Tag: Ana Llanusa

Ana Llanusa, Madi Williams lead Oklahoma Sooners in 98-77 win over West Virginia

Oklahoma got big games from Ana Llanusa and Madi Williams to come up with a 21-point win over the West Virginia Mountaineers.

The Oklahoma Sooners opened Big 12 play with a big win over West Virginia, sparked by [autotag]Ana Llanusa[/autotag]’s 28 points and 24 points [autotag]Madi Williams[/autotag].

The Sooners led for most of the first half until a West Virginia run helped the Mountaineers take a three-point lead into halftime. The two sides traded buckets for much of the third quarter. With about two minutes to play in the third, the Oklahoma Sooners took over.

Down 62-61, the Sooners went on an 8-0 run to close out the quarter with a 69-62 lead. Six more points to start the fourth quarter gave Oklahoma a 13-point lead, and they were in control for the remainder of the game.

The Sooners outscored the Mountaineers 29-17 in the fourth quarter as their starters took over the game.

Llanusa was 11 of 13 from the field and 3 of 3 from three-point range. She added six rebounds and five assists. Williams was 11 of 18 and added five rebounds of her own. [autotag]Taylor Robertson[/autotag] was deadly from three yet again, hitting 6 of 10 from beyond the arch for 18 points. She also added three rebounds and three assists for the Sooners.

Liz Scott chipped in nine points, and Skylar Vann added nine of her own off the bench. Aubrey Joens hit a couple of big threes for the Sooners early in the fourth quarter that helped the Sooners pull away.

Oklahoma moved to 11-1 on the season and 1-0 in Big 12 play. The Sooners now get ready to host a top-25 matchup with the No. 23 Baylor Bears at the Lloyd Noble Center on Tuesday. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. C.T.

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Oklahoma Sooners No. 16 in preseason USA TODAY Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll

Oklahoma Women’s Basketball opens the 2022-2023 season at No. 16 in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

After a tremendous first season in Norman, Jennie Baranczyk is looking to build upon their fourth-place finish in the Big 12 and second-round appearance in the NCAA tournament.

With top scorers [autotag]Madi Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Taylor Robertson[/autotag], and [autotag]Ana Llanusa[/autotag] returning, the Oklahoma Sooners will field one of the best teams in the Big 12 this season and have a chance to make some noise on the national stage.

Defending national champion South Carolina came in at No. 1 with 30 of the 31 first-place votes. Stanford was the only other team to receive first-place votes in the preseason poll.

The Sooners are the third highest-ranked team from the Big 12 behind the Texas Longhorns at No. 3 and the Iowa State Cyclones at No 9.

The Oklahoma Sooners open the season against Oral Roberts on Monday, Nov. 7 at the Lloyd Noble Center.

A look at the full USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 South Carolina 0-0 798 (30) —
2 Stanford 0-0 762 (1) —
3 Texas 0-0 703 —
4 Tennessee 0-0 655 —
5 Louisville 0-0 642 —
6 Iowa 0-0 614 —
7 Connecticut 0-0 614 —
8 N.C. State 0-0 530 —
9 Iowa State 0-0 521 —
10 Notre Dame 0-0 492 —
11 Indiana 0-0 457 —
12 North Carolina 0-0 428 —
13 Virginia Tech 0-0 398 —
14 LSU 0-0 360 —
15 Ohio State 0-0 341 —
16 Oklahoma 0-0 318 —
17 Baylor 0-0 309 —
18 Maryland 0-0 303 —
19 Arizona 0-0 233 —
20 Oregon 0-0 181 —
21 Creighton 0-0 153 —
22 Nebraska 0-0 100 —
23 Michigan 0-0 88 —
24 San Diego State 0-0 85 —
25 Princeton 0-0 66 —

Others receiving votes:

Florida Gulf Coast 28; Texas A&M 23; Utah 20; Brigham Young 19; UCLA 18; South Dakota 16; Oregon St. 14; Kentucky 13; Kansas 13; Yale 10; Central Florida 10; Villanova 9; Belmont 9; South Florida 8; Arkansas 7; Southern California 5; San Diego St. 4; Houston 4; North Dakota State 3; Mississippi 3; Georgia 3; San Jose St. 2; Miami-Florida 2; Gonzaga 2; DePaul 2; Southern Methodist 1; Massachusetts 1.

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Trio of Oklahoma Sooners earn preseason All-Big 12 honors

As voted on by the coaches, three Oklahoma Sooners earned preseason All-Big 12 honors led by a pair of unanimous selections.

Led by unanimous selections for [autotag]Madi Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Taylor Robertson[/autotag], the Oklahoma Sooners earned three preseason All-Big 12 selections as voted on by the coaches.

Announced Wednesday, Williams and Robertson represent the only school to feature multiple unanimous selections.

Williams, from Fort Worth, Texas, earned her second consecutive unanimous preseason honor. She returns for her fifth season in Norman after a strong 2021 that saw her lead the Sooners with 18 points per game and 7 rebounds per game. Here 2021 earned her a unanimous All-Big 12 selection.

Robertson is the Big 12’s all-time leader in three-pointers made and earned a  unanimous All-Big 12 selection at the conclusion of 2021. Last season she averaged 17.2 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game, earning All-America honorable mention honors.

Plagued by injuries in the 2021-2022 season, [autotag]Ana Llanusa[/autotag] earned preseason honorable mention honors. She provides a third big-time scoring threat for [autotag]Jennie Baranczyk[/autotag] and the Oklahoma Sooners. In 10 games, Llanusa averaged 17.3 points and 2.3 assists per game.

Only four players in all were unanimous selections for the league’s preseason honors. [autotag]Ashley Joens[/autotag] of Iowa State and [autotag]Rori Harmon[/autotag] of Texas were the other unanimous selections. Joens was voted the preseason Big 12 player of the year.

Oklahoma Sooners Madi Williams wins Big 12 Player of the Week

For her efforts in wins over Baylor and West Virginia, Madi Williams was named the Big 12’s player of the week.

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The Oklahoma Sooners have had an impressive first season under new head coach Jennie Baranczyk. They’re 20-3 overall on the season and 9-2 in Big 12 play and currently tied with the Iowa State Cyclones for first place in the conference. Much of the success the Sooners have had has come from a team approach that’s seen several players win the Big 12 Player of the Week award. Madi Williams is the latest.

Yesterday, Williams became the fourth Sooner to win the award this season. She was the catalyst for Oklahoma’s wins over Baylor and West Virginia last week. Both tight games, the Sooners needed late-game heroics to pull out the win.

Against Baylor, Williams’ found Liz Scott for the go-ahead layup to give the Sooners the 78-77 win over the No. 9 Bears. In a double-overtime thriller against West Virginia, this time it was Williams getting the game-winning bucket with nine seconds left to send the Sooners to a 101-99 victory over the Mountaineers.

According to Oklahoma’s Twitter account, it is just the second time in the history of the award that four women have been selected Big 12 Player of the Week from the same team in the same season.

In addition to Williams, Skylar Vann, Taylor Robertson, and Ana Llanusa have each won the award this season.

Madi Williams shot 51% from the field and 40% from three-point range in the two Sooners’ victories, averaging, 21.5 points per game. She also averaged 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and two steals in the two wins. On the season, Williams is leading the Sooners with 18.6 points per game, eight rebounds per game, is fourth in assists and second in steals.

The Oklahoma Sooners look to add to their four-game winning streak on Saturday in Austin against the No. 16 Texas Longhorns.

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