Oklahoma Overwhelms BYU

Denver, Colo. (March 20, 2006) -- A second-half three-point barrage was too much for No. 19 BYU as second-seeded Oklahoma overwhelmed the Cougars Monday at the Pepsi Center, ending BYU's Sweet Sixteen hopes with a 16-point victory, 86-70. With the loss, the Cougars end the season at 26-6.

"We're very grateful to be here at the NCAA Tournament," head coach Jeff Judkins said. "I wish we would have played better tonight, but you have to give Oklahoma credit. They're a very well coached and organized team. I've very proud of my team, though. I don't think anyone thought we'd be here right now. I think our seniors set a great example of where we want our program to go in the future."

Despite six steals in the first half, the Cougars went into halftime with a nine-point deficit. The teams exchanged the lead six times in the opening minutes of the period until Britney Brown scored a wide-open shot off the inbound pass followed by a three-point play to give Oklahoma a 16-12 lead with 15:51 left in the half.

Dani Kubik responded with a beautiful up-and-under to close the gap, 16-14, but the Sooners then went on a 9-0 run sparked by a three-pointer from Leah Rush. Oklahoma led 26-17 with 11 minutes left in the first half.

BYU would not surrender, however, scoring six straight points of its own off a free throw from Kubik, a Jennie Keele three-pointer and a layup from Kubik.

That run was followed by two BYU drives from Melinda Johnsen and Ambrosia Anderson, closing the gap to five, 28-23, with 4:29 remaining.

A layup from Anderson at the 2:52 mark cut the lead to just one point, 30-29, but the Sooners finished the half on an 8-0 run to take a 38-29 advantage into the break.

Oklahoma was too much to handle during the second 20 minutes of action as Courtney Paris turned up the heat and Sooner guards starting raining threes. Oklahoma outscored BYU 6-1 in the first three minutes off three layups from Paris, widening Oklahoma's lead to 14 at 44-30.

The two teams traded baskets for most of the second period, but the Cougars had no answer for Paris and the three-point shot. The Sooners drained six three-pointers, including four from Erin Higgins, and shot 60 percent from behind the arc.

Oklahoma's largest lead of the game came with just over six minutes remaining when Krista Sanchez netted back-to-back three-pointers, followed by two free throws from Rush

Oklahoma made adjustments during the break and found a way to limit Anderson, who did not score in the second half until she hit a free throw with 5:20 remaining.

Anderson and Mallary Gillespie led the Cougars with 16 points each while Kubik added 13. Anderson also led BYU with eight rebounds.

Paris paced Oklahoma with game-highs of 30 points and 15 rebounds while Higgins and Sanchez added 15 and 11 points, respectively.

The Sooners shot an astounding 51.7 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the three-point line while BYU hit 43.1 percent from the floor and just 26.1 percent from behind the arc on 3-for-13 shooting.

Although the Sooners defeated the Cougars, Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale recognized the hurdle her team passed.

"BYU is a really good, really good team," Coale said. "We had to do a lot of different things to beat them. Obviously we got hot in the second half. We found some opportunities and we were able to convert, which is a lot easier said than done. It's unfortunate a good team has to end their season this way."

Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs Oklahoma
3/20/06 5 p.m. at Denver, Colo. (Pepsi Center)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: BYU 26-6
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. f  6-12   1-4    3-4    3  5  8   1  16  2  1  0  1  30
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... f  1-6    0-3    1-2    0  0  0   1   3  2  2  0  2  31
45 KUBIK, Dani......... c  5-10   0-2    3-4    3  3  6   5  13  0  2  1  0  21
15 KEELE, Jennie....... g  2-5    1-2    1-2    1  2  3   3   6  3  2  1  1  23
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g  7-13   2-7    0-0    1  5  6   1  16  4  0  1  1  35
01 SELJAAS, Nancy......    1-6    1-3    0-0    1  0  1   2   3  1  0  0  2  14
10 STRATTON, Laura.....    1-1    1-1    0-0    1  1  2   0   3  0  1  0  0   8
13 AINA, Rachel........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0+
23 BROWN, Brit.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0+
24 HUTSON, Vanessa.....    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   3
32 SLADE, Shawnee......    2-6    0-0    0-0    3  1  4   0   4  1  1  0  1  13
41 FADDIS, Brittany....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
52 RILEY, Lauren.......    2-3    0-0    0-6    1  4  5   3   4  3  3  0  3  18
54 KING, Cassie........    1-2    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  0  0  0  0   3
   TEAM................                                             1
   Totals..............   28-65   6-23   8-18  14 21 35  17  70 16 14  3 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 38.7%   2nd Half: 16-34 47.1%   Game: 43.1%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-13 23.1%   2nd Half:  3-10 30.0%   Game: 26.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  2-4  50.0%   2nd Half:  6-14 42.9%   Game: 44.4%    4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Oklahoma 31-4
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
24 RUSH, Leah.......... f  3-7    2-3    1-4    0  6  6   1   9  3  1  1  0  32
03 Paris, Courtney..... c 12-16   0-0    6-8    3 12 15   3  30  1  3  1  0  30
22 WELCH, Chelsi....... g  3-9    0-2    1-1    1  0  1   1   7  0  0  0  0  24
33 BROWN, Britney...... g  3-6    0-2    3-3    2  2  4   2   9 10  3  0  2  24
34 HIGGINS, Erin....... g  5-9    5-8    0-0    0  1  1   2  15  1  1  1  1  35
05 Paris, Ashley.......    1-1    0-0    3-4    2  5  7   3   5  0  1  0  2  14
11 ANDREWS, Laura......    0-4    0-2    0-0    0  1  1   2   0  4  2  0  0  19
14 PRESTON, Beky.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
15 WINCHESTER, Carolyn.    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   2
20 MOORE, Kendra.......    0-1    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  1  2  0  0   7
32 SANCHEZ, Krista.....    3-5    3-3    2-2    1  0  1   0  11  1  3  0  0  12
   TEAM................                            2  2
   Totals..............   30-58  10-20  16-22  10 29 39  14  86 21 17  3  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-27 44.4%   2nd Half: 18-31 58.1%   Game: 51.7%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-10 40.0%   2nd Half:  6-10 60.0%   Game: 50.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-13 76.9%   2nd Half:  6-9  66.7%   Game: 72.7%    3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Robert Trammell, Dennis DeMayo, Mary Day
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Oklahoma-None.
Attendance: 2438
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   29   41  -   70
Oklahoma......................   38   48  -   86
FOULED OUT: BYU, Dani Kubik, 5:59 of 2nd Half