Simpson taking charge
Guards Ana Llanusa and Shaina Pellington have the best numbers among Oklahoma’s freshman class, but Mandy Simpson (pictured) has been a key leader for the Sooners since she arrived in Norman last summer.
NORMAN — If Mandy Simpson had a vote in the Big 12 Freshman of the Year race, she’d split it right down the middle.
Half would go to Ana Llanusa, and the other would go to Shaina Pellington.
With Llanusa averaging 12.9 points in Big 12 play and Pellington just barely ahead of that mark at 13.2 points per game, Simpson’s vote makes plenty of sense.
Throw in that Pellington is making 50.2 percent of her shots from the floor while Llanusa has 17 double-digit scoring performances in 24 games and it’s even more reasonable to split the vote between the two standout freshmen.
But even with those numbers, Llanusa and Pellington might not be the most valuable rookies on the Oklahoma women’s basketball team.
Instead, there’s a case to be made that the title belongs to Simpson.
While Pellington and Llanusa have taken the Big 12 by storm, Simpson has been the behind-thescenes force making it all happen.
“She’s a big reason why both of these two are having the impact that they’re having because of the communication, the way she pours into them,” OU coach Sherri Coale said. “She holds them accountable, she lifts them up, she tethers them.”
Simpson started out the season in the starting lineup, starting in the first eight games of the season. But as the rotation and lineups have shifted in conference play, Simpson’s on-court role has been reduced. She hasn’t scored since putting up eight points against Texas Tech on Jan. 10, and she’s averaging just under nine minutes per game in conference play.
But even as her playing time has diminished, her impact on the team has not.
“I’d say Mandy is the smarts,” Llanusa said. “If I ever forget a play, I’m coming to Mandy. I know she’s going to know what to do. She doesn’t even play my position. With that, with defense, with offense, she observes a lot. With her observing, she’s able to show me something that I can’t see out there.”
Coale challenged Simpson to be the glue of the freshmen class, a charge that she’s taken very seriously since the moment she stepped foot on campus.
When Pellington arrived in Norman late, joining the other freshmen after a stint playing internationally with the Canadian U-19 team, Simpson helped bring her out of her shell.
“There was a lot of ‘Shaina, open your door, we’re coming in and we’re going to eat, you can’t stay in your room all day,’” Simpson said with a laugh.
“Now, it’s easy. She’s asking us.
“We had to connect because she doesn’t have a car. We had to drive her to practice.”
With Simpson’s help, Pellington and Llanusa have flourished this season.
And when the team struggled to find consistency midway through conference play, all three freshmen used their bond to uplift and motivate the rest of the team.
“When we got into that lull in the season, it was, ‘OK, we can either be freshmen or we can step up and try to change what we can change,’” Simpson said. “I think that’s what us three are doing by holding each other accountable and holding the rest of the team accountable.”
With the leadership from the freshmen, the Sooners have won three of their last four games entering Saturday’s 2 p.m. game at West Virginia.
And with just four games left before the Big 12 tournament, the freshmen are depending on each other more than ever.
“The season can be a little bit long and that’s where I think having a partner in crime is helpful,” Coale said. “They can keep each other going and they’re just excited about every day and every new opportunity, and that can be contagious to the rest of the squad.”