Jennie Baranczyk offers injury update on Liz Scott

Oklahoma women’s basketball star Liz Scott is continuing to work her way back to full strength after a shoulder injury forced her to miss all of the 2023-24 season.

Sooners coach Jennie Baranczyk provided an update on the forward during a recent media availability.

Baranczyk was asked if Liz Scott is back to 100 percent.

“Not quite but she’s so close. She’s so close,” Jennie Baranczyk said. “And what I mean by not 100 percent is she hasn’t necessarily been cleared for contact and things like that yet. So what she’s been able to do, she’s really evolved and ahead of schedule and she’s working on her game and she’s able to shoot and she’s able to do a lot of skill work. But she hasn’t been cleared to go full contact yet.”

The hope is that Scott will continue to get healthier and healthier and be ready to go well ahead of the start of the 2024-25 season.

Liz Scott has appeared in 88 games and made 62 starts in her career. Her best year came in 2022-23 when she averaged 8.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

Across four seasons, she is averaging 6.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for the Sooners.

Jennie Baranczyk on Lisa Bluder: ‘I’m sad to see her retire’

Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk was also asked about former Iowa coach Lisa Bluder during her recent press conference.

Baranczyk was one of the many players who played for Lisa Bluder throughout her 24-year career at Iowa. Baranczyk was part of the very first Hawkeyes team that Bluder coached in 2000-01, going on to play four seasons in Iowa City.

A native of Urbandale, Iowa, the Sooners coach recalled even attending camps coached by Bluder, who was then the coach at Drake, while she was in high school. Bluder announced her retirement on Monday after leading Iowa to back-to-back appearances in the national championship.

Baranczyk opened up on her feelings about the move in a press conference on Tuesday, commending Bluder for the impact she had on her and countless others.

“I saw her not even a week ago,” she said. “We went back. There was a funeral of a longtime Drake person that we knew for a while. It was nice to be able to see her there. I’ve known both her and Jan for a long time. Obviously, I played for them, but I even grew up going to camps at Drake when she was there. So she has been pivotal in my playing and my coaching philosophies. How she’s held herself to a really high standard. How she’s made it about her players.

“She works hard. She’s blue collar, humble. I’m sad to see her retire. To be honest, I thought she would go for a long time.”