The Lady Sooners know exactly what the Oklahoma basketball men are going through. They’ve been there.
In the last three seasons, the Oklahoma women have had a sub-.500 record or worse, and it’s been five seasons since they enjoyed the kind of success they are experiencing in 2021-22, the first year for OU women’s coach Jennie Baranczyk.
A buzzer-beating three-point bombshell by Sooner senior Taylor Robertson, the three-point career leader at Oklahoma, gave OU a 72-69 victory over Kansas State at Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday.
Several hours earlier on the same court, the Oklahoma men earned a Bedlam win over in-state rival Oklahoma State to snap a four-game losing streak and move one game above .500 (15-14) for the season.
It was a beautiful day for Oklahoma Sooner basketball with a home-court, doubleheader sweep at the LNC on Saturday.
With the win over Kansas State, the 20th-ranked Lady Sooners improved to 22-6 overall and keeps them in a third-place tie in the conference standings with Texas, both with 11-5 records in Big 12 play.
The victory was also an important one for the OU women looking ahead to the Big 12 Tournament because it earned them a first-round bye in the tournament and guaranteed them no worse than a No. 5 seed.
It hasn’t been this good for Sooner women’s basketball in recent seasons, though. Just three years ago, OU won just 8 of 30 games and was 4-14 in the Big 12 and mired in a tie for eighth place in the standings.
This season, though, the Lady Sooners lead the Big 12 in scoring (84.4 points per game) and rebounding (40.2 per game), are second in field-goal percentage (.448) and possess two of the top-five scorers in the conference in seniors Madi Williams and Robertson.
During halftime of Saturday’s game with Kansas State, the 2002 Oklahoma Final Four team was honored, including former head coach Sherri Coale, who coached the Lady Sooners for 25 seasons and led them to 19 NCAA Tournament appearances and two Final Fours.
Oklahoma has not been to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship in four seasons but is a virtual lock to make the tournament field this season.
The OU women have two games remaining in the regular season before the conference tournament March 10-13 in Kansas City. The Sooners are in Stillwater on Tuesday for the women’s version of Bedlam and close out the regular season at home on Saturday against Kansas.