of them.

Coach Baranczyk has turned the Sooner Women's Basketball program around as it centered around trio of great players that are leaving. Replacing them will be her next challenge. Replacing them will be tough. Probably the term should be "finding new players to build around" will be the key. It sounds like they have two talented players in Sahara Williams (F) and Landry Allen (C) to start the rebuild. Payton Verhulst ( G, transfer from Louisville) will be another building block for Coach Baranczyk. Those three can be added to returners, Tot, Vann, Liz Scott, Tucker, Joens and Culliton to have a solid base to play with. If Kiersten Johnson, Reyna Scott and Kayla Cooper (all freshman this year) can play to their potential, the Sooners could have something going by the time Big 12 conference play begins next year.

Honestly, an athletic, big inside player ready to score playing the up-tempo game that OU plays would be a big help if one can be found in the portal. But in today's game, keeping the talent in house can be a challenge also. The Sooners have already lost a potentially good player in Kaley Perkins (G). Keeping Kelbie Washington on the team this off-season could help as well as she has been injured and not always around the team this season.

Here is a final standing applause for the 2022-23 Sooner Women's Basketball Team. I enjoyed watching them play, (yes even those times were there were too many turnovers and too few shots being made). Job well done!

Boomer Sooner!
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Post by OUBeliever56A »

Here is the staff writers article about the final game of the year for the Sooner Women Basketball Team.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/3/21 ... cond-round

Boomer Sooner!
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Bixby_Sooner
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Post by Bixby_Sooner »

Great year for the ladies! This program is definately alive, well and definately headed in the right direction.
A commitment is NOT a reservation - Brent Venables 3/21/22
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White River
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Post by White River »

I started to quit watching and go to bed at halftime thinking the second half would get ugly. However, that 3rd quarter was amazing! It was like a whole different team took the court and dominated. UCLA foul trouble took some aggression out of their defense, but the Sooners moved the ball around and made shots and got stops on defense even though they were the less athletic team. This year was a contrast in extremes for both the men's and women's programs and makes you realize there is a fine line between playing very well and playing very poorly.
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Post by TN Sooner »

Well said 56! Ana, TRob and Madi were great Sooners. Solid players that always gave their all. All 3 were committed to Oklahoma, even after “their” coach retired midway thru. In the portal era, this is remarkable.

Happy with Jennie. I think she’s going to do very well at oklahoma. We say great growth from Beatrice this year - very encouraging. I wish Reyna and Kiersten had played more this year, but it’s a hard lineup for them to crack. I really like their abilities and I hope they will stay for year 2. Add our top recruits and transfer, and the future looks bright.

Replacing over 5,000 points is never easy, but I feel we have a chance to grow into a very good team by late next year.

Well done ladies - a pleasure to watch.
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Post by TN Sooner »

Do yourself a favor and find 15 minutes to hear from our 3 super-seniors and coach Jennie. The first 3.5 minutes is pretty dry, but the rest will fill your heart.

https://soonersports.com/watch?Archive= ... pe=Archive
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Post by MsProudSooner »

My silent wish for Ana before the season started was that she be able to finish the year on the court instead of injured and sitting on the bench. Mission Accomplished!

This team wasn't very tall or speedy but they believed in themselves and each other in spite of everything. In a time when most players just transfer to another school when things don't go their way, they stuck together and ended up Co-Champions of the Big XII.

This will always be one of my all-time favorite teams.
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