One of the biggest questions for OU women’s hoops going into the highly-touted match-up against No. 1 Baylor was could the Sooner centers stop All-American Brittney Griner. Limited to just five points in the first half, OU’s defense looked like it had an answer for the 6-foot-8 shooting nemesis.

Just not for the rest of the Baylor offense.

The Bears were relentless in their 89-58 rout of the Sooners on Wednesday in Norman.

“We did a good job early, but we just got worn down,” head coach Sherri Coale said. “It was just a snowball. We got fatigued and let one play lead into another.”

In what started out as a defensive blunder for the Sooners who gave up two quick fouls to allow Baylor a 4-0 lead within the first two minutes of action, OU started to settle into their basketball shoes and run the plays they practiced on during the week.

The teams traded off baskets, and Baylor built a small six point lead after Griner drained her first points of the game, nearly eight minutes into the first half.

But junior guard Whitney Hand took Baylor’s momentum right out of their hands with back-to-back baskets. Although the Sooners were able to post a 1-point lead midway through the first half, OU couldn’t keep bouncing back from the blows Baylor dealt.

“Just like Coach(Coale) said in the locker room, we have to go out there and punch back,” Hand said. “But I felt like after that last punch we just didn’t stay good together on the court.”

Hand finished the game with a game-leading 19 points, and other than sophomore guard Aaryn Ellenberg and freshman forward DaShawn Harden’s double-digit performances, there was little else coming out of the OU offense.

“I felt like we got good shots,” Hand said. “We were like 4-of-19 in threes. If half of those shots go down like they usually do, it’s a different ballgame.”

Instead, the OU defense began to wear down and Griner ended the game with a team-high 18 points, albeit lower than her season average of 22 points going into the match-up.

Baylor’s outside shooters and fast-breaking forwards also made up significantly on the perimeter and in the paint to score enough points to put the Sooners away. As a team, Baylor was a consistent 49 percent from the field and a near perfect 16-of-18 from the courtesy line.

When the clock finally ran out, six different Baylor players finished with double-digit points in the game along with a combined 18 assists by the team.

“They’re the number one team in the country and they just have really good depth at every position,” Coale said. “We were just two thin due to our injuries.”