By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
NORMAN, Okla. – Even when Oklahoma shot 58 percent and scored 42 first-half points, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey never thought about going back to the drawing board or making wholesale defensive changes.
Her message was just "stay the course."
Holding the Sooners to 28 percent shooting and a combined 24 points in the last two quarters, the No. 7/8 Lady Bears pulled away for a 77-66 victory Sunday afternoon over an Oklahoma team that had only seven players available.
"They came out on fire," said Mulkey, whose team improved to 17-2 overall and 12-1 in the Big 12 with its ninth win in a row and 13th-straight against the Sooners (8-10, 5-8). "You just stay the course defensively, because fatigue at some point when kids are playing that many minutes is going to set in, and they're going to start missing shots. You don't have to change anything. You just put them on the rear and say, 'Nice shot,' and you keep playing."
While OU's Madi Williams and Gabby Gregory combined for 40 points, Baylor placed four players in double figures, led by grad transfer DiJonai Carrington with 19 points. Carrington and Moon Ursin (17 points) combined for 31 first-half points in helping Baylor match the Sooners' offensive explosion and go into the break tied at 42-42.
"They were trapping ball screens, trying to get the ball out of our hands on the perimeter," Carrington said, "so that really opened up the driving lanes. That's what I tried to take advantage of. And we've seen time and time again, Moon is pretty automatic from that mid-range 15-foot area. Anytime we can get her a shot there, or she can create a shot herself at that spot, I would bet on it going in."
With Williams scoring 16 of her game-high 21 in the first half, the Sooners shot a sizzling 58 percent, had a pair of 10-0 runs in the second quarter and tied it up at 42-42 on a buzzer-beating jumper by Williams.
"Baylor has a tremendous basketball team, and they played to their strengths extremely well," said OU coach Sherri Coale, whose team has dropped 13 straight and 22 of the last 23 meetings with Baylor. "I thought we battled and tried to make them go to Plan B and Plan C a little bit. I'm real proud of our kids."
Oklahoma scored 20 points in a five-minute stretch in the second quarter and took a 40-32 lead when Williams knocked down a contested jumper over Carrington. But, Carrington hit a 3-pointer, followed that up with a three-point play and capped off a 10-0 run with a layup that pushed the Lady Bears back on top.
"What (Carrington) brings in a presence is you've got to guard her on the perimeter, but a lot of the stuff today is she recognized, 'You know, I could just drive,''' Mulkey said. "They don't have much depth. They've got injuries and kids that have opted out. So, they're not going to foul you much. . . . She took opportunities to take the ball and dribble penetrate and get buckets in the paint."
Baylor finished with a 42-26 edge in points in the paint, had 20 fast-break points and dominated the boards, 38-19, getting five more second-chance points (12-7).
"We were able to get rebounds and score quickly in transition," Carrington said. "That's always an energy boost. For me personally, that really helps me get going, just seeing the ball go through the basket, easy layups, transition, stuff like that."
The second half was a different story. Williams hit just two of her last 10 shots from the floor, and OU scored 24 points combined in the last two quarters, hitting 7-of-25 from the floor and 2-of-10 from outside the arc.
After scoring a combined seven points in the first half, NaLyssa Smith, DiDi Richards and Trinity Oliver picked up where Carrington and Ursin left off, hitting 12-of-15 from the floor and scoring 28 of the Lady Bears' 35 points in the second half.
Sitting after picking up two quick fouls in the first quarter, Smith scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half. Richards finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists before fouling out with 1:17 left, while Oliver had eight points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals and also helped shut down Williams in the second half.
"We just beat what I consider the hottest team in the Big 12 right now," Mulkey said of the Sooners, who had beaten Iowa State and West Virginia in their two previous games. "I think we're pretty hot. And when I say hot, they're playing good. They've had a change in their lineup, they're hard to defend."
Baylor will play three games in a six-day stretch, hosting Oklahoma State (17-6, 13-4) at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Kansas State (6-14, 1-12) at 11 a.m. Saturday before going back on the road to play Texas (15-6, 9-5) at 6 p.m. the following Monday, March 1, in Austin.
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February 22, 2021 at 09:18AM
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No. 7/8 WBB Pulls Away In 77-66 Victory at Oklahoma - BaylorBears.com
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