Ellenberg Busts Slump, OU Beats K-State

(17-8, 9-4 Big 12)

	1st	2nd	F
Kansas State	28	34	62
Oklahoma	29	39	68

(16-9, 7-6 Big 12)

Ellenberg Busts Slump

Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg scored 11 second-half points as the Sooners rallied to beat Kansas State. Read More

Stat Comparison	OU	KSU
Points	68	62
FG Made-Attempted	23-48	23-60
FG Percentage	47.9%	38.3%
3P Made/Attempted	5-14	8-20
3P Percentage	35.7%	40.0%
FT Made-Attempted	17-24	8-11
FT Percentage	70.8%	72.7%
Rebounds	37	29
Turnovers	22	20

Individual Leaders
Stat	Oklahoma	Kansas State
Points	Hand (16)	Chambers (17)
Rebounds	Williams (11)	2 Players (6)
Assists	2 Players (3)	White (5)
Steals	2 Players (3)	3 Players (2)
Blocks	2 Players (2)	Caron (1)

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NORMAN, Okla. -- Mired in the first slump of her collegiate career, Aaryn Ellenberg watched tip-off from the bench for the first time this season.

And then made a case for believing that should never happen again.

Ellenberg scored 11 of her 12 points in the second half to rally Oklahoma to a 68-62 victory Wednesday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

OU head coach Sherri Coale made sweeping changes to her starting lineup to reward her players' efforts in a loss to Connecticut Monday, most noticeably starting freshman Sharane Campbell over her leading scorer, who made just 21 percent of her field goals and only 4-of-30 3-pointers in the last seven games.

"With Vegas," Coale said about Ellenberg, "You think, 'What could I do to just make it feel just a little different to maybe get her going again?"

Ellenberg and Campbell, who scored 11 total points, worked together to erase a 9-point deficit. After KSU's Brittany Chambers hit one of four second-half 3-pointers, the duo scored 16 of OU's next 21 to give the Sooners a 62-61 advantage with 3 ½ minutes to play.

From there, the Sooners grabbed the critical rebounds and made free throws to finish off the Wildcats.

Ellenberg hit four of her final five field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, and had two defensive rebounds, two assists and a steal in the final stretch.

"Well there was some praising going on when those 3's went in," Coale said. "But it was the defensive effort. She was fresh. And I thought you could really tell that she had a little different spring in her step that a lot of Kansas State players, and our guys, too, that had played a long time, didn't have."

Chambers scored a game-high 17 for the Wildcats, but had nine turnovers.

Whitney Hand had a team-high 16 points and an additional six rebounds, keeping her team composed and answering Kansas State's advantage for the first three-quarters of the game.

"It is always so much easier to know that you can rely on others to make plays and to know that we have so many threats out on the court," Hand said. "We have talked about how we have a lot of offensive threats, but during a season people will go cold or get hot and it is just kind of the game. The good part of that is that we are still up in the top of the Big 12 regardless if someone is in a slump or not."

Oklahoma led 29-28 at halftime. The Sooners shot 48 percent in the first half, but were undone from gaining any large lead by 14 turnovers.