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NCAA Women’s Tournament: Sooners Hold Off Gonzaga to Advance

By Chip Rouse

Mar 5, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Peyton Little (10) drives to the basket in front of Oklahoma State Cowgirls guard Brittney Martin (22) in the fourth quarter during the women's Big 12 conference tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Peyton Little (10) drives to the basket in front of Oklahoma State Cowgirls guard Brittney Martin (22) in the fourth quarter during the women's Big 12 conference tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oklahoma was the home team as the higher seed, but the crowd was highly partisan for Far Northwest basketball darling Gonzaga. In the end, however, it was the Sooner pep band making the most noise as OU held off the Zags in the opening round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament in Seattle and move on to the round of 32.

Mar 6, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Baylor Bears forward/center Beatrice Mompremier (32) shoots the ball while guarded by Oklahoma Sooners center Vionise Pierre-Louis (0) in the first quarter during the women’s Big 12 conference tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 6, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Baylor Bears forward/center Beatrice Mompremier (32) shoots the ball while guarded by Oklahoma Sooners center Vionise Pierre-Louis (0) in the first quarter during the women’s Big 12 conference tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

The Sooners cashed in on 10 three-pointers, three by senior point guard Peyton Little, who had a game-high 18 points, as Oklahoma, the No. 6 seed, defeated 11-seed Gonzaga 75 to 62. Oklahoma advances to the second round and a Monday night game against the winner or the Game between No. 3 seed Washington and 14-seed Montana State.

Vionise Pierre-Louis had a monster game for the Sooners, contributing 17 points to go with nine rebounds and nine blocked shots. The Oklahoma starters scored all but 11 of the Sooners’ 75 points.

The Oklahoma defense did a superb job of holding down one of the hottest teams in women’s college basketball coming into the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. The West Coast Conference champions finished the regular season with a record of 20-6 and then won their three conference tournament games by an average of 24.7 points. The Sooners held Gonzaga to just 33-percent shooting, despite allowing 19 offensive rebounds and second-chance attempts by the Zags.

Jill Barta and Kiara Kudron, two first-team All-WCC performers this season, were held to a combined 22 points by the Sooner defense. Gonzaga had 18 more shot attempts than the Sooners but made just one more field goal than the 23 made by Oklahoma.

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Oklahoma led for the entire game, building a 15-point advantage midway through the third quarter. The Lady Sooners held off a Gonzaga rally in the fourth quarter that closed the gap to five points with just over four minutes gone in the quarter before stretching the lead back out to double digits in the late going.

It was uplifting tournament start for an OU team that suffered back-to-back blowouts in its previous two games against two NCAA Tournament-bound teams in No. 1 seed Baylor and West Virginia.

If the Washington Huskies hold serve against Montana State, Oklahoma will have an even stiffer challenge on Monday, playing higher-seeded Washington in its home city. If the Sooners survive their second-round battle, however, it will land them in Oklahoma City next weekend for the Sweet 16.