OU vs. Baylor women's basketball: 5 takeaways from Sooners' loss to Sarah Andrews, Bears

NORMAN — Her voice gravely after a night of yelling, pleading, and encouraging her team, OU women’s basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk left her postgame press conference with a simple message.

“Sorry we were just terrible,” Baranczyk said as she walked out of the room following the 17th-ranked Sooners’ 81-70 loss to No. 23 Baylor on Tuesday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

A disastrous first quarter gave way to an even rest of the game, though OU at least made things interesting at times.

“I can promise you we’ll look in the mirror,” Baranczyk said. “We’ve got to come out better.”

The Sooners were down 21-5 after one quarter, making just 1 of 16 from the floor and committing seven turnovers that turned into 11 points on the other end.

“I felt like we just weren’t aggressive,” Baranczyk said. “I feel like we didn’t have our player movement, which didn’t lead to ball movement.

“It got stuck a lot.”

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The first quarter was OU’s lowest-scoring quarter in two seasons under Baranczyk.

Their previous low was six points at Texas last season. They hadn’t scored fewer than 12 in a quarter this season.

Ana Llanusa hit the only field goal of the quarter for OU (11-2, 1-1 Big 12), with the rest of her team going 0 for 14 from the floor in the first.

Llanusa led the Sooners with 24 points. Llanusa has now scored 52 points over the last two games, after not scoring more than 14 in any of the first 11 games.

“I think I’ve been more aggressive,” Llanusa said of the uptick in her production. “I have been cautious in past games.”

The Sooners finished with a season-low 13 assists.

“Thirteen? That’s not how we play,” Llanusa said.

Here are four other takeaways from the loss:

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Comeback falls short

After trailing by 17 late in the first, the Sooners stormed back in the second, cutting the deficit to just four, 34-30, at halftime.

They did it by limiting the turnovers that plagued them early, playing better defense — particularly in the paint — and converting at the free-throw line.

It could’ve been even better for the Sooners if it weren’t for Sarah Andrews, who hit two 3-pointers and scored eight of the Bears’ 13 second-quarter points.

Andrews finished with 30 points to lead all scorers.

“A year ago, Sarah didn’t even have to be Robin,” Baylor coach Nicki Collen said. “And now there’s times she has to be Batman.”

Baylor’s lead was back to 14 by early in the fourth.

The Sooners cut it to six in the final two minutes but couldn’t get any closer.

Foul city

The game was often disjointed, with a combined 53 fouls called between the teams.

“There wasn’t a lot of flow to the game,” Baranczyk said. “It wasn’t a beautiful game for women’s basketball.”

Baylor had three players with three fouls at halftime, which would seem to favor the Sooners.

But the Sooners quickly found their share of foul trouble in the third quarter, with Madi Williams picking up two fouls in the first 90 seconds of the second half, sending OU’s leading scorer to the bench for the rest of the quarter.

Five players — Baylor’s Darianna Littlepage-Bugg, Bella Fontleroy and Jaden Owens, and the Sooners’ Williams and Liz Scott — ultimately fouled out while two other players finished with four fouls.

Baylor (11-3, 2-0) was 20 of 27 at the free-throw line while the Sooners were 24 of 32.

Collen said the foul totals were often an indication of the style of both teams, particularly OU’s aggressive defense.

“They’re undersized. They attack the ball,” Collen said. “They go try to take the ball, and they’re really good at it. At times it’s clean and at times it’s not.”

Baranczyk was more frustrated with the way her team responded to the fouls, rather than the calls.

“There were times when we would get a stop and not the freaking ball,” Baranczyk said, ticking off a litany of issues — missed chances at defensive rebounds, fouling well after a shot had gone up, getting frustrated when calls didn’t go their way.

Llanusa was frustrated as well.

“I think we were kind of wimpy when it came to the fouls being called on us,” Llanusa said. “That’s not us.”

Robertson record watch

Taylor Robertson hit four 3-pointers, moving with 11 of the NCAA career record of 497 by Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell.

Robertson was 4 of 8 from beyond the arc, continuing her recent push of heating up from distance.

Over the Sooners’ last three games, Robertson is 16 of 25 on 3-pointers.

Robertson has hit a 3-pointer in 55 consecutive games, extending her own Big 12 record.

Homecoming

Tulsa East Central and OSU transfer Ja’Mee Asberry was the most productive of the three Oklahoma products on Baylor’s roster, scoring 12 with six rebounds and two steals in playing the entirety of the game.

Littlepage-Bugg, a former Classen SAS standout, was limited to just 10 minutes by foul trouble, scoring two.

Former Harding Charter Prep standout Kendra Gillispie came off the bench to score two.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Sarah Andrews, Baylor Bears beat Oklahoma Sooners women's basketball