Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) - Aaryn Ellenberg scored 23 points and No. 20 Oklahoma beat Fairfield 79-51 on Wednesday night.
The start of the game was delayed 45 minutes as Oklahoma was stuck in traffic coming up from New York City. It took the Sooners three hours to get to the game from their Times Square hotel 60 miles away.
The long bus ride slowed them at the start as Fairfield hung around for the first half. The game was tied at 15 before Ellenberg and Oklahoma got going. The senior guard hit two 3-pointers during a 15-4 run that gave the Sooners a 30-19 lead with 3:25 left in the half. They led 35-25 at the break.
Fairfield was able to get within 37-30 early in the second half before Oklahoma (8-3) put the game away with an 11-2 run. Ellenberg started the spurt with lay-in off an inbounds pass and Nicole Griffin capped it with a layup.
Alexys Vazquez led the Stags (5-4) with 17 points.
After starting the game missing their first six 3-point attempts, Oklahoma got hot from the field, making 10 of its final 16 attempts from behind the arc. The Sooners will finish off their two-game East Coast swing with a game at Marist on Saturday after spending a few days enjoying New York City.
The loss dropped Fairfield to 1-29 against ranked opponents with the lone win coming against Marist five seasons ago. Still Stags coach Joe Frager didn't hesitate to schedule the game when approached by Oklahoma for the game. The timing wasn't great for the Stags as they are in the middle of exams. But with a chance to play a Top 25 team, Frager got permission from the school for the game.
He tried to get more students to come to the game partaking in the annual midnight breakfast during exams.
"Every time I was serving some eggs and bacon they were getting an Oklahoma ticket on top of it," Frager said.
While there weren't too many Fairfield students in the crowd, the game did attract UConn players Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Bria Hartley. The pair, fresh off Tuesday night's win at No. 2 Duke, played with Ellenberg on the World University Games team this past summer that won gold in Russia.
Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale coached that squad.
___
Follow Doug on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
