Women's Basketball
Women's basketball: Sooners set for redemption road in bout with Kansas
Michelle Nehrenz, The Oklahoma Daily
Junior guard Aaryn Ellenberg goes for a jump shot during the womens matchup against Baylor on Monday.
They’ve finally hit their wall. After a strong start to the season, the Sooners have lost four out of their last five games.
“It was a really rigorous part of the schedule, some really tough teams, some really tough road games, and we hit a spell where we weren’t shooting very well,” coach Sherri Coale said.
“It was just a bad culmination.”
On Saturday, the OU women’s basketball team (19-9, 9-7) looks for redemption against Kansas, and hopes to turn the end of this season around.
“We need two more wins to make our season exactly what we wanted,” senior forward Joanna McFarland said. “So we’re really focused and we really feel the pressure to win these next two games.”
Going into Lawrence last time, the Sooners had a bad taste in their mouth. They had just lost a game to Iowa State they felt they should have won. They played each shot as if they were trying to win the last game.
This time, the Sooners are coming off a loss to Baylor, but they won’t make the same mistake again.
“Our guys know that our backs are against the wall,” Coale said. “We have to make plays. We have to win games. It doesn’t do any good to think about the previous game or what happened before because you don’t have any control over that.”
“I think we have a lot to prove.”
It will be a nostalgic outing for the Sooners. This game will mark their last home game for the season. For Coale it means saying goodbye to a group of seniors who has lead this team through a difficult season.
“It’s always bittersweet, in that I’m so proud of these seniors and what they’ve accomplished. The best is yet to be for all of them. But I’m sad to see them leave our program and to have to think about not seeing them on a daily basis. It’s always a really emotional night.”
For McFarland, this will be her last time to play at Lloyd Noble Center.
“It hasn’t hit me yet, honestly, that it’s senior night,” McFarland said. “I think it will hit me after the game, maybe. I mean I’m ready to move on and do something else, but at the same time it’s really sad.”
“This team has become my family.”
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