Sooner WBB - Great Win after a Huge Comeback over Utah 83-76!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Women's Basketball squad completed an amazing comeback from a 19-point deficit in the 3rd Quarter to win by 7, 83-76 Tuesday night at Lloyd Noble Center.

The Sooners knew they had to play without Ana Llanusa (ACL injury) but tonight Nydia Lampkin and Kaley Perkins were also not dressed for the game leaving the team down 3 players. Gabby Gregory was also still held out of the action due to injury once again.

The Sooners played a good 1st Quarter but trailed 23-22 to a hot shooting Utah squad. Kennedy Tucker was the new starter for OU taking the spot of Llanusa. Scott started in place of Lampkin. OU's scoring was led by Robertson with 6 (2-threes), Tucker with 5 and Scott and Vann with 4. OU trailed by one at the end of the quarter despite 5 TO committed by the team.

In the second quarter, the Sooners were cold from the outside (0-5 from 3-point land) and only managed 10 points in the quarter. (That might be a team low for a quarter this year.) Utah on the other hand scored 19 points and extended their lead to 10 points with a 42-32 halftime lead. Tucker added 4 more points in the quarter with Williams also adding 4 with Svoboda adding 2. OU shot 26.3 from the field in the quarter.

Utah stormed into the 3rd quarter with a 10-1 run to widen their lead to 19 points with 8:07 left in the quarter. I had the thought that the Sooners might be out of this one. They were having trouble when they played a zone or a man-to-man defense. Utah was playing well. Slowly, the Sooners turned it around. They outscored Utah 13-2 over the next 3:47 to cut the lead the Utah lead to 8 points. Utah regained control in the last 4 minutes of the 3rd and outscored 8-5 to close the quarter to lead by 11, 62-51. Robertson and Vann led the comeback with 8 and 5 points respectively. The Sooner defense was able to start pressuring the ball against the outside ball handlers for Utah and it started to make a difference in the quarter. But they were still down by 11.

The Sooners quickly ran off 10 straight points to open the 4th quarter and only trailed by 1 at the 7:03 mark of the final period. Kelbie Washington had 2 big steals during the run as Utah had 5 TO to open the 4th. At the 6:04 mark, Nevaeh Tot completed an impressive bucket and foul shot for a 3 point play down low in the paint to give OU its first lead 66-64, since midway in the 1st quarter. At this pint, OU had outscored Utah 15-2 in the 4th quarter. Tot continued her good play by scoring the next 5 points for the Sooners on a 3-pointer and 2-point jumper in the lane as the Sooners lead 71-68 with 3:57 left in the game. Tot also had a tremendous steal in the corner in this run as she moved like a rabbit around the Utah player to take the ball away on the dribble. After two layups by Washington and Williams the Sooners lead 75-69 with 2:22 left. Utah had one run left though as they scored 4 unanswered points to trail by only 2 with 1:33 left, OU75-Utah 73.

The game closed with OU dropping 8 free throws as time ran down following a big steal by Washington. the game closed with a 3-point bucket by Utah to produce the final score of 83-72. OU outscored Utah 32 to 14 in the 4th quarter once again showing how dangerous the Sooners WBB team is when they get it going with defense or by their fast-pace or hot shooting.

Robertson lead the scoring with 19 points with 4 3-pointers. Robertson broke the all-time 3-point bucket record at OU tonight and got a game ball to commemorate the occasion after the game. Williams added 17 with 6 rebounds on what you could call an off-night for her. But she did play well in the second half. Tot added 10 points with Tucker scoring 9 (all in the first half). Washington and Vann also had 9 points apiece. Scott added 7 points with 7 rebounds. Vann pulled down 6 rebounds.

OU totalled 17 steals which exceeded their turnovers by 1 (16). The OU rebounding was low with 34 compared to the 47 tallied by Utah. The Sooners shot 50% from inside the 3-point line and 31.6% from outside the 3-point line. they were 19-27 from the FT Line for 70.4%.

Considering everything, this was a big win for the Sooners. They proved two things. They can win without Llanusa. They also proved that they can comeback from 19 to steal a win from a pretty good team. Utah will be able to win some unexpected games in the Pac-12 this year. Other than their 23 turnovers, Utah played and shot well in the game.

OU plays again on December 29th against Wichita State at LNC at 6 PM. Wichita State is 9-3. Their last game was a 13-point loss to Kansas.

Maybe Lampkin and Perkins can dress out and play in a week to help the team. Maybe even Gregory as well.

At 10-1, the Sooners might be ranked next week. Let's hope so!

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

https://soonersports.com/news/2021/12/2 ... -utah.aspx

The staff article about the W BB comeback win is provided above. You should check out the highlight video that is provided if you can.

[SwampSooner]

Thank you so much for the comprehensive game summary.

I had set my DVR to 'tape' the game. I like watching it later in the night so I can zip through the commercials. Unfortunately, Spectrum (my cable provider) pre-empted the game and broadcasted the New Orleans Pelican game. I understand that pro basketball has a larger audience than Women's College Basketball, but c'mon, revamp the schedule to show this change. When I zipped through the NO broadcast, hoping for a 'joined-in-progress', the screen still said this was women's college basketball.

Anyway, thanks again for the summary.

[OU Guy]

@OUBeliever56A

Thanks for your writeups! I feel like I’m at the game reading them. You do better than beat writers I’m serious your recaps are awesome! Appreciate you taking the time and just know we read them!

[MsProudSooner]

At one point in the 4th quarter, Tot scored 8 consecutive points.

[OU_Tom]

[OU_Tom]