Their season over, coach Jennie Baranczyk's Sooner women have done so much

In the moment, you expect coach Jennie Baranczyk’s Oklahoma women to entirely find themselves after coming up so short on their home court against their Red River rival.

In the moment, you expect lessons to be learned and discipline to fall into place before a bushel of first-half turnovers spots another opponent so many points.

In the moment, because you’ve watched the core of this roster go from 20-game losers to 25-game winners — twice — you want to see this coach and this team of which you’ve become fond find their best game at the most important time of the season and see where it takes them.

For the second straight outing in this NCAA tournament, that didn’t happen for the Sooners, who fell Monday night to UCLA inside the college game’s most historic arena, Pauley Pavilion, 82-73.

For a second straight campaign, though over-delivering through the regular season, OU failed to fully deliver on the promise created during it, stopped again in the round-of-32.

On the other hand … the moment gone, the season over, so much history already made — like a share of the Big 12 regular season championship for crying out loud —dwelling on such aforementioned difficulties is no longer so important.

“They are what America really should be, you know? All different backgrounds, they’re different people, their styles of play are different and yet, you look at them and when you ask them a question, they light up talking about each other.”

Jennie Baranczyk,
on Madi Williams, Taylor Robertson and Ana Llanusa

Not as you say goodbye to the perpetual presence of Madi Williams, her 2,365 points and 995 rebounds.

Not as you say goodbye to Taylor Robertson, her 2,345 points, NCAA record 537 3-pointers, who was always there to watch get her shots off, nobody else on the floor, provided you arrived two or three hours before the tip.

Not as you say goodbye to Ana Llanusa — right there with Jason White as the most resilient Sooner ever — who made it a six-year Norman run and who, in her final game, was the biggest reason her team had a chance to win, lifting it to its first lead since the game’s first minute with 10 third-quarter points.

“When you look at them, they don’t hang out, but they respect each other,” Baranczyk said. “They are what America really should be, you know? 

“All different backgrounds, they’re different people, their styles of play are different and yet, you look at them and when you ask them a question, they light up talking about each other.”

Two years into the Baranczyk era, it’s fabulous what the trio spearheaded. 

In the program’s last three seasons under Sherri Coale, following a run of 19 straight NCAA tourneys, the Sooners went 8-22 (4-14 Big 12), 12-18 (5-13), 12-12 (9-9).

In its two since, led by the same core, maybe running a more fun and modern offense and finally with some depth, which was all about Baranczyk, the Sooners went 25-9 (12-6) and 26-7 (14-4).

And their final exit, though it occurred in the same round as year ago, was by no means the same game.

“We’ve grown a lot. We’ve learned a lot. And I’m really excited to see where OU women’s basketball goes from here on out. There’s nothing to be disappointed about.”

Ana Llanusa

Last season, at Lloyd Noble Center, after taking care of IUPUI, OU fell to Notre Dame 108-64.

Monday, down 34-16, 5:43 before the half, having already turned the ball over 10 times, the Sooners appeared in for the same kind of embarrassing big-stage loss.

Instead, after clawing back within 41-28 by the half and going on an 18-2 run in the middle of the third quarter, they actually led 54-50 and carried a 54-53 advantage into the fourth.

“For the second half, whether it was driving to the basket or posting deep in the paint, Williams said, “that’s how we were going to get the ball in the basket.”

That’s how OU won the Bedlam game in Stillwater, and perhaps that was the plan and perhaps that’s really what it wanted to do.

But it was a pair of Llanusa 3-pointers that finally took the seal off the Sooner basket and it was a free-throw line jumper, also from Llanusa, that finally put the Sooners on top 50-49.

How disappointing an ending was it, the Sooners were asked.

“I’m not disappointed,” Llanusa said. “I’ve extremely proud of all the work that we’ve put in and just the things that we’ve done. 

“We’ve grown a lot. We’ve learned a lot. And I’m really excited to see where OU women’s basketball goes from here on out. There’s nothing to be disappointed about.”

That’s the spirit.

Baranczyk won’t have the leadership in such numbers next season, but she’ll have the league’s most experienced point guard in Neveah Tot; Skylar Vann should be there and might not have to come off the bench any more; one hopes Kelbie Washington will find her way back to the court after missing the whole season; Liz Scott and Kennady Tucker, though seniors, have eligibility remaining and Beatrice Culliton and Aubrey Joens should be back, too.

Not bad.

For now, though, it ends.

The program’s come a long, long way. And, just maybe, all the self-inflicted wounds the Sooners caused themselves over the last month is actually a good thing.

They’ve been really, really good.

They can still be so much better.