'We’d kind of panic': No. 19 OU falls to Kansas, setting up rematch in Big 12 women's basketball tournament
NORMAN — Leading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against Kansas, OU coach Jennie Baranczyk said it felt like the No. 19 Sooners were preparing to face a team they hadn’t played this season.
Nearly two months had passed since the Sooners won at Kansas in early January.
Now, Baranczyk will have to prepare for the Jayhawks on a much shorter turnaround, after Saturday’s 73-67 loss at Lloyd Noble Center dropped OU to the No. 4 seed in next week’s Big 12 Tournament.
“This one might be the toughest one to swallow of all year,” Baranczyk said.
The Sooners will take on fifth-seeded Kansas at 11 a.m. Friday at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium.
OU trailed by 13 late in the third quarter after a disastrous stretch in the first half, but clawed back to take a brief lead with 2:37 remaining.
But from there, the Jayhawks outscored the Sooners 11-3 to put the game away. OU was just 1 of 7 from the floor to end the game.
“The way that they were scoring was in transition and we didn’t get back,” Baranczyk said. “So that’s going to be really difficult to be able to watch that, because that’s how they got back in it. If we could’ve just gotten back instead of trying to make plays, then I think maybe we’re talking a different story.”
Kansas made four of its last five shots.
But while the close was a tough pill to swallow, the game turned in the second quarter as the Jayhawks dominated, outscoring OU 26-12 in the period.
The Sooners were just 4 of 21 from the field in the quarter with eight turnovers. OU missed its first six shots of the quarter and its last seven, and Kansas scored 10 points off eight Sooners turnovers.
“We just really gave them some easy baskets in the full court,” Baranczyk said of the second quarter. “We weren’t on the same page. We just have to stay connected in those moments.
“We turned it over and we’d come down and we’d kind of panic and just shoot it.”
Kansas’ imposing 6-foot-6 center Taiyanna Jackson kept the Sooners from getting to the rim effectively, blocking four shots but also changing OU’s offense.
The Sooners were just 11 of 27 on layups in the loss, and shot a season-low 31.6% overall.
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Madi Williams and Taylor Robertson have carried OU offensively this season, but both struggled.
Williams finished with a season-low eight points, the first time this season she’d been held to fewer than 11 points.
Robertson scored 14 points but was just 5 of 15 from the floor. Williams was 4 of 17 with five of the Sooners’ 23 turnovers. Williams didn’t score until early in the third quarter.
Over the last two games, OU has been outscored 56-25 in the second quarter.
The Jayhawks led 54-41 with less than four minutes remaining in the third, but the Sooners scored seven straight to pull within four early in the fourth.
Williams’ layup capped a 10-0 run that put OU up with 2:37 to play.
From then on, though, it was all Kansas.
“We’re going to grow from this and we’re going to get better and we’ve got to be better,” Baranczyk said.
Skylar Vann led the Sooners with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Vann hit a career-high four 3-pointers.
Baranczyk pointed out several areas where the Sooners can improve heading into their next meeting with the Jayhawks.
The biggest, though, is trying to recapture the team’s approach that helped OU to a 12-1 start.
“I’m hoping that we can find that going into the Big 12 Tournament,” Baranczyk said. “Can we go back to that fearlessness, letting it fly, having fun playing, we’re totally a unit playing together without the rest of the heaviness? Because I think we’re carrying too much into these games instead of just playing.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU loses to Kansas, drops to fourth seed in Big 12 women's tournament
