Box Score
 
NORMAN, OK—The 17^th ranked Oklahoma Sooners used its talent and depth to wear down Winthrop over the final 15 minutes of the game to claim a 78-48 opening night win on Friday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.
 
Winthrop had its bright moments in the Eagles' first-ever game against the Big12 Sooners. Winthrop came out in the third quarter to outscore the Sooners 10-2 and trimmed a 16-point halftime deficit to 38-30 following a three-point play by Erica Williams.  The junior forward finished the game with 11 points and closed to within 12 points of the 1,000-point plateau.
 
Freshman center Arianne Whitaker made a memorable collegiate debut as the 6-2 former Ohio All-State selection led the Eagles with 14 points on 7 of 8 field goal shooting.  Her performance was especially pleasing to Winthrop coach Kevin Cook and the Eagles who will be playing the season without the services of preseason First Team All-Big South selection Schaquilla Nunn who has a broken foot.
 
"We wanted to come in and play with a lot of effort and I thought we did that," said Cook. "The key play in the game came just after the media timeout in the third quarter after we had cut the lead to eight.  Nuba Jackson picks the pocket of OU's Gabbi Ortiz and forces what arguably could have been called a block, but was called a charge and took away a basket that would have made it a six-point game.  That took a little wind out of our sails.  They came out after that pressured us and that's when they gapped us."
 
After that play, the Sooners went on an 11-2 run to open up a 17-point advantage and then cruised to the win. In the final 14:38 of the game, OU outscored the Eagles 40-18. 
 
The final shooting stats show why the game turned into a 30-point loss for Winthrop.  The Eagles connected on 21 of 54 field goals (39 percent) compared to 30 of 56 (54 percent) for the Sooners.  OU outscored Winthrop by 21 points from behind the 3-point arc as the Sooners went 8 of 17 from long distance compared to just 1 of 8 for Winthrop.  The rebounding advantage went to Oklahoma, whose roster has six players who stand 6-2 or above, 42-22.
 
The Eagles were effective on defense as they forced OU into 21 turnovers, the same number committed by Winthrop.  But the smaller Eagles were outscored 42-28 in the paint and the deep OU bench outscored Winthrop's bench 35-13.
 
Oklahoma placed four players in double digits with 5-11 guard Peyton Little leading the Sooners with 17 as she went 3 for 8 from behind the arc. Derica Wyatt had 16 as she was 4 of 6 from 3-point distance.  Kaylon Williams finished with 13, including nine in the first half, while Vionise Pierre-Louis added 10.
 
"The score is a bit misleading," said Cook.  "They had as many turnovers as we did.  We battled and we saw some nice things.  Like I told the team, this is just the first step in a long journey and we are going to get better."
 
Winthrop goes from the frying pan into the fire in just two nights as it travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday to face the 14^th ranked Duke Blue Devils at 6 p.m.