Despite the way it ended there was a moment clearheaded Sooners fans might have allowed themselves to believe this was going to be the Oklahoma women’s night.

It arrived with 17:13 remaining in Tuesday night's NCAA tournament battle with Notre Dame and only after OU had done everything it could to commit its 14th turnover of the game.

Danielle Robinson fumbled the ball in transition and could not corral it, but laying out in a full dive she flicked it away from Irish hands and the Sooners maintained possession. Then Amanda Thompson threw a pass into heavy traffic, but somehow it was only deflected into the soft and sure hands of Courtney Paris.

Paris went up, got fouled and made the shot.

She hit the free throw and OU led by a point.

It was the rare refreshing moment the Sooners’ carelessness failed to overcome their skill and determination.

It was fool’s gold.

Even though OU pushed the lead to 6 points and had several chances to make it 8; even though there were moments the Sooners played some of their best basketball in much longer than a month; even though Jenna Plumley chose Tuesday night to bring her 3-point shot out of hibernation; and even on a night the Sooners scored the first 5 points in overtime, they could not overcome themselves.

Perhaps OU’s 79-75 loss to the Irish will serve to save about 15,000 members of the Sooner Nation from watching their favorite women’s team get pounded by Tennessee. Playing on Purdue’s home court in the warm-up to the Sooner-Irish tilt, the Lady Vols let up late and still crushed the Boilermakers, 78-52.

But it would have been nice to see OU get the chance to execute on the wish granted selection Monday, when it got the nod over its Bedlam rival to get the chance to come home and play.

Yet the Sooners had to earn their way there.

They played well enough, but also poorly enough.

The biggest stat of the night?

Twenty-four turnovers.

There’s plenty more on the sheet.