The No. 15 OU women’s basketball team almost upset No. 3 Baylor, but the last-minute shot rimmed out and the Lady Bears escaped Norman with an 82-81 win.

“I thought our kids played incredibly hard, played well enough to win,” OU coach Sherri Coale said.

OU had the ball where it wanted it with 8.3 seconds to play — in the hands of All-American senior guard Danielle Robinson.

The Sooners had the play coming out of the timeout, and the call was for Robinson or freshman guard Aaryn Ellenberg, Coale said. The inbounds put the ball in Robinson’s hands.

Robinson drove into the paint and faced down Baylor’s sophomore center Brittney Griner, but she came up empty as the ball rimmed out.

“I think we got a good look,” Robinson said.

And that is what makes the loss so difficult.

“This one’s hard to swallow,” Coale said.

Robinson finished the game with 25 points. Ellenberg also had a stand-out game for OU with 25 points.

“(I) Love [Ellenberg’s] passion, loved the way she competed,” Coale said.

The Sooners had a chance all afternoon against the top-ranked team in the conference.

The Sooners fell behind to Baylor, 10-4, to open the game, but that wasn't the case for long.

Senior forward Carlee Roethlisberger downed the Sooners' first 3-point shot and added a free throw on the foul to knot the game, 10-10, with 12:39 to play in the half.

Despite the Sooners' early success, the loudest cheers likely came for former Sooner football player Gerald McCoy, who returned to Norman to support the team.

OU and Baylor traded baskets before Baylor’s freshman guard Odyssey Sims got hot. She had 17 points in the half and was 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.

“You have to pick your poison with these guys,” Coale said. “They have all kinds of weapons.”

Baylor opened up an eight-point lead, 35-27, on OU with three minutes remaining in the half.

The Lady Bears' largest lead was 11, but OU cut it to six, 42-36, to enter the half.

Very little changed in the early minutes of the half, with Baylor still leading OU, 52-47, through the initial four minutes.

Slowly, though, OU played back into the game to again tie it, 57-57, off a basket by Robinson.

Amid the back and forth, fouls began to total for both teams.

Roethlisberger picked up her fourth foul with more than 10 minutes to play in the half, and Baylor senior forward Melissa Jones added her fourth with seven minutes to play.

Roethlisberger, freshman center Nicole Griffin and Baylor’s Destiny Williams all exited the game early with fouls.

OU’s second-half surge resulted in a 67-66 lead with seven minutes to play, but OU couldn’t sustain. Again the Sooners opened a lead, 75-72, with 3:33 to play but could not make it last.

Baylor’s All-American, Griner, cut the Sooners’ lead to one, 79-78, with 1:35 remaining. With 1:06 to play, Griner again put the Lady Bears back on top, 80-79, with two free throws.

“Right down the stretch, they beat us off the dribble a couple times,” Coale said.

Robinson put the Sooners up, 81-80, in the final minute, but again it was Simms — who ended the game with a school-record nine 3-point shots — with the last basket of the game.

Roethlisberger finished the game with a double-double, 11 points and 11 rebounds. The senior forward said, despite the loss, she likes were OU is going.

“We’ve had some rough games in the past, and I think after the way we fought tonight and the way we fought together was a huge step for us,” Roethlisberger said.

The next step will be facing Oklahoma State for Senior Night on Wednesday in Norman.