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Oklahoma basketball: Early scoring drought spells doomsday for Sooners vs. No. 23 Baylor

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma guard Ana Llanusa (22) drives past Baylor guard Catarina Ferreira (30) in the second quarter during a women’s college basketball game between the Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Baylor Lady Bears at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.Ou Vs Baylor
Oklahoma guard Ana Llanusa (22) drives past Baylor guard Catarina Ferreira (30) in the second quarter during a women’s college basketball game between the Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Baylor Lady Bears at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.Ou Vs Baylor /
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Women’s Oklahoma basketball coach Jennie Barancyzk was not happy with her team from the very beginning on Tuesday night.

Before a home crowd at Lloyd Noble Center, Oklahoma scored just five points in the opening quarter, and the Lady Sooners weren’t able to make up for it the remainder of the game, falling 81-70 to Baylor in their Big 12 season opener.

The 17th-ranked Sooners trailed 21-5 after the first quarter. The game was a slow starter right from the opening tip. No. 23 Baylor led 5-4 midway through the first 10 minutes, and that would be the closest OU would come the rest of the way. The Bears went on a 16-0 run to close out the quarter, and Oklahoma spent the rest of the game fighting an uphill battle.

The Sooners finally found a rhythm offensively in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Bears 25-13 to close within four at halftime, 34-30. Baylor came out after the break, however, and extended the advantage back to double digits, outscoring OU 15-5 to open up a 49-36 lead.

Six points would be as close as the Sooners would get the rest of the way as Baylor snapped Oklahoma’s eight-game winning streak and handed OU its second loss of the season. The Sooners are now 11-2 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 play. Baylor improved to 11-3 and is 2-0 through the opening week of the conference schedule.

“It was just a hard game,” Barancyzk said in her postgame press conference. “It was really choppy and there wasn’t a lot of rhythm to it.” As she walked out of the interview session, she offered, “Sorry, we were just terrible.

“I can promise you, the Sooner head coach said, “we’ll look in the mirror. We’ve got to come out better.”

Ana Llanusa led the Sooners scoring 24 points. Madi Williams added 16 and Taylor Robertson 14, including four of eight from three-point range. The OU and Big 12 career leader in made three-pointers is now just 11 away from the NCAA record, which is held by Kelsey Mitchell of Ohio State.

Sarah Andrews scored a game-high 30 points to lead the Lady Bears.

The Lady Sooners will face another top-25 opponent in their next outing, which will be Sunday at Lloyd Noble Center. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. tip-off and will be available on ESPN+. The OU women will get a shot at redemption against Baylor when the two teams meet for a second time this season on Feb. 7 in Waco.

Here are three points that help tell the story of Tuesday’s OU-Baylor game:

  • Oklahoma’s first-quarter output (a total of five points) was the Sooners’ lowest-scoring quarter in two seasons under head coach Jennie Barancyzk. The previous low was six points at Texas last season. Ana Llanusa made the only OU field goal in the opening quarter. The rest of the team went 0 for 14 from the field in the first 10 minutes.
  • A total of 57 fouls were called in the game — 27 against OU and 26 whistled against Texas. That contributed greatly to the choppiness and disjointed flow of the game. Five different players fouled out of the game (three from Texas and two from OU). The Sooners were 24 of 32 from the foul line; Texas was 20 of 27.
  • The Longhorns scored 21 points off of 19 Oklahoma turnovers.
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