Sooners' Season Ends With Loss to Notre Dame

Notre Dame went on a 19-2 run in the first half and coasted from there.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:17 pm

By: News On 6

Sooners' Season Ends With Loss to Notre Dame

Originally Published: Mar 26, 2011 5:35 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

DAYTON, Ohio – The Oklahoma women could not recover from a huge first-half run, and the Sooners’ season came to an end Saturday with a 78-53 blowout loss to Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.

Oklahoma played well early and held an 11-9 lead, but Notre Dame took over after that. With the game tied at 13, the Irish went on a 19-2 run to take a commanding lead and the Sooners never threatened again.

Notre Dame dominated the boards, outrebounding OU 47-24. The Irish also hit nine 3-pointers and 13 free throws, while OU shot 1-of-11 from beyond the arc and attempted only nine free throws.

Brittany Mallory led all scorers with 20 points for Notre Dame and hit six 3-pointers. Devereaux Peters scored 17 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds, and Natalie Novosel added 15 points.

Nicole Griffin led OU with 18 points, but was the only Sooner who shot well on the day. She went 9-of-10, while the rest of the team combined to shoot 14-of-45. Danielle Robinson was the only other Sooner who scored in double digits, and she finished with 16 points.

The game marked the third time in four years that Oklahoma and Notre Dame faced each other in the NCAA Tournament. The first two contests went to overtime, with the teams splitting the outcomes. Notre Dame won the first 79-75 in 2008, and OU won the other 77-72 last year.