Gophers women's basketball can't dig out of early hole against Oklahoma

After three games in three days in the Bahamas, Gophers women's basketball coach Lindsay Whalen will return to Minnesota with her team convinced of a few things:

The Gophers (4-3) did a little bit of all of the above Monday in the fifth-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Paradise Island, losing 88-69 to deep and athletic Oklahoma.

They struggled early, down 27-14 after one quarter and trailing by 24 in the second after the Sooners (5-1) pounced on both Gophers turnovers and loose rebounds in a 31-6 run.

They fought back, cutting that deficit to 41-30 at the half and pulling within five at 52-47 with 3:40 left in the third quarter.

That's as close as they got.

"We battled back," Whalen said. "It was a five-point game in the third. Our team is tough, resilient. But that [24-point] lead was too big to come back from."

BOXSCORE: Oklahoma 88, Gophers 69

In her second start with the Gophers — she came to the Bahamas as a top reserve but leaves it as a starter — Winters scored 18 points with five steals. Powell also had 18 — the two combined to score 36 of the team's 69 points — with six rebounds and four assists. The pair made four of the team's eight three-pointers and shot 14 of the team's 22 free throws.

"I like playing with a player like Deja," Powell said. "She has shown how much she wants to win, how much she competes. I trust her to make the shots, to do anything in her power to win."

The Gophers couldn't overcome being outrebounded 51-31 or being outscored 14-2 on second-chance points. Oklahoma scored 26 points off 20 Gophers turnovers.

Four Sooners players scored in double figures, led by Taylor Robertson, who hit five three-pointers and scored 19. Ana Llanusa scored 17. Skylar Vann had 15 and Madi Williams 12.

The Gophers had an early one-point lead before the Sooners went on their decisive run, which ended with Vann's put-back with 5:16 left in the second quarter that put Oklahoma up 38-14.

Down 16 early in the third quarter, Winters had seven points in a 17-6 run that drew them within five on Powell's three with 3:43 left.

But Oklahoma pushed the lead back to 60-49 entering the fourth, then put the game away.

"The one thing I take away from this is we have the talent, the mind-set," Powell said. "We have to execute the plan."

There is still work to be done. The Gophers got to play against the second-ranked team in the nation in Connecticut in an opening-round, one-sided 88-58 loss. They rallied with a 70-63 victory over Syracuse, but dug too deep a hole Monday. Rebounding has to be more consistent. The turnovers have to be brought under control. But Whalen felt the three games — and the lessons learned — will help going forward.

"There is a lot we can take away from this," she said. "We'll learn from it and we'll be a better team for it."