Sooners defeat Tigers
Published Feb. 27, 2007
The women's basketball team had no solution for Oklahoma's sophomore forward Courtney Paris, who scored 33 points and pulled down 21 rebounds, leading the No. 13 Sooners to a 72-57 victory against the Tigers.
"We tried to randomly trap her," coach Cindy Stein said. "It is tough because they have really good spacing, and it is really hard to do that. We had to worry about everyone else too. Sometimes they would hit a big three or they would miss a shot and get the offensive board. From watching Oklahoma's film, they live off of offensive boards. It is a tough situation."
Of Paris' 21 rebounds, seven came on the offensive end. As a team, the Tigers had six offensive rebounds and were out-rebounded 49-28. Paris set the Sooners' record for career offensive rebounds with 314 in just her second season.
"Another spectacular performance by Courtney (Paris) around the rim," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said. "They didn't have an answer for her."
At halftime MU trailed 32-25 and had trailed by as much as 11. The closest the Tigers came to the Sooners was with 4:30 left in the first half, when a pair of free throws by senior forward Carlynn Savant cut Oklahoma's lead to 23-20.
In the second half, MU came within six points on a 3-pointer by senior guard Marchele Campbell with 8:56 left.
"I really thought that we could come back and win," senior forward EeTisha Riddle said.
Oklahoma went on an 8-0 run during the next four minutes and pushed its lead up to 17 points with less than a minute left.
Riddle led the Tigers in scoring with 12 points, well below her average of 17.8 in conference games. She was the only MU player to score in double figures as the team shot a paltry 34 percent.
Savant hit two 3-pointers, bringing her career total to 141 and giving her the MU record for career 3s. She passed Tracy Lozier, who played from 2001 to 2004, for the record.
Sophomore guard Alyssa Hollins also is on the verge of passing Lozier in the record books. Hollins only made 1-of-8 3s against Oklahoma, giving her 59 for the season.
Lozier is second place in the MU record books for 3s in a season with 60. Amanda Lassiter holds the record with 65.
"I think Oklahoma is a very tough team," Stein said. "I don't know if Oklahoma was hitting on all cylinders today, but when you are a top 10 team you can do things like that. We were not on our 'A' game and to beat Oklahoma at their place you have to be on your 'A' game."
The Tigers have one remaining game against rival Kansas at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Mizzou Arena.