Norman, OK — The Oklahoma women’s basketball team has a leadership position open, and Head Coach Sherri Coale says it could even be filled by a walk-on. The Sooners fell to the Florida Lady Gators Sunday afternoon 80-61, and Coale says there’s a lack of leadership on the court.
After losing two road contests in a row, the Sooners had their first matchup at Loyd Noble Center in 16 days. Oklahoma faced Florida in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, a conference battle that began in 2015. Oklahoma has yet to win a game in the challenge, and Coale says her team hasn’t had a good practice since November 24th, the day before the Sooners faced Oregon.
“When you’re rocked, what you do is you look for a leader,” Coale said. “Who’s your leader? Who’s going to put the anchor in and say ‘this is who we are, this is who we are, and this is what we’re going to stand for and this is not what we are going to stand for.’ And you know where that starts? It starts in practice.”
Florida outrebounded Oklahoma 55-32, and the Gators outscored the Lady Sooners in all quarters except one. Dyandria Anderson led all scorers with 29 points and Delicia Washington added 11 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Florida.
Shaina Pellington, Ana Llanusa and Maddie Manning all scored in double figures for Oklahoma. Senior Gabbi Ortiz played all 40 minutes for the Sooners, yet remained scoreless.
Oklahoma will face South Dakota State Wednesday on the road, and Florida will host Ohio State.