WVU Tops OU in Norman

Sunday, January 13

Norman, OK

3:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

11-4, 2-2Big 12

Oklahoma

5-10, 1-3Big 12

West Virginia

Oklahoma

Photo by: Katie MacCrory

January 13, 2019 05:51 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

By: Ashley Bailey

NORMAN, Okla. – Four of the eight players dressed finished in double-figure scoring as the West Virginia women's basketball team topped Oklahoma, 66-55, at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma, on Sunday afternoon.

The Mountaineers (11-4, 2-2) were without senior guard Katrina Pardee, who suffered an ankle injury last week against Oklahoma State.

Redshirt junior guard Tynice Martin led the way with 20 points, sinking four 3-pointers. Junior guard Lucky Rudd, who saw her first career start, went 6-for-8 on her way to 12 points. Both Martin and Rudd finished with four steals each. Senior forward Naomi Davenport and freshman forward Kari Niblack finished with 10 points each, as Niblack just missed a double-double with a team-best nine rebounds.

Freshman guard Madisen Smith ended the game with nine points and a career-high tying six assists, while senior center Theresa Ekhelar had three blocks.

WVU shot 33.3 percent from the field and 30.8 percent on 3-pointers. The Mountaineers out-rebounded OU, 46-35, to come with 16 second-chance points. They also scored 28 points off 23 OU turnovers.

A Martin 3-pointer was bookended by Sooner buckets as West Virginia trailed 4-3 at the start. However, a second trey by Martin sparked a 10-0 WVU run that was capped by a trey from Smith as the Mountaineers took a 13-4 lead midway through the first. Rudd added a layup, and Martin added her third 3-pointer with just over 90 seconds to play. OU hit the free-throw line and came away with a pair, but West Virginia kept the 18-8 advantage to end the first.

WVU continued to pour it on in the second, as Martin's fourth 3-pointer of the day put the Mountaineers on top 23-12 with 8:44. Rudd picked up a steal then added a fast-break layup to make it a 15-point advantage before back-to-back treys from freshman forward Jala Jordan and Davenport made it a 20-point lead at 33-13 with 6:02 to play in the half.

When the Sooners cut into the lead with a free throw and a jumper by Shaina Pellington, Davenport responded with a 3-pointer to bring it back to 20 and later added a layup with 3:13 to play. Though the Mountaineers were held scoreless across the final three minutes of the second, they took a 38-20 lead into the locker room at the break.

Oklahoma cut the WVU lead down to 15 to start the third, but a Martin jumper started a 6-0 run for the Mountaineers, who took a 44-23 lead on a layup by Niblack with 7:02 to play in the third. After buckets by Rudd and Niblack made it 48-29, OU embarked on an 8-0 run that cut the WVU lead to 12 at 48-36 with 1:36 remaining in the third.

Neither team hit a shot from the field through the rest of the quarter, though Smith and Rudd combined for four points at the free-throw line for a 52-36 lead through three quarters of play.

A 7-0 run by the Sooners at the start of the fourth cut WVU's lead into single digits at 52-43. A jumper by Niblack – WVU's first points of the frame - put the Mountaineers up by eight at 54-46 midway through the quarter. She then added another to put the lead back into double digits at 56-46 with just under four to play.

A 3-pointer by the Sooners with 2:28 to go cut their deficit to seven before Niblack hit the free-throw line for a pair to bring it back to nine at 60-51. The teams traded free throws, with Martin, Rudd and Smith all going 2-for-2 at the line to give WVU the 66-55 victory.

Oklahoma (5-10, 1-3) shot 36.7 percent from the field with six 3-pointers. Taylor Robertson led the scoring with 13 points.

West Virginia returns to Morgantown to host Iowa State on Wednesday. The game is set for a 7 p.m. start the WVU Coliseum.