Pendulum swinging in Red River basketball
Nothing could stop Oklahoma freshman Courtney Paris on a night in which she delivered a career-high 32 points and 16 rebounds en route to the Sooners 75-57 thrashing of Texas on Wednesday night.
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The Longhorns tried everything to slow Paris down - fouling, double-teaming, even triple-teaming the 6-foot-4 freshman. Texas' All-American forward Tiffany Jackson looked amateur going against Paris defensively, as well as offensively before eventually fouling out of the game.
"Courtney's really crafty," Jackson said in a post game press conference. "You may deny her, then she pins you for the next pass. You may take away her shot but she's a great passer. You kind of pick your poison with her."
With the victory Oklahoma (16-4, 6-0) has won four consecutive games and furthered their lead atop the Big 12 Conference standings.
The Longhorns (10-7, 4-3) continued to fall behind and claw back early in the first half, but the Sooners used a pair of 10-0 runs to develop a 33-20 lead. A lead which would never shirk to single-digits again.
By halftime Courtney and Ashley Paris had combined to score 27 points and pull down 12 rebounds. As a team, the Longhorns finished the half with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
While the story of the night was, again, Courtney Paris continuing her dominance with her 12th consecutive double-double her sister, Ashley Paris, finished with her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
"I catch myself standing and watching them all the time on the court," junior point guard Britney Brown said following the game. "Once I pass it to them, I know they're going to score, so I stand there and watch. I'm still amazed by what they can do."
Texas forward Tiffany Jackson finished the game with just 11 points and 9 rebounds. She entered the game as the Longhorns' top scorer, averaging 15 points per game.
Guard Nina Norman had a team-high 13, while Erika Arriaran had 12.
"Oklahoma's a good team," Texas head coach Jody Conradt stated. "There's a reason why they're playing as well as they are and we just didn't respond. Things started going bad and we totally lost our focus. I felt like at half, we had been whipped off of every loose ball and every rebound."
By the end of the game the Sooners had outrebounded Texas 45-33.
"When the ball is up for grabs, you've got to want it more than we wanted it."
With her 32 points, Courtney Paris matched a school freshman scoring record which was set by former guard LaNeisha Caufield. Her twelve consecutive double-doubles is one shy of tying an NCAA record.
Junior point guard Britney Brown scored 13 points and added three assists while junior Erin Higgins barely had an opportunity to catch her breath as she continued to be effective defensively and finished with a team high five assists on the night.
Brown's ability to slow down Texas' star Nina Norman offensively kept her in for most of the game, which led to only four minutes on the court for Saturday's hero in the Sooners 73-70 win at Baylor, Kendra Moore.
Next up for the Sooners will be a trip to College Station, Texas to face the No. 2 team in the Big 12 Conference, Texas A&M, at 2 PM on Saturday.