No. 13 Oklahoma owns the glass to beat No. 10 Oklahoma State

By Scott Nulph Stillwater NewsPress

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State hadn’t lost inside the cozy confines of Gallagher-Iba Arena this season and certainly nobody had outworked the Cowgirls on their home floor this year.

That was until Saturday.

The 13th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners dominated the 10th-ranked Cowgirls on the glass and in the paint for a 77-66 win before a season-high crowd of 6,264 at GIA.

Oklahoma State (18-5 overall, 6-3 Big 12) saw its 13-game home winning streak snapped and lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. Oklahoma (16-6, 6-3) jumped into a tie for second place in the Big 12 with the Cowgirls with the win.

“I don’t think you have to look very far on the stats and see they outrebounded us 49-31,” OSU coach Kurt Budke said. “I thought they executed like a more experienced team today than we did. I thought the point guard (position) would kind of cancel each other out and that kind of happened.

“It came down to the boards. You cannot win in this league giving up 20 offensive rebounds and what’s disappointing is we go down to Texas A&M and outrebound them 52-38 and come back home and get outrebounded by 18.”

Oklahoma had 20 offensive rebounds, which only led to 6 second-chance points. But all the extra possessions kept OSU out of sync offensively. The Cowgirls shot 37.1 percent from the field.

The Sooners also outscored OSU 30-14 in the paint.

“They just worked a lot harder than we did, all those boards they just wanted it more in the end I guess,” OSU senior Tegan Cunningham said.

In a matchup of two of the top points guards in the country, OU’s Danielle Robinson and OSU’s Andrea Riley both put up good numbers.

But it was Robinson who won the battle down the stretch.

With the score tied at 57-57 with 6:08 remaining following a basket by Riley, Robinson took over the game, scoring 12 of Oklahoma’s next 14 points to push the Sooners to a 71-61 lead with just over a minute to play.

Robinson finished with a career-highs of 36 points and 9 rebounds and added 6 assists. The junior was also a perfect 16-for-16 from the free throw line, which set a Big 12 record.

Riley scored 30 points and had 6 rebounds and 5 assists. But the senior was 11 of 34 from the field.

The Cowgirls, playing their third top 15 team in six days, appeared to run out of gas in the second half, but Riley said that was no excuse.

“I think there’s no excuse for (fatigue) or nothing like that,” she said. “OU has nine players and they played so hard tonight. They showed it doesn’t matter how many people are on your roster, it matters about your heart and your passion and how hard you work on the floor.”

Cunningham added 16 points for OSU, but no other Cowgirl scored in double figures. Megan Byford totaled 7 points and 7 rebounds.

Abi Olajuwon had 14 points and 9 rebounds for the Sooners, who repeatedly found holes in the OSU zone defense in the second half. Nyeshia Stevenson scored 14 points.

“It was a team effort,” Robinson said. “Our post ability to rebound and get quick outlets led to some transition buckets. Some screens got me open to shoot jumpers. I think it was an all-around effort on everybody’s part.”

OSU now has a week off before its next game. The Cowgirls will host Texas Tech next Saturday at 6 p.m.

“It just looked like we didn’t quite have that step,” said Budke. “I think it’s a perfect time for a break for us.”

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