WVU Drops OT Heartbreaker to OU

Saturday, February 17

Morgantown, W.Va

3:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

19-8/7-8

Oklahoma

14-12/9-6

OT 1

Oklahoma

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

February 17, 2018 06:53 PM | Women's Basketball

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By: Ashley Bailey

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A 3-pointer from junior guard Katrina Pardee with just eight seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime, but the West Virginia women's basketball team fell to Oklahoma on a buzzer beater, 79-77, at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday.

The Mountaineers (19-8, 7-8) led by as many as 20 in the first half but the Sooners chipped away at the deficit and took an eight-point lead with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth.

"Give our girls credit. I think we were down eight with 40, 50 seconds to go," coach Mike Carey said. "We pressed; we haven't worked on it all year. It worked out pretty well. If we just had numbers, we'd do a little more of that. Give (senior guard) Chania (Ray) a lot of credit; 12 assists. Give her a lot of credit. (Senior forward) Teana (Muldrow), (junior guard) Naomi (Davenport), they did a good job executing right there to get it to overtime. They did a good job on that. (Junior guard) Katrina (Pardee) hit a big shot. We just don't have enough numbers right now."

Senior forward Teana Muldrow registered her second straight double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard/forward Naomi Davenport tied her career high by sinking five 3-pointers on her way to a 24-point effort with seven boards and four steals. Pardee and senior forward Kristina King joined them in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Senior guard Chania Ray had a career-high 12 assists in the effort, adding five rebounds and four steals as well.

The Mountaineers finished the game shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from beyond the arc. They were outrebounded by the Sooners, 42-36. OU also outscored the Mountaineers in the pain, 36-32, and off turnovers 23-13. WVU forced Oklahoma into 23 turnovers.

Davenport used four 3-pointers to score the Mountaineers first 12 points of the game. King added a layup at the 5:19 mark to give WVU a 14-9 lead heading into the media timeout. Out of the timeout, Ray passed the ball to a wide-open Muldrow, who knocked down a corner trey to make the score 17-9. WVU did not let up in the final three minutes of the quarter, going on a 6-1 run to end the first with a 23-10 lead.

WVU carried the momentum into the second quarter, as King scored a layup and Ray knocked down a shot from downtown to give the Mountaineers the 28-10 lead at the 7:29 mark. After an Oklahoma timeout, King scored another layup to extend the lead to 20. The Sooners bounced back with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 30-18 with 3:57 to go in the first half. Muldrow ended the Oklahoma run after making a contested layup with 3:11 remaining in the half. After a pair of free throws from OU, Davenport knocked down her fifth shot from downtown giving WVU a 35-23 edge. Davenport knocked down a jumper with 2:09 to go, but Oklahoma scored the final five points of the half, as the Mountaineers went to the locker room with a 37-30 lead.

After the break, the teams traded buckets as the Mountaineers led 39-34 at the 9:04. Both teams remained scoreless for the next two minutes, until Davenport knocked down a free throw. Pardee would then hit her first three of the day to extend the lead to seven, 43-36. Oklahoma's Manning then hit a foul shot and a trey before Destiney Harden added a layup for WVU as the Mountaineers led 47-40 at the media timeout. The two teams continued to trade buckets as Oklahoma pulled within two with 2:11 in the quarter. The Sooners used a layup from Gabbi Ortiz to take their first lead since the 8:06 mark of the opening quarter, with ten seconds remaining.

In the fourth, Oklahoma's lead stayed steady until Muldrow hit two free throws to tie the game at 58 with 6:59 to play. The Mountaineers would then fall cold, as they went without a bucket for five minutes and 53 seconds as the Sooners built a 68-60 lead. Muldrow ended the drought with a layup with 1:06 remaining to play. Muldrow knocked down a triple to cut the deficit to four at 67-63 with just under a minute to play. Pardee added a layup before Muldrow got the steal with 25 seconds remaining. Ray dished the ball back to Muldrow, who made the layup to make it a one-point game. OU picked up a pair at the free-throw line to pad the lead at 70-67 before Pardee drained a 3-pointer off the pass from Ray to tie the game with eight seconds to play in regulation.

The Sooners scored on a layup and the ensuing free-throw to start the extra period with a 73-70 lead. King hit the charity stripe for a pair to whittle down the Sooner lead before picking up a pair in the paint to give WVU a one-point lead at 74-73 midway through the period. The two teams traded buckets before Pardee tied things up at the free-throw line, 77-77, with just under a minute to play. After the Mountaineers missed a jumper with 10 seconds remaining, the Sooners missed the layup but grabbed the offensive board and sent it back in at the buzzer for the 79-77 triumph.

West Virginia travels to Manhattan, Kansas, on Tuesday for a tilt at K-State. The Mountaineers and the Wildcats are set to square off at 8 p.m. EST inside Bramlage Coliseum.

Notes: Teana Muldrow notched her second straight double-double … it was her 12th of the season and the 22nd of her career … she is tied with Lisa Szymczak for sixth all-time at WVU …she is tied for second in the Big 12 this season … Muldrow also moved into eighth place all-time with 1,651 career points … she is fifth in senior season leaders with 531 points this year … Muldrow also moved into eighth place on the senior season leaders list with 244 rebounds … she is fifth all-time with 896 rebounds … senior forward Chania Ray had a career-high 12 assists in the effort … she is three shy of cracking the all-time top 10 with 412 career dishes … it was the second time WVU and OU have gone to overtime … the Sooners won a 90-87 triumph in double overtime in Norman on Feb. 7, 2017 … it was WVU's second overtime game of the season … the Mountaineers previously fell to TCU, 76-74, on Jan. 13 in Morgantown … prior to the game, WVU hosted women's basketball alumni in a pregame celebration.