OU defeats Baylor 78-64

[YCN]

Dionnah Jackson narrowly missed a double-double with 11 rebounds and 9 assists, with only one turnover. Ironically, D scored the last bucket of the game for her only 2 points.

Maria Villarroel had 22 points for the Sooners, While Chelsi Welch, Theresa Schuknecht and Laura Andrews added 18, 13 and 11 respectively.

Dionne Brown led Baylor with 16 points, while Sophia Young had 11 and Ebony Jackson and Melanie Hamerly added 10 apiece.

Brown and Young also led Baylor with 11 and 9 rebounds.

[swok34]

It is so good to see OU's offense flowing. Best stat that illustrates that they are finally playing together was 20+ assists.

Good game, I really think this is turning into a very good rivalry between OU/BU.

Chelsi Welsh was awesome tonite, I am amazed at how little Chelsi actually gets to sit, and if she does, it's because of foul trouble. Think she knocked down 4 shots from the perimeter.
The last 2 minutes, Chaquita Maria just stood under OU's basket and let Chelsi baseball pass her. One way to break full court pressure. Schuknecht was in double figures and played pretty well, though not as well as her breakout game vs Oklahoma State.....she needs a can of that sticky stuff or velcro or something.

Dionne Brown and Hammerly were flat out awesome. I'm amazed at the strength of Brown and her mid-range jumper.

The ref that looked so proud of himself: please go back to your day job...... http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

And Zo made it to Norman.....so I'm sure he can fill us in on the Baylor point of view.

[35TangoTango]

Thoughts from Lloyd Noble:

1. Good game, poor crowd, flat atmosphere (refs helped that)

2. In a season of poorly officiated games, this was by far the worst I've seen!

3. Where was Stephanie Blackmon?

4. OU is still missing chippies, but this time they didn't let it hamper their defensive intensity, which frustrated Baylor all night.

5. Dionnah Jackson has quietly developed into the best pure point guard in the conference! How many starters can score 2 points for the night, and have 15 hoopla points? She had 11 rebounds (guarding Baylor's Sophia Young) and nine assists to only one turnover - and was a controversial call (the other ref correctly called a foul, but got overruled). She has the best assist-turnover ratio of anyone in conference play (and who can guess how many more assists she would have if our post players could catch a ball).

5. swok's jinx worked better than zo's. Glad to know Zo made it there - anxious to hear the other viewpoint.

6. Young is still FOY!!

[YCN]

How many minutes did Laura Andrews play? I swear I never saw a moment that she wasn't in the game. Nobody's talking about her, perhaps because expectations haven't been all that high for her this year, but all she does is go out and score 11 points with 9 rebounds, sort of a stats mirror of Dionnah.

I think Coach Coale has a winner with that girl. She doesn't play nervous like so many freshmen do.

Court demeanor-wise, she reminds me of Caton Hill.

[labcoatguy]

Was there a football game going on at the same time as the basketball game tonight? That is the only reason I could possibly see as to why there was a dreadful paucity of students. I think i heard that there were 4,300 or so in attendance, but 4,250 of those had to have been non-students. The guy who coordinates the free throw shots for free sooner gear was still looking for students wearing the "I'm a believer" shirt as of the time of the national anthem. I think I was the only one to wear it tonight.

Some thoughts on the game:

Chelsi Welch is now consistently good.

Dionnah Jackson must really love making last-second shots against Baylor, even though tonights was really quite pointless.

At least the refs were horrid on both sides.

I miss Mulkey's female-mullet.

The recipient of a potential assist only caught the ball about 75% of the time down low. This is good because at least the extra pass is being thrown.

[Row6Seat10]

What happened to Stephanie Blackmon was she sick or something? She played dynamite in the overtime win against ISU and has disapppeared since. I have to agree with Soonerman though on his thoughts about Sophia Young. She'll be a menace for the rest of the league for years to come.

Lot of complaints about the refs here. As big of a conference as the Big 12 is you think they could get top a few top notch quality officials.

