WBB | Sooners come back falls short, Lose to #6 Baylor

When teams get down by over 30 points, you expect a team to roll over, pull their starters and live to fight another day.

This Oklahoma Sooners team (17-12, 8-8 Big 12) doesn't quit.

Oklahoma trailed the sixth ranked Baylor Bears (26-3, 16-1 Big 12) 71-39 with 15:16 remaining in the second half. All looked lost. The team couldn't find a bucket, and couldn't stop the Bears from doing whatever they wanted to do offensively.

While the Bears dropped Oklahoma 96-89 for Baylor's eighth straight win over Oklahoma, the Sooners kept on fighting. They did what quality teams do when they find themselves down in games like this, they chipped away. They did it point by point, basket by basket. The Sooners used a 32-9 run that spanned almost nine minutes, helping Oklahoma climb to within nine points at 80-71 with 6:42 remaining in the game.

Nicole Griffin finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. Sharane Campbell with nine points and nine rebounds. Morgan Hook struggled to stay out of foul trouble, eventually fouling out. She finished with eight points.

The defensive stance that the Sooners took during the run was one of the best of the season. Oklahoma forced nine turnovers during the run, while holding Baylor to 1-of-9 shooting during that stretch. Credit Oklahoma's Aaryn Ellenberg and Nicole Kornet for being very crucial during the run. They combined for 20 of the 32 points during the stretch, 11 for Ellenberg and nine for Kornet.

Ellenberg, her first game back from missing the last two games due to a concussion had a pretty good game, finishing with 29 points on 9-of-24 shooting. She finished just 3-of-13 from three-point range as her assault on the All-Time NCAA record continues. Ellenberg also finished with a season high five assists.

Coming off the bench for the first time in a couple of games, Kornet did not disappoint on the court. She finished with 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting, including four huge three-points (4-of-3 3-PT). She almost had a double-double off the bench as she finished with a career high, nine rebounds. All 16 of her points came in the second half, during the Sooners come back.

Baylor's ability to get to the free throw line in the final five minutes of the game was really the difference down the stretch. Baylor made 13-of-16 down the stretch. It seemed that anytime Oklahoma had a chance to get a stop, they were bailed out with a foul call.

Kornet hit two back-to-back three's and Griffin hit a lay up, cutting the Bear's lead from 14 to just six at 91-85 with 1:14 remaining. However, Baylor hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to ice this victory.

Sooners will travel to Fort Worth to take on the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday, March 1st. The Sooners took the first game against the Horned Frogs 63-52 on January 25th. Oklahoma trailed at half, but fought back for the victory. Then Oklahoma returns to take on Texas Tech on Senior night on March 3rd.