Oklahoma’s loss to No. 1 Baylor last week revealed that this season’s injury list is beginning to suck the air right out of the Sooner women’s basketball team.

OU coach Sherri Coale mentioned the injury dilemma played a role during the double-digit loss to Baylor, commenting that her team was just ‘too thin’ to keep up with a Bears team that had “tremendous depth at all positions.”

And the thinned-out roster also affected Saturday’s come-from-behind, three-point win over Missouri, as Coale admitted that the “absence of [Joanna McFarland] is making it difficult for the freshman group.”

McFarland was averaging 8.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in her 15 starts for the Sooners before sustaining a broken jaw against Oklahoma State on Jan. 18. Losing the rebounding leader on the team was a tough blow to a team that was struggling to find its defensive identity.

And McFarland’s absence wasn’t the only factor that led to a three point deficit at halftime against the Tigers, who are still winless in the Big 12 conference stint this season.

In fact, no one on OU’s current roster played against Missouri the last time the Sooners traveled to Columbia two years ago. That’s how young this OU team is, but it’s not because Coale wanted it that way.

Three significant losses to the Sooner roster have really complicated this season’s starting line-up mix.

One of the biggest questions this season was how the Sooners would react to a slowed system after losing All-American Danielle Robinson last year to graduation. Robinson’s speed allowed the Sooners to secure double-digit points in transition, but she also had the experience and the basketball IQ to make smart decisions.

Senior guard Jasmine Hartman would be an integral part of the point guard rotation but a knee injury has sidelined the former starter from this season’s action.

And Coale wasn’t relying on just Hartman to fill that void. Coale has done her part to recruit and keep the pipeline of potential all-stars streaming through Norman.

With six guards currently listed on the roster, there’s little doubt that the Sooners have enough personnel currently in the program to eventually have a carousel of guards to keep opposing defenses dizzy out on the perimeter.

But apart from junior guard Whitney Hand, who sat out for over 400 consecutive days with an injury sustained two years ago, the Sooners lack that experience that OU is used to playing with.

And the injury issues just get worse when discussing the power players at the post positions.

Junior centers Lyndsey Cloman and McFarland have been sidelined due to injuries this season. While Cloman surrendered her season to a knee injury during the preseason game against Central Oklahoma, McFarland’s return from a broken jaw is still pending.

Due to these significant injuries, senior Jelena Cerina and sophomore Nicole Griffin are consistently being rotated in order to keep some size underneath the basket. Cerina, a junior-college transfer from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M has played in all of the Sooners’ 19 games this year, just one less than last year’s season total.

Griffin started the final 12 games of her freshman year and has already eclipsed that starting number in her second year with 18 starts. Griffin is still a big part of the Sooners’ post presence, but the sophomore out of Milwaukee, Wis. is still learning how to pick up defensive assignments and offensive rebounds.

The added minutes to these players should end up paying dividends in the long run for the Sooners, but having those extra bodies out on the court now could certainly help the team right now.

This may not be the type of approach that Coale or her players wanted but injuries have forced this factor into OU’s game plan.

And now the Sooners just have to elevate to that challenge.

Tobi Neidy is a public relations senior.