[Jennifer]

Originally posted by soonerman:
5. Dionnah Jackson has quietly developed into the best pure point guard in the conference! How many starters can score 2 points for the night, and have 15 hoopla points? She had 11 rebounds (guarding Baylor's Sophia Young) and nine assists to only one turnover - and was a controversial call (the other ref correctly called a foul, but got overruled). She has the best assist-turnover ratio of anyone in conference play (and who can guess how many more assists she would have if our post players could catch a ball).


After tonight's game, her A/TO ratio is 2.57 (conference games only), best in the conference. I'm impressed.

[swok34]

How many minutes did Laura Andrews play? I swear I never saw a moment that she wasn't in the game. Nobody's talking about her, perhaps because expectations haven't been all that high for her this year

I've been really impressed with Laura's rebounding...her scoring can be inconsistent...here's a quote from Coach Coale:

I am just going to tell (Laura) Andrews that we are playing Baylor for the rest of the year."

[Jennifer]

OU had 23 assists on 28 made buckets. If they keep that up, I'll be happy. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

[Bob_Ballew]

I am just now waking up from that horrible loooong drive home last night. OU has some awesome shooters! Smooth is the only way I can describe them. Baylor struggled just to get a perimeter shot off and they air-balled many of them. It is a good thing that there are several Braums between Norman and Waco. I had to drown my sorrows in the largest malt they make. I would make the trip again however. That is tough during the week.

Stephanie Blackmon is a great player, she just needs to get her head together and be the team leader that she is capable of being. I was really glad to see coach Kim not start her. But I did not expect her to sit the entire game. The Lady Bears have the talent and coaching, they simply lack the mental toughness right now that it takes to be consistent in this league. Their ball movement hurts them IMO. Who knows, they may give Tech fits on Saturday. It just depends on which team shows up. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/frown.gif

Although the officiating was not good for this game. It was wonderful compared to some games I have witnessed this year. At least it was consistently bad on both ends.

[This message has been edited by Zo3157 (edited 02-13-2003).]

[Lone Star Grizzly]

I do not know if Blackmon would have made the outcome of the game different.

I thought OU and Coale showed a lack of class with the shot at the buzzer. If you have a 12-point lead and take the inbounds pass with seven seconds left in the game, there is no need to drive for a bucket. Most coaches will instruct their team to dribble the clock out with that kind of lead or make a couple of passes. I have seen Texas and Tech and even Baylor with leads like this and they slow it down and dribble out the clock. In my mind, this was like kicking a field goal in football as the clock expires and you have a 14-point lead.

I fully expect flak from the Sooner faithful concerning this post. I am wearing my iron underwear, take your best shots.

[This message has been edited by Lone Star Grizzly (edited 02-13-2003).]

[Jennifer]

Seeing as how Dionnah was having an off shooting night, I'm glad she took the shot and made it. It's a mental thing. Who wants to finish a game by going 0-fer? With an important game coming up in Boulder, she needs to get back on track. Making that last bucket can certainly help.

And to 'steal' from swok--Sherri Coale has said many times that it's about playing "against the game", not necessarily an opponent.

[35TangoTango]

Originally posted by Lone Star Grizzly:
I fully expect flak from the Sooner faithful concerning this post. I am wearing my iron underwear, take your best shots.

I could use the excuse that Baylor was still pressing, which makes it harder to just dribble out the clock, but the truth is that it's just something that happened spontaneously - like last year when KMR danced on Dick Halterman's grave.

[swok34]

I could use the excuse that Baylor was still pressing

good point......The end of the Oklahoma State game Wednesday nite is a good illustration. Stephanie Luce inbounded and stayed in the backcourt with about 15 seconds left in the game.
The Oklahoma State player came toward her in order to guard her and Luce said something to her and made a motion with her hand.
The OSU player backed off and Luce dribbled the clock out.

It was a battle the final 4 minutes with Baylor's full court press and was a physical game with OU running and/or passing as fast as they could.....Baylor kept it up, so did OU. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif