Sooners control glass to dispatch Lady Demons

NORMAN, Okla. – Northwestern State did several things head coach Anna Nimz wanted to see against Oklahoma on Wednesday night.

The Lady Demons (2-4) had a season low in turnovers, created continuous open shots through the night and, as always, competed for 40 minutes against their final Power 5 opponent of the season.

Even after forcing the Sooners into the second most turnovers in a game this year, the crash-the-boards-at-all-cost OU mentality did enough in the rebounding category to negate nearly everything else in an 88-45 win.

The advantage on the glass for the Sooners showed itself right out of the gate. Six offensive rebounds in the first quarter led to eight second-chance points, essentially accounting for all of the 23-12 lead OU held following the first 10 minutes.

The final seven points of the quarter for the Sooners all came thanks to an offensive rebound.

OU built their lead in the first on the offensive glass and maintained it the rest of the night on the defensive glass, holding NSU to just six offensive rebounds on the night, five of which came in the fourth quarter.

NSU used quick hands and closed down passing lands all night leading to 21 forced turnovers by the Sooners.

Midway through the second quarter Jasmin Dixon tipped an entry pass away that fell directly to Candice Parramore who sprinted the other way to draw a foul on a layup. Joelle Johnson read an outlet pass in transition defense to grab a steal then finished the play on the other with a layup.

The 21 forced turnovers are the most against a Division I opponent this season for the Lady Demons. It directly led to 19 points for NSU, matching the most against a DI foe this year.

Like they did against Arkansas Baptist, the Lady Demons got a late bolt of energy from 3-point sniper Kelsey Thaxton. For the second game in a row she drained a 3 in the waning seconds of the third quarter and opened the fourth quarter scoring with another triple.

She knocked down another near the media timeout to account for all of her team-best 11 points within the span of a little more than five minutes of actual game time.

The Sooners were able to answer each of Thaxton’s shot with one or two of the their own however to keep the deficit where it was.

Thaxton is the fifth different player to lead NSU in scoring in a game this season.