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Oklahoma women advance to play Texas A&M — again
By RANDY COVITZThe Kansas City Star
Nothing personal against Texas A&M, but that’s not who Oklahoma wanted to face in today’s Big 12 women’s championship game.
The Sooners really would have preferred getting a crack at previously undefeated Nebraska instead of the Aggies, a team they see twice a year.
“I would have liked to play someone different,” Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said after the Sooners defeated in-state rival Oklahoma State 74-69 in Saturday’s semifinals and advanced to today’s 12:30 final at Municipal Auditorium.
“We come up here, and we’ve been in the Big 12 South battling people, and we played South (Baylor), South (Oklahoma State) and South (Oklahoma State). So in that regard, it would be nice to play somebody we haven’t played in the last week or so.”
Oklahoma, 23-9 and ranked 12th in the nation, and Texas A&M, 24-7 and ranked No. 11, split the season series this season. The Sooners won 74-65 at Norman on Jan. 17; the Aggies won 78-55 on March 2 in College Station, Texas.
The Sooners trailed 40-36 at halftime on Saturday as Oklahoma State’s diminutive guard Andrea Riley put on another shooting exhibition. Riley, who had scored 80 points in the Cowgirls’ first two tournament games, made nine of 13 shots and had 21 points in the first half.
But Oklahoma, which trailed by as many as 12 in the first half, slowed Riley down in the second half. Riley made just three of 17 in the second half, missing her last nine shots from the field as the Sooners overtook seventh-seeded and 20th-ranked Oklahoma State, 23-10, in the second half.
Riley finished with 32 points, giving her a Big 12 tournament record 112 for three games, shattering the mark of 88 set by Texas’ Edwina Brown in 2000. And her 234 points broke the career mark of 209 set by Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris last year.
Oklahoma had four players in double figures — guard Danielle Robinson, who had 19; forward Amanda Thompson, who had 17 points, 18 rebounds and five assists; guard Nyeshia Stevenson, 15; and post Abi Olajuwon, who had 11 points.