NORMAN, Okla. – Oklahoma outscored Wichita State by 18 over the game’s final 12 minutes to run away with an 89-67 win Wednesday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.
Wichita State (9-4) concludes non-conference play and will now turn its attention to league play with a clean slate. Both teams were missing key pieces in the matchup with DJ McCarty out of the lineup for Wichita State and Oklahoma played without two of its three leading scorers.
Mariah McCully recorded her sixth straight game in double figures with a team-high 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Asia Strong (14 points, 8 rebounds) and Trajata Colbert (12 points, 8 rebounds) both threatened with double-doubles. Seraphine Bastin chipped in nine rebounds and six assists to go with seven points.
Five Sooners finished in double figures, led by Skylar Vann’s game and career-high 21 points. Taylor Robertson entered the matchup as the nation’s leader in made three-pointers, while shooting nearly 50 percent from beyond the arc. Most of her damage came before halftime, scoring 13 of her 19 points and making all three of her treys in the first 20 minutes.
Oklahoma cashed in its season average in three-pointers, going 10-of-27 and shot 46 percent overall. On the offensive end for the Shockers, Wichita State shot just 34 percent from the field and converted 6-of-22 from long range.
Both teams committed 21 turnovers, but the Sooners capitalized in transition and on the glass. OU outscored Wichita State 34-9 in fast break points and outrebounded the Shockers by seven, marking just the second time this season Wichita State lost the rebound battle.
The game started like a track meet with both teams scoring with ease on the first few trips, but play bogged down as the quarter went on. Wichita State made one of its final seven attempts and went scoreless for nearly three minutes. The Sooners didn’t fare much better, but took a 19-15 lead into the second period.
Oklahoma quickly pushed its margin to seven on a three-pointer a minute into the second, but back-to-back triples from Carla Bremaud and Asia Strong cut it to just a one-point game. The Sooners then reeled off seven straight of their own and later extended the lead to 10 on one of Taylor Robertson’s three first half three-pointers.
Oklahoma’s two-head scoring attack of Robertson (13) and Skylar Vann (16) accounted for 29 of the Sooners’ 44 first half points. Wichita State went into the locker room trailing 44-36. OU’s 44 points in the opening half was a season high for a Wichita State opponent.
A 9-2 run to open the second half pushed OU’s lead to 15, its largest to that point. Following a Keitha Adams timeout with 7:09 on the clock, Wichita State responded with a 14-0 run in the span of less than two minutes to pull within a point. McCully poured in seven of those points.
Wichita State got back into the game by forcing turnovers and getting out in transition, but a cold spell over the final 2:44 allowed the Sooners to score the final six points and pushing the lead back to 10. The Shockers missed their final nine field goal attempts of the period.
Just over a minute into the fourth quarter Oklahoma buried a pair of triples to make it 69-55, forcing another Adams timeout. That would essentially put the game away as OU stretched it to as many as 24 over the final 5:00 minutes.
Up Next
Wichita State opens the new year with its conference home opener against the Houston Cougars on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m.
