By Mechelle Voepel
Special To Big12Sports.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - If there was a Big 12 award for standing in line, Oklahoma’s Abi Olajuwon would have to be one of the favorites to win it. The Sooners’ senior center bided her time backing up Courtney Paris for three years, snaring minutes here and there behind the superstar.
With Paris and twin sister Ashley graduating, the stage was finally opening up to Olajuwon. But how many seniors so dramatically change their importance to a team when they get that opportunity only in their final year?
Olajuwon did, and largely because of that, Oklahoma is now one victory away from replicating last season’s Final Four trip. On a night when all the Sooners starters made important contributions in a 77-72 overtime victory against Notre Dame, Olajuwon’s particularly stood out because of what it displayed about her perseverance.
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw pointed to Olajuon’s 20 points and 14 rebounds as a big difference in the Oklahoma team now and the one that had lost to the Irish in November at the Paradise Jam.
“That just comes with experience,” Olajuwon said. “We played them very early, before we started our conference play. As you could tell, our conference this year was very hard, and having those games gives you great practice (for the NCAA tournament).”
Olajuwon combined with her two fellow seniors, Nyeshia Stevenson and Amanda Thompson, to extend their careers at least one game longer. Stevenson had the signature shot of the game, as her 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left in overtime put the Sooners up 75-72. Notre Dame then tried to throw a long pass to set up a 3-pointer, but it was intercepted, sending Stevenson to the foul line.
She made both free throws to put the last touches on the victory, in which she scored a team-high 21 points.
Notre Dame had forced the overtime on Skylar Diggins’ 3-pointer near the end of regulation that tied the score 66-66, but Oklahoma didn’t let that sway the momentum toward the Irish.
“We’ve been in these situations too many times to just die and give up. Overtime battles, I mean,” Stevenson said. “So we weren’t nervous our anything about it. We just say, ‘Hey, we get another 5 minutes, so here we go.’ ”
Stevenson missed a shot at the end of last year’s national semifinals with Louisville in a 61-59 loss. That bugged her, as did the Sooners’ overtime loss in the 2008 NCAA second round to this same Notre Dame program.
Thompson said she felt confident that Stevenson would sink the winning shot Sunday _ but she was also ready for it if the shot didn’t fall.
“My role, even though I want them to go in always, is thinking, ‘Where is the ball going to come off?’ ” Thompson said. “The majority of the time, I’m thinking, ‘Get the rebound, get the rebound.’ I knew she was going to be open, and I knew I was going to get the rebound.”
As it turned out, of course, there was no need for a rebound. It swished.
“She’s been that thing for us, that spark,” OU coach Sherri Coale said of Stevenson. “When we get those 3-point shots along with the penetration that we get from (Robinson) and the post play from Abi, then we’ve been pretty successful.”