Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 17/18 West Virginia University women's basketball team suffered its first conference loss of the season, as Oklahoma toppled the Mountaineers, 73-49, on Wednesday evening at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.
 
Redshirt senior guard Tynice Martin and redshirt junior guard Kysre Gondrezick led all WVU scorers with eight points apiece. Freshman forward Esmery Martinez led the way in rebounding, grabbing 10 boards, followed by junior center Blessing Ejiofor with seven.
 
"Congratulations to Oklahoma," WVU coach Mike Carey said. "They played five times harder than we did. They deserved to win, and we deserved to lose. We had no heart and quit playing. We had no legs."
 
WVU (13-2, 3-1 Big 12) struck first with a pair of free throws from Martin. Gondrezick then hit a jumper to put the Mountaineers up by four, but Oklahoma countered with a 3-pointer. Gondrezick added a layup on a straight-line drive, before the Sooners added another triple to tie the game at the first media timeout.
 
OU sank its third 3-pointer of the game coming out of the break to take its first lead of the game. Martin added another pair of free throws to cut the Sooners' advantage to one, but another OU triple kept the Mountaineers trailing. Sophomore forward Kari Niblack cut into the deficit with a pair of free throws and Ejiofor tied the game at 12-12 with a layup at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Sooners struck again from beyond the arc at the start of the second and added another score on a fast-break layup. Ejiofor silenced the OU scoring run with a layup of her own, as Oklahoma led by three with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half. Martin then converted a jumper off a turnover to cut the Sooner lead to one. Redshirt freshman center Rochelle Norris scored a layup, but Oklahoma scored seven times over the next five minutes to take a nine-point lead. West Virginia responded with a pair of Gondrezick free throws and a layup by Ejiofor, but the Sooners added a late basket to lead WVU 29-22 at halftime.
 
Oklahoma kept its offense rolling by riding a 14-2 run to start the second half. Gondrezick scored West Virginia's lone basket, as WVU went to the third-quarter media timeout trailing by 19. Coming out of the timeout, the Mountaineers cut into the Sooners' lead with a score from sophomore guard Madisen Smith, a pair of free throws from Niblack and two more from Martin. But, Oklahoma matched West Virginia shot-for-shot and continued to hold a 19-point lead with just over one minute remaining in the quarter. Martinez sank another pair of free throws with a minute to go in the third, but Oklahoma converted on its ninth triple of the game as time expired to take a 20-point lead into the final quarter.
 
West Virginia added two free throws from senior guard Lucky Rudd to start the fourth, but OU extended its lead to 22 points with a pair of scores just before the final media timeout. Martinez found the basket on two mid-range jumpers halfway through the quarter, and Smith added a 3-pointer with 1:41 remaining, but it wasn't enough, as the Mountaineers fell 73-49.
 
The Mountaineers finished Wednesday's contest shooting 14-of-59 (23.7 percent) from the field and just 1-of-13 (7.7 percent) from 3-point range. West Virginia also went 20-of-28 (71.4 percent) from the free-throw line. WVU forced 21 OU turnovers and outscored Oklahoma's bench, 16-13, but ultimately couldn't come away with the win.
 
Oklahoma went 27-of-65 (41.5 percent) from the field and 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) from beyond the arc. The Sooners finished the game shooting 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from the line and outrebounded the Mountaineers, 49-41.
 
West Virginia next competes on Saturday, Jan. 18, as the Mountaineers travel to Waco, Texas, for a top-10 showdown against No. 2/1 Baylor. Opening tip is set for 8 p.m. ET at the Ferrell Center in Waco. Saturday's contest against the Lady Bears will be broadcast on FS1, with Ron Thulin and Brenda VanLengen on the call.