Cold-shooting Bronchos Fall To OU

11/5/2013 9:09:00 PM

Jill Bryan

Box Score

NORMAN (Nov. 5) – Taking on a top-15 Division I team was a tall task to start with and Central Oklahoma did itself no favors with its shooting touch here Tuesday night at Lloyd Noble Arena.

The Bronchos missed 25 consecutive shots – 23 field goals and two free throws – during a nearly 16-minute first-half scoring drought in falling into a 51-8 halftime hole against No. 11-ranked Oklahoma and ended up losing 96-37 in their final exhibition game of the pre-season.

UCO made just 2-of-32 shots (6.3 percent) in the opening 20 minutes and finished 12-of-67 (17.9 percent) for the game. The Bronchos were 5-of-28 (17.9 percent) from 3-point range and were outrebounded 68-35 by the taller, more physical Sooners.

"We got some good looks, but we just didn't make any shots," head coach Guy Hardaker said. "OU obviously has one of the best teams in the country with a bunch of great players and we didn't help ourselves much with the way we shot it."

The Bronchos actually led once, at 3-2 a minute into the game on a Jill Bryan 3-pointer from the wing, but OU ripped off nine unanswered points to go ahead 11-3 as UCO missed six straight shots.

Bryan connected again from beyond the arc at the 16:08 mark to cut OU's lead to 11-6, but that was the last time the Bronchos would score until the final seconds of the half.

The Sooners went on a 37-0 run as UCO continued to miss-fire – mostly from long range -- before Brittany Lancaster hit a pair of free throws with six seconds left to end the dry spell. The Sooners made a follow shot at the buzzer to take a 51-8 lead into halftime.

Julia Mason followed an OU 3-pointer to open the second half with UCO's first field goal since Bryan's second trey, hitting a layup at the 19:24 mark. Mason added two free throws 30 seconds later and then the Bronchos went another four minutes without scoring before outscoring OU 10-2 during a two-minute stretch.

Mason started that run with a short jumper and Jordan Ward followed with a fast-break layup off a turnover before Rachel New and Bryan hit back-to-back treys to make it 68-22 with 13:00 remaining.

UCO ended up getting outscored just 45-29 in the second half.

Julia Mason led the Bronchos with 11 points and six rebounds, while Jill Bryan finished with nine points and seven boards.

UCO opens the season this weekend, going to Austin, Texas for two games in the St. Edward's Classic.

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