No. 11 Sooners steal one from NU
When Connie Yori looks back at her Nebraska women’s basketball team’s 80-72 loss to 11th-ranked Oklahoma, she might not recognize some of the Sooners’ faces.
“We were looking at the back of their jerseys a lot,” Yori said on her radio show after the Huskers gave up 18 steals and committed a season-high 25 turnovers in the Lloyd Noble Center Wednesday night. “I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a game where our opponent has 18 steals, so obviously there’s a lot of things we weren’t doing right offensively.
“. . . They’d get out and pressure and . . . it was like a layup drill. They didn’t have to run a half-court offense tonight.”
Clinging to a 49-48 lead after NU’s Dominique Kelley scored with 11:46 to play, Oklahoma came up with four turnovers to fuel a game-deciding 17-2 spurt.
The Huskers also went just 1-for-5 from the field in their next eight possessions after Kelley’s basket.
“We mostly made mistakes and didn’t find a way to make the next play a positive, consistently,” Yori said after her club fell to 13-4 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12. “If you’re going to turn it over, then you’ve got to make something happen the next time down (the court).”
During the decisive run, Oklahoma got six points from the largest player on the court, 6-4 center Courtney Paris, and five from the smallest, 5-4 guard Jenna Plumley.
Freshman guard Danielle Robinson also had four of her game-high 22.
Robinson’s point total, though, was probably not as telling as her four assists, five steals and seven rebounds. In addition, forward Amanda Thompson had eight thefts to go along with 15 points and seven rebounds.
“It was a little deer in the headlights look,” Yori said. “We looked like a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and a junior college player. In order to win in that setting, experience helps.”
Nebraska (13-4, 2-1) got a career-high 18 points from sophomore guard Vonie Turner, 12 from Danielle Page and 10 apiece from Tay Hester and Cory Montgomery.
Down by 12 in the early going, the Huskers came back to pull to 38-36 at halftime thanks to a pair of three-pointers late in the half by Nicole Neals. They would forge three ties in the early portion of the second half before their ball-handling problems would lead to a ninth loss to OU in the last 10 meetings.
Paris finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds to notch her 75th straight double-double. The Sooners, who entered the game as the worst free-throw shooting team in the league, also went 19-for-20 from the line while notching their 20th straight win against a Big 12 North Division opponent.
“I think we just thought we were there and we didn’t go above and beyond what we should have,” Turner said. But “a game like this, the only thing I can do is take a positive away from it. Losing by eight on their court. . . we’re close.”
Up next for Nebraska is a Saturday night game at Iowa State.
“We were looking at the back of their jerseys a lot,” Yori said on her radio show after the Huskers gave up 18 steals and committed a season-high 25 turnovers in the Lloyd Noble Center Wednesday night. “I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a game where our opponent has 18 steals, so obviously there’s a lot of things we weren’t doing right offensively.
“. . . They’d get out and pressure and . . . it was like a layup drill. They didn’t have to run a half-court offense tonight.”
Clinging to a 49-48 lead after NU’s Dominique Kelley scored with 11:46 to play, Oklahoma came up with four turnovers to fuel a game-deciding 17-2 spurt.
The Huskers also went just 1-for-5 from the field in their next eight possessions after Kelley’s basket.
“We mostly made mistakes and didn’t find a way to make the next play a positive, consistently,” Yori said after her club fell to 13-4 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12. “If you’re going to turn it over, then you’ve got to make something happen the next time down (the court).”
During the decisive run, Oklahoma got six points from the largest player on the court, 6-4 center Courtney Paris, and five from the smallest, 5-4 guard Jenna Plumley.
Freshman guard Danielle Robinson also had four of her game-high 22.
Robinson’s point total, though, was probably not as telling as her four assists, five steals and seven rebounds. In addition, forward Amanda Thompson had eight thefts to go along with 15 points and seven rebounds.
“It was a little deer in the headlights look,” Yori said. “We looked like a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and a junior college player. In order to win in that setting, experience helps.”
Nebraska (13-4, 2-1) got a career-high 18 points from sophomore guard Vonie Turner, 12 from Danielle Page and 10 apiece from Tay Hester and Cory Montgomery.
Down by 12 in the early going, the Huskers came back to pull to 38-36 at halftime thanks to a pair of three-pointers late in the half by Nicole Neals. They would forge three ties in the early portion of the second half before their ball-handling problems would lead to a ninth loss to OU in the last 10 meetings.
Paris finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds to notch her 75th straight double-double. The Sooners, who entered the game as the worst free-throw shooting team in the league, also went 19-for-20 from the line while notching their 20th straight win against a Big 12 North Division opponent.
“I think we just thought we were there and we didn’t go above and beyond what we should have,” Turner said. But “a game like this, the only thing I can do is take a positive away from it. Losing by eight on their court. . . we’re close.”
Up next for Nebraska is a Saturday night game at Iowa State.
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