Oklahoma Tops Texas in Thriller to Win Big 12 Title
NORMAN — For the second consecutive season, the Oklahoma Sooners are Big 12 regular season champions.
Jennie Baranczyk and company knocked off the No. 3-ranked Texas Longhorns 71-70 on Wednesday night en route to their second regular season conference championship in two years.
"I’m really proud that we didn’t quit in December," Baranczyk said in postgame interviews. "When it’s we, it’s not just as a coach. It’s out academic advisor, its our athletic trainer, its our strength coach, its our marketing people. I mean, you name it, the number of people that impact these women on a daily basis. … (The coaches and staff) stayed together to allow (the players) to grow."
No. 20 OU has now won 15 of its last 17 games, sweeping the Longhorns in the programs' final season as members of the Big 12.
Junior guard Payton Verhulst led the way for Oklahoma, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds and two assists before fouling out. Senior guard Lexy Keys scored 16 points, including the game-winner with less than five seconds left to play.
Keys, who hit the game-clinching 3 in OU's victory in Austin, collected herself after a frantic offensive rebound by Skylar Vann. Vann gathered chased down her own miss before it went out of bounds, flicked it to Keys, and Keys buried the game-winner from the left wing.
OU trailed by as many as 13 in the second half, but the Sooners never backed down.
After Texas freshman Madison Booker got the Longhorns on the scoreboard, Sooners' standout Skylar Vann answered with a triple to give OU a 3-2 lead early in the game.
On the ensuing possession, however, Longhorns senior forward Taylor Jones answered with an and-one basket, putting UT back in front.
It was OU's only lead — 14 seconds — until late in the fourth quarter.
Texas continued to grow its advantage as the first quarter progressed, taking a 14-5 lead after a 3-pointer from Longhorns' senior guard Shay Holle.
Struggling with Texas' size, Oklahoma had issues scoring in the opening frame, as the Sooners shot 2-of-18 and trailed 21-10 heading into the second quarter.
Less than a minute into the next period, Vann collided with a Longhorns' defender and went crashing onto the hardwood. With assistance from the OU coaching staff, Vann was helped off the court with an apparent leg injury. Vann, however, quickly made her way back to the bench.
In its star's absence, Oklahoma continued to struggle, as a 6-0 run by Texas put the visitors ahead 27-12 early in the second quarter.
To break the Sooners' rough shooting stretch, Keys and Verhulst knocked down 3-point shots that brought the Longhorns lead back down to 10.
“I thought Payton really stepped up when (Vann) was gone," Baranczyk said after the game. "Obviously, I know she scored, but I think it was more than that.”
Still, OU was unable to get a consistent rhythm on offense as the Longhorns' interior defense made it difficult for Baranczyk's team to get shots up in the paint. Midway through the second quarter, Texas had already recorded four blocks and two steals.
Following another basket from Booker, the Longhorns' lead swelled back to 14 with less than five minutes until halftime.
The Sooners began chipping away at Texas' lead down the stretch, though, as Verhulst and Nevaeh Tot knocked down 3-pointers to bring OU within six. After a free throw from senior guard Aubrey Joens and another triple from Keys, Oklahoma trailed by just two with less than a minute left in the first half.
Texas made a free throw to push their lead back to three, but Verhulst hit a catch-and-shoot jump shot at the buzzer to cut the Longhorns' lead to 39-38 heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, Vann was back on the floor for the Sooners, but the Longhorns still managed to score a quick basket on their first possession.
Texas began to grow its lead again as OU once once ore had trouble finding the bottom of the net early, scoring just three points in the first five minutes of the third quarter. After a pair of jump shots and three free throws from Booker, the Longhorns' advantage was back to double digits as Oklahoma trailed 52-40.
Keys finally broke the Sooners' cold streak with an impressive layup off the glass that cut the deficit to 54-43. After two layups from Kiersten Johnson, a pair of free throws from Tot and a triple from Joens, OU cut Texas' lead to six with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.
After Tot darted past a defender into the paint for an easy layup, Oklahoma trailed 58-54 late in the penultimate period. Heading into the final frame, the Longhorns held a 60-54 advantage over the Sooners.
With the Sooners trailing 64-58 with just over six minutes left in the game, Keys hit another shot from beyond the arc, followed by a putback from freshman forward Sahara Williams, to bring OU back within one.
Keys knocked down a deep two-point shot with just over three minutes remaining that gave the Sooners the lead for the first time since the 8:36 mark in the first quarter.
A few possessions later, Jones scored a put-back basket that once again put the Longhorns in front. Trying to recover a loose ball, Oklahoma was called for a foul, awarding Texas two free throws.
Booker knocked down each of her shots from the charity stripe to put the Longhorns ahead by one with less than two minutes left.
After multiple missed shots, a travel call against Texas and an offensive rebound by Vann, Keys connected on her fourth 3-pointer of the night to give the Sooners a 71-70 lead with 4.5 seconds left.
"Honestly, I think I ended up in the right place at the right time getting there, but I think we continued, as a team, to just keep playing hard," Keys said after the game.
"We’ve been talking about in practice, just finish plays and I think that was a gutsy win on everyone’s part. So I think, I just happened to be there and they were giving me confidence. … A lot of emotions, I don’t even know how to describe them honestly."
Despite shooting just 35.7 percent from the floor — the Sooners made just one of their last 11 field goals, that coming on Keys' clutch shot — OU was able to stay in contention by hitting timely 3-pointers. Oklahoma knocked down 10 triples while the Longhorns made just two all game.
Additionally, the Sooners grabbed 13 more rebounds than the Longhorns on Wednesday night.
OU's Big 12 regular season finale is against Kansas on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Lawrence.
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