Youth Not Fazed By Bright Lights

DALLAS – Five of the nine Sooners who saw action on Saturday night against West Virginia were making their post-season debuts as Sooners. Peyton Little, Gabbi Ortiz, Vionise Pierre-Louis, Maddie Manning and LaNesia Williams all stepped onto the American Airlines Center hardwood for their first Big 12 Tournament action.

The championship atmosphere surrounding the four-day tournament did not go unnoticed, particularly by Ortiz. Everything from the NBA arena to the added signage in the halls speaks of higher stakes.

“It was awesome,” Ortiz said. “I was very excited coming into to the arena yesterday. I have experienced anything like this. We came in and getting to be on the court and seeing the big arena all staged out with Big 12 everywhere was just so cool to me. I was just so pumped from the minute I walked in.”

If the big stage had the youngsters feeling nervous, they certainly didn't show it. The group combined to score 38 of the Sooners' 67 points, pulled in 18 of OU's 40 rebounds and accounted for six of the 11 assists.

“There is no extra pressure,” Pierre-Louis said. “We just had to focus, play as a team and pay attention to the scout to do what we had to do.”

The freshman from Lake Worth, Fla. was particularly composed. All six of her point came from the charity stripe, where she was a perfect 6-for-6. Pierre-Louis found herself on the line by virtue of strong rebounding and aggressive offense in the paint.

“My teammates and the coaching staff told me what they needed from me, which is rebounding and getting to the basket,” Pierre Louis said. “It was awesome. We came out with the win and I'm excited for the next game.”

If the group did have any lingering butterflies, perhaps the strong Sooner contingent in the building helped ease some of the nerves for the Sooner newcomers. A strong majority of the 4,224 fans that attended Saturday night's session were crimson clad.

“The atmosphere was awesome,” Manning said. “We had a bunch of fans travel down for the game, which is great.”

The Sooner faithful brought an energy that spilled over to the bench.

“My biggest thing is just the 15 girls in uniform,” Manning said. “From the leading scorer to the last person on the bench everyone was involved. Everyone was filling their role.”

Manning, who missed her first two collegiate seasons with ACL injuries, filled her role perhaps as well as she has all season. She scored 11 point and grabbed six rebounds in a season-high 30 minutes off the bench.

“The past two years I have been watching from the sidelines and dreaming about having a chance to help my team and win the Big 12 Championship,” Manning said. “We took one more step towards that tonight.

“I thought her play was integral in every part," head coach Sherri Coale said. "It's so rewarding for everybody on our team because when you watch a kid go like 700 days without getting to play the sport that she loves, working on just the drudgery of rehab every day, to get to come back and not just play, but play in a big way and impact the outcome of an important game. It's just fun for everyone."

There is perhaps no position on the floor which holds more pressure than the point-guard, and that is particularly true in a Sherri Coale offense. Ortiz handled the stage like a seasoned veteran, scoring six points, pulling in six boards and dishing a team-high four assists without committing a turnover.

"I told our assistant coaches before the game if Gabbi's' tempo is good, if she is solid with the ball and everybody else relaxes around her we'll be fine,” Coale said. “If your point guard gets sped up, then you've got a problem that's hard to stop. I just thought she was terrific all night and sort of set the stage for us to do what we did against a very good defensive team."

“I think I got in a zone,” Ortiz said. 'The coaches wanted me to be more aggressive and attack off the ball screen. I was looking to drive more and get in the paint. Once I had that mentality and I started finishing in the second half I got on a roll.”

This young Sooners squad is enjoying every minute of their quest for a Big 12 Championship, and though many are getting their first taste of the tournament, they are in no short supply of confidence.

“We can still play so much better,” Ortiz said. “We didn't shoot the ball as we usually do and we still won by 12—I'm just really confident in what we can do. We were connecting on all cylinders, and we are pumped up to play the next game.”

Oklahoma is set to take on Texas at 4 p.m. Sunday in the semifinals round. OU split the season series with Texas, each team winning at home.