Coaching his team
Some coaches huddle with their staffs at each timeout. Not OSU coach Kurt Budke. He knows exactly what he wants to say, and he usually has something immediately for an individual.
During a timeout at 10:25 of the second half — A&M leads 43-37 — Budke had a one-on-one with point guard Andrea Riley. Earlier in the game, Budke did the same with backup center Megan Byford. These don’t appear to be words of encouragement; they seem to be heavy on instruction.
Cowgirls look better
The aggressive Cowgirls are back. They still trail, 39-32, but their offense is much more alive this half. Drives to the basket, by Shaunte’ Smith and Andrea Riley. Cuts — Taylor Hardeman hit Smith with a nifty alley-oop pass for a layup. It won’t be easy. A&M is shooting lights out and still playing scratch and claw defense. But at least the Cowgirls are in it.
Where’s the balance?
The balanced scoring that has marked OSU’s run to the Big 12 Tournament championship game is missing. The Cowgirls had five players in double figures in the first round, then four in the semifinals. But at halftime, only four Cowgirls have scored. Andrea Riley 10, Danielle Green 8, Shaunte’ Smith 4 and Kristin Hernandez 2. The Cowgirls are going to need more scoring to stay in this game.
OSU offense sluggish
Texas A&M’s pressure defense is taking its toll on OSU’s offense. The Aggies lead 33-24 at halftime, and the Cowgirls have just one field goal in the last 61/2 minutes.
OSU’s only offense is Andrea Riley and Danielle Green driving and creating. They have combined to make just seven of 19 shots, but at least they’re aggressive. The rest of the Cowgirls have attempted just 10 shots and made just two.
OSU had 14 points the first 61/2 minutes but just 10 points the rest of the half. Taylor Hardeman’s sharpshooting is no factor against A&M; she can’t even get off a shot against the frenzied Aggies.
This isn’t a lost cause. The Cowgirls are capable of runs, particularly with Riley. She’s such a sparkplug and instigator, OSU can score in bunches. But they will have to do in transition. A&M’s defense seems to have clamped down on the Cowgirls’ halfcourt offense.
Whistles galore
This game had a nice stretch early when the whistle rarely blew. Alas, the plague of women’s basketball — constant whistles — has arrived.
Andrea Riley was called for a dubious charge — her second foul of the game, both on charging calls — that wiped out a layup. On the other end, OSU’s Taylor Hardeman was called for a foul, but immediately A&M’s Danielle Gant was whistled for a technical foul.
One theory: With both teams known for aggression, and Andrea Riley’s well-discussed pop of a Texas player during a scrum Thursday night, maybe the officials have decided they will not let this game get out of hand.
Great atmosphere
More celebrity sightings at the OSU-A&M game. Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe, along football czar Donnie Duncan, are sitting on the front row.
This is a great atmosphere. The OSU pep band, as always, is splendid. And by tipoff, it had a counterpart. The A&M pep band scurried over from the Sprint Center, where the Aggie men played Kansas in the Big 12 semifinals, and made it by game time, though there was no “Aggie War Hymn” in pregame.
OSU would not have that problem. Band director Wayne Bovenschen said State would have brought enough musicians for two bands had the schedule been such that OSU might have had a conflict.
Racehorse basketball
This game is fun. OSU and A&M both are uptempo teams, and they are playing at a very high level. It’s 14-14 with 12:46 left in the first half; the Cowgirls have made six of 12 shots, the Aggies five of 12.
For OSU, Andrea Riley has seven points and Danielle Green five. One downer for State: center Maria Cordero picked up two fouls in the first four minutes, so she will sit awhile. It might not be a huge void on defense; A&M doesn’t have a big interior game.
Orange takes over Municipal
Lt. Gov. Jeri Askins is on the front row behind the OSU bench. Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett is on the front row on the other side of Municipal Auditorium. And much more importantly, Municipal is loaded with orange.
Namely Kurt Budke’s orange blazer. Must be a big game. A really big game.
We’re just a few minutes shy of the OSU-Texas A&M showdown in the championship game of the Big 12 Women’s Tournament, and Budke’s lucky blazer — debuted for the Bedlam rout of the Sooners in January — is not the only orange tint in the building. Municipal is predominantly orange; more than half the crowd is wearing Cowboy orange.
The OSU bandwagon is filling up fast. This should be fun.
Get Griffin out
With five minutes left, Texas is up 20 points or more. So why is Blake Griffin still in the game? Get him out, Jeff Capel.
Griffin has been flying all over the court, diving for balls, muscling for baskets, fighting for rebounds. But it’s a lost cause, and he’s coming off the knee injury, and there’s nothing to be gained by keeping Griffin in.
The NCAA Tournament arrives soon. Griffin needs to be rested and healthy. Get him out.
It’s over in Kansas City
This game got out of hand quickly. One minute, it was 36-36. Then suddenly it was 66-44 Texas.
The Sooners apparently were just what Texas needed. The Longhorns hadn’t played all that well down the stretch. A loss at Lubbock. A narrow home win over Nebraska, then a narrow home win over Oklahoma State. Finally, a 66-59 victory over OSU in the Big 12 quarterfinals, in which the Longhorns played OK.
Today, the good times returned to Texas. The Longhorns have made 11 of their 16 second-half shots and are shooting 52.2 percent for the game.
Worse yet, they somehow turned the Sooners listless, almost immediately. This game quickly took on junior-varsity atmosphere. It was a good game, then it was over.
