Oklahoma Hammers Mississippi State
The Jennie Baranczyk era seems to be gaining steam.
Oklahoma improved to 7-1 on Saturday with a dominating 94-63 wipeout victory over Mississippi State at Lloyd Noble Center.
The Sooners won their fourth in a row and were impressive from start to finish in their part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
“Today was such a team effort, especially defensively, and I'm just really proud of the way we played,” Oklahoma’s new head coach said. “I thought we did such a great job playing team defense. Mississippi State has some great players and they do an incredible job of getting into the paint, but our team defense was really great tonight and it showed.”
The 31-point margin was OU’s largest non-conference victory against a Power Five opponent since a 39-point win over Oregon on Nov. 24, 2012.
OU got off to a hot start early, opening the game on an 8-2 run before the Bulldogs (6-2) settled in and took their only lead of the game, an 11-10 advantage with 6:48 left in the first quarter. The Sooners then closed the quarter on a 17-11 run to take a six-point lead into the second.
In the second quarter, the Sooners poured it on by not allowing a Mississippi State bucket for three minute. That was part of an 18-3 run that put OU up 22 at halftime and established control of the game.
Oklahoma's senior trio of Ana Llanusa, Taylor Robertson and Madi Williams continued to show why they all rank in the top-100 nationally in scoring.
Coming off a 25-point performance at SMU on Tuesday, Llanusa scored 21 — her first back-to-back 20-point games since November 2019.
Robertson led the Sooners with 22 points, including six 3-pointers and a new school record of five consecutive games with 5-plus made 3-pointers.
Madi Williams logged her third double-double in four games with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Freshman Kelbie Washington reached double-digit scoring for the first time as a Sooner, while Skylar Vann returned to the floor with nine points and seven rebounds off the bench. Liz Scott added nine points of her own on 4-of-6 shooting.
Saturday's win marked the first of a five-game homestand to close out the Sooners' non-conference schedule and the 2021 calendar year. OU now sets its sights on Eastern Michigan, a home game Tuesday at 5 p.m.