Oklahoma defeats Henderson State 98-33 in final exhibition game.
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(0-0) |
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1st |
2nd |
F |
| Henderson St. |
18 |
15 |
33 |
| Oklahoma |
44 |
54 |
98 |
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(0-0) |
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NORMAN, Okla. -- No. 12 Oklahoma shook off an early shooting slump and then dominated out of halftime to beat Henderson State 98-33 Tuesday at the Lloyd Noble Center.
Newcomer Portia Durrett scored a game-high 26 points and added nine rebounds as Oklahoma pounced on a 14-minute scoreless streak by Henderson State to rout the Lady Reddies in its exhibition finale.
"I was really proud of our effort," OU head coach Sherri Coale said. "These kids are fun to coach and they're easy to coach because they listen. You could tell in the first three to five minutes of the second half that what we talked about at halftime they were really trying to do. We got out in transition, we fed the post, we blocked out, our help defense was better, and recovery was better and more urgent. They just listen and they really want to do things right."
Aaryn Ellenberg scored 17 points, with 15 coming in the first period, as the Sooners took a 37-18 lead with 3:17 left in the first half. OU then scored 37 straight points while Henderson State missed its next 18 shots.
Whitney Hand added 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and Joanna McFarland totaled a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Coale lauded the efforts of her team when up double digits.
"I thought the guys who finished the game were great and disciplined the last 15 minutes of the game. They really played a lot of minutes consecutively; we didn't give them much of a rest and they pushed through and kept playing hard and gave great effort. I'm really proud of them."
Maddie Manning sped through the Reddie defense for 11 points. The backup point guard also had five assists to just one turnover.
"Every time we step out on the floor, practice or a game," Coale said, "I walk away feeling a little bit better about them than I did the day before. They're just like that. They learn and they keep progressing. It's fun; there's more and more things every day that I can't wait to show them this, I can't wait to put this in. They're just like that, they absorb and get better."
Oklahoma opens its regular season on the road in Omaha, Neb., Saturday, Nov. 10, facing Creighton, the preseason favorite of the Missouri Valley Conference and a team that took 3-seed St. John's to the wire in a 2012 NCAA first round game at the Lloyd Noble Center in March.