MORGANTOWN — Taylor Robertson made Big 12 history Wednesday night, becoming the first conference player — male or female — to connect on 400 career 3-pointers, as No. 14 Oklahoma ran past West Virginia, 88-76, inside the Coliseum.
“She can shoot. She can shoot the lights out,” said WVU guard KK Deans, who scored 14 points, but was just 3 of 15 shooting on the night. “How you defend that is guarding it. She was shooting wide open shots.”
From an analytical standpoint, the 3-point shot is the talk of basketball and the Sooners (16-2, 5-1 Big 12) proved why in this game.
O.U. went 10 of 22 from three and also came away with 36 points in transition.
On the flip side, WVU (8-7, 1-4) went just 4 of 28 from 3-point range and the Mountaineers missed their final 15 attempts from behind the arc.
The result? What was a 46-44 WVU lead at halftime quickly turned into a 72-58 Oklahoma lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“We had open shots, but just didn’t hit them,” WVU head coach Mike Carey said. “It hasn’t been a strength of ours, but when you’re not hitting your threes, then you got to go inside. You’ve got to cut and get to the foul line or get an offensive rebound. That’s what this team needs to learn to do.”
Being on the wrong side of the 3-point battle has hurt the Mountaineers all season. Only TCU is shooting a worse percentage than WVU in the conference.
“I may have taken 13 of those last 15 we missed,” Deans said. “But I’ve got to shoot them. You’re not going to be on every day. It happens. Next game, best believe I’ll be in the gym taking a lot of threes. I’ve got to keep working on it.”
And then there’s Robertson, whose 78 3-pointers this season is 12 more than the entire Mountaineers roster.
The senior guard finished with 22 points and was 5 of 10 from 3-point range, giving her an even 400 in her career.
“She’s incredible and I take zero credit for anything with her,” first-year Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk said. “She’s special. You talk about somebody you have to kick out of the gym; people throw around the term ‘gym rat,’ but she’s a different level of gym rat. What makes her the most special is she loves playing the game. She’s a basketball junkie.”
Oklahoma was led by Madi Williams’ 23 points and nine rebounds. Williams’ ability to get out and run and get ahead of the WVU defense and then also drive to the basket for lay-ups was a difference-maker in the game.
“The first quarter, they just fast-breaked the heck out of us,” Carey said. “We just weren’t getting back. In the third quarter, they did it to us. I always tell our post players, it’s amazing when post players sprint and how much problems that causes for a defense.”
It was the seventh consecutive loss for WVU against a top 25 team, but the Mountaineers did see forward Esmery Martinez have one of her best games.
Martinez, who was in COVID-19 protocol following the Christmas break, has not had a quick return to her normal self, but she finished with her fifth double-double of the season with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
“She was out for really two weeks and she has not recovered from that,” Carey said. “I kept putting her in and out, simply because of that. She’s having a hard time. She has no legs and she’s having a hard time breathing at certain times.”
WVU played without forwards Ari Gray and Yemiyah Morris. Gray had a death in the family she was attending to and Morris is dealing with a shoulder injury.
The Mountaineers were also without guard Jasmine Carson, who is now in the transfer portal.
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