Sooners roll late because they couldn't maintain their rolls early
Winning their way into the NCAA tournament's second round, Oklahoma overcomes Florida Gulf Coast only after overcoming itself
In a blink, Oklahoma was killing it in the second quarter.
Five possessions, four made baskets, 10 points on the board and just like that the Sooners' lead over Florida Gulf Coast in the first round of the NCAA tournament inside Lloyd Noble Center Saturday afternoon reached 19 points.
They were on their way.
Only they weren’t.
OU failed to knock down another field goal the rest of the half until Skylar Vann made the second of her three 3s with 38 seconds remaining, returning the Sooners to a double-digit edge after the Eagles cut the deficit to seven.
• • •
So, making the best of it, OU flew away again in the third quarter.
Payton Verhulst canned a short jumper at the 5:18 mark and the run was on.
Next, it was an old-fashioned three-point play on a second-chance put-back from Vann off a Liz Scott miss. Then it was a 2-point jumper from Vann.
Finally it was a transition 3 on the left side from Lexi Keys with 3:39 left in the frame and, how about that, OU led by 16 with time to make it many more than that before the fourth quarter arrived.
The Sooners could not be stopped.
But they were.
FGCU, a team that finished the afternoon shooting a horrendous 23.6 percent (17 of 72) and 19.5 percent (8 of 41) from beyond the 3-point arc, somehow scored the quarter’s next eight points and, after a single free-throw from Sooner post Raegan Beers, the lead was seven with the final period remaining.
Is there a better way?
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