Sherri Coale's Oklahoma Sooners defeated James Madison by a score of 86-72 to advance past the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon. The Sooners were led by Whitney Hand's 24 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two blocks.
Danielle Robinson's chipped in 19 for a balanced scoring attack that saw a total of four Sooners players score in double figures. Aaryn Ellenberg scored 17, and Joanna McFarland turned in an outstanding performance with 10 points and a game high 15 rebounds.
The Dukes of James Madison were led by Dawn Evans' 20 points, and had three other players also scored in double figures. Sooners’ coach Sherri Coale was not surprised about the performance that Evans turned-in because she ended the regular season as the nation's third-leading scorer with a 23.2 ppg average.
Evans' career was an incredible display of courage and determination, and she was the sentimental favorite of a lot of basketball fans because of the fact that she played most of the last two seasons with a rare kidney disease called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.
The Sooners actually blew a 19-point lead in the second half before holding on to defeat the Dukes. "The unfortunate thing is that those nights happen," Evans said after her final college game. "It just so happened to be on the night we needed it most. It was extremely frustrating."
Danielle Robinson used her All-American status and senior leadership to help keep the Sooners in control by practically filling up the stat sheet.
Along with the 19 points, she also had five rebounds, six assists, and two steals. But Sherri Coale felt that it was her own over-coaching that led to her team's struggles in the second half when they allowed James Madison to get back into the game.
"We got panicky," Coale said, taking the blame for slowing her team down. "We thought about everything too much. We're better when we just keep going."
Trailing by as many as 19, James Madison got to within 71-61 when Courtney Hamner made a steal and a layup with a little over five minutes left to play, but the Sooners held on to claim the victory.
The number six seeded Sooners will now have to face the number three seeded Miami Hurricane on Tuesday in the second round of the tournament in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Hurricane finished the regular season ranked higher than the Sooners so it won't be a walk in the park for Coale's team.
Seniors Danielle Robinson, Lauren Willis, and Carlie Roethlisberger will seek to keep their OU careers alive in this game as they try to advance into the third round.
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