Thompson steps up for OU
Record crowd sees Sooners avenge loss
Thompson steps up for OU

By John Helsley

Published: February 24, 2008

NORMAN — Seems Oklahoma sophomore Amanda Thompson had been lugging around some baggage the past few weeks.

Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center, she unloaded it all on Oklahoma State.

Thompson scored a career-high 23 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and infused the No. 11-ranked Sooners with an energy that carried throughout an 81-71 win.

The win, before a Lloyd Noble women's record crowd of 12,205, avenged an earlier loss to the No. 16 Cowgirls in Stillwater, gave the Sooners sole possession of third place in the Big 12 and maintained their slim hopes at a conference title.

It, too, proved true a pre-game prediction of OSU coach Kurt Budke, who said the matchup wouldn't be decided by the stars — his own Andrea Riley or OU's Courtney Paris — but "someone else who steps up.”

Riley and Paris played well, as expected, but Thompson emerged as the someone else, after she'd been struggling offensively of late, even held scoreless in two of the last four games.

"I like positive encouragement and all that stuff, but I think something has got to make me mad to get me going,” Thompson said.

Thompson said her madness had been building since the last Bedlam meeting on Jan. 12, when the Cowgirls whacked OU 82-63.

"What got me mad was the fact that we lost to them the first time, got blown out,” Thompson said.

"Riley had like 40-something points against us. We had a bad half against Kansas State. And Baylor, we got killed by Baylor.

"It was really making me mad, because everyone was thinking that we don't have what it takes to be successful. I just took that to heart and said, ‘If I get my game together, then everybody else will.' ”

The Sooners got it together and held it together, trailing only for a brief moment, 3-2 early.

Thompson, whose previous career high was 18 points, had 14 in the first half. But it was her energy rebounding that seemed to spark her teammates.

"She gets them so emphatically, it's not so much the fact that she gets the rebound sometimes, it's the way she gets its,” said Sooners coach Sherri Coale. "She sort of stirs everybody up.”

OU dominated the boards, out-rebounding OSU 54-29. The Sooners grabbed 27 rebounds on the offensive end alone.

"Coach wrote up on the board: ‘Get every offensive rebound,' ” Courtney Paris said. "I think we took that to heart.”

Courtney hauled in a game-high 15 rebounds, while sister Ashley had 14, meaning that trio beat the Cowgirls on the boards 42-29.

Despite all that, OSU managed to hang around, climbing back every time the Sooners built on their lead, before the lead extended a final time at the end.

"We just don't go away,” Budke said. "We've done that all year long. We've always had the ability to come back.”

The Sooners improved to 20-5 overall, 10-3 in conference play. OSU fell to 21-5 and 9-4.

Riley had punished the Sooners in Stillwater, scoring 45 points. This time, the Big 12's leading scorer finished with 26, but made just 7 of 19 shots and 4 of 12 of her 3-pointers.

Danielle Green added 19 points for OSU, but no other Cowgirl had more than eight.

"We needed somebody else,” Budke said.

Instead, it was the Sooners who had the someone else, with Thompson producing her second career double-double.

"Amanda's energy, no matter where we are, if we're at home or at a team dinner, her energy pumps everybody up,” said Courtney Paris. "You see her every day working on her shot before practice. And after practice. Just all the time, putting in the time.

"When she's knocking down shots, it just gives everybody that confidence. She kind of gives our team that energy we need.”

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