As the Sooners gear up preparing for the new season, with their first and only exhibition game against Northeastern State, a young starting line up arised with two freshman and three sophomores Monday night.
In a 119-45 victory, Oklahoma dominated the game as soon as the ball was tipped. The two lone starters from last year's team, sophomores Ana Llanusa and Shaina Pellington, looked even better in their new roles as leaders of the team.
"I knew I was going to have a big role this season," said Pellington. "I am a little bit older and I am grateful for the opportunity I have and I am going to take advantage of it."
Along with her new role, Pellington has also added more weapons to her arsenal. The sophomore did not connect from behind the arc at all last season, and focused on getting her shot during the game, hitting 5-of-7 from three point land.
Overall the Sooners shot 17-of-31 from three, led by freshman guard Taylor Robertson with all of her shots coming from the three-point line, shooting 7-of-12.
"We are always either getting drives in for layups or kicks out for threes," Robertson said. "So that's my type of offense I like to play in. We were all taking and making good shots so hopefully it will keep going into the next game."
It got even better on the other side of the floor as they were able to dominate on defense, suffocating the RiverHawks as soon as they in-bounded the ball.
Oklahoma was able to generate their offense from the defense, pressing almost all game long, which in turn forced turnovers. Freshman guard Jessi Murcer led the way on defense with six steals which set the tone for the rest of the game.
"They've been really good in practice defensively," said head coach Sherri Coale. "We have got to create offense out of our defense, which obviously we did tonight."
As the Sooners head into the start of the regular season, coach Coale will be expecting her young players to step up quickly and start the season the right way.
Oklahoma opens their first game at home against Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. Friday, November 9.
