Sherri Coale's Oklahoma Sooners basketball team opened Big 12 Tournament play with a win over Tech Tech by a score of 71-69 on Wednesday night.
The win for the Sooners (21-10), avenged a loss to the Lady Raiders just one short week ago, and has put them into the bracket championship against Texas A&M and Danielle Adams on Friday.
If the Sooners come up victorious in this next game against the Aggies on Friday, they would play the winner of the other bracket champion (Baylor or Kansas St.) in the conference championship on Saturday.
Danielle Robinson led the Sooner with 19 points, while fellow-senior Carlee Roethlisberger chipped-in a season high 18 to compliment D-Rob's stellar performance.
This game came down to a last-second defensive play against Tech's Chynna Brown allowing the third-seeded Sooners to barely squeak by the Lady Raiders and make it the semifinals.
Leading by two in the final seconds, the Sooners defended Brown's drive in the lane to come away with the ball and preserve the win.
"We have every chance to put the game away and we weren't able to, finally something good did happen right at the end,'' said Sherri Coale
Texas Tech (22-10) was down 71-66 when Casey Morris hit a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left. The Sooners had a chance to seal the game when Aaryn Ellenberg came up with a steal, but Ellenberg couldn't connect on the wide-open transition layup.
That blown layup gave the Lady Raiders one final chance to tie or win the game on their final possession, but the Sooners' defense against Brown held firm.
Neither team shot particularly well from the field. This game came down to a lot of clawing and scratching, and inevitably went to the Sooners because they seem to want it the most.
It was obvious that in the back of their minds and looming very large was the loss at Tech in the last regular season game of the season this year. That loss actually gave the Sooners the extra boost they needed to get past Tech in this second round matchup.
Nicole Griffin tied Tech's Teena Wickett for game-high honors with 11 rebounds. "Rebounds give life. It's something I can bring to the team and it's going to be a factor against A&M,” said Griffin.
Griffin recorded her first double-double with 10 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Griffin had seven first-half rebounds, equaling her previous career high.
Last year, the Sooners (21-10) reached the tournament championship game, only to be turned back by the Aggies. Texas A&M cruised past Texas 77-50 earlier Wednesday to setup this year's showdown.
The Sooners now face an A&M team that they have become very familiar with. Texas A&M routed Texas 77-50 earlier on Wednesday to get to the bracket championship against OU.
"We think A&M is a great team. (Danielle) Adams has played really well against us. We're coming into the game with momentum and so are they,” said Danielle Robinson.
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