The Oklahoma women posted its biggest win of the season and one of the team's most impressive victories in program history, defeating No. 2 and three-time national champion South Carolina 94-82 in overtime at Lloyd Noble Center on Thursday night.
The win snapped a three-game OU losing streak, all to ranked SEC teams.
The contest was tied at 75-all in regulation, but the 14th-ranked Sooners (15-4, 3-3) outscored South Carolina 19-7 in overtime to put the game away and hand the visitors their second loss of the season. South Carolina came into the game on a 12-game win streak.
Oklahoma super freshman Aaliyah Chavez scored 15 of her game-high 26 points in the overtime session as the Sooners made all seven of their field-goal attempts to blow the otherwise tight contest wide open. The OU defense was stellar in extra time, holding the Gamecocks to just 3-of-10 shooting.
All five OU starters scored in double figures for the game. In addition to Chavez's 26 points, Payton Verhulst contributed 19 points and Raegan Beers added 18, along with 14 rebounds. The Sooners shot 48.1% as a team. Meanwhile, South Carolina, which ranks No. 3 in the SEC shooting better than 50% from the field for the season, was held to just 37% in this game.
Oklahoma trailed by seven points at the half, but came out of the locker room with an 8-0 run to open the third quarter and take a 44-43 lead. The Sooners led by two, 61-59, after three quarters.
South Carolina trailed for most of the fourth quarter, but took its only lead late in the quarter, going on a 6-0 run to tie the game 73-73. A pair of free throws by Joyce Edwards with 42 seconds left put the Gamecocks in front 75-73. Beers followed up a missed shot with a putback with 18.4 seconds remaining that sent the game to overtime.
The Sooners next travel to Auburn for a game at 1 p.m. CT Sunday that will be televised on SEC Network.
3 takeaways that largely tell the story of this significant OU victory
- Oklahoma heated up on the offensive end in the 25 minutes after halftime. The Sooners trailed 43-36 at the half, shooting 39% in the opening 20 minutes. In the second half and overtime, Oklahoma outscored South Carolina 58-39, shooting 55.8% (24-for-43). Meanwhile, the South Carolina offense went in the opposite direction, going from 44.1% shooting in the first half before dropping off to 31.9 to finish out the game.
- The Sooners were fortunate that turnovers didn't turn this game in heavy favor of South Carolina. Oklahoma committed 21 turnovers that the Gamecocks converted into 28 points. It also didn't help that the Sooners' plus-15 rebound advantage and 19 offensive rebounds accounted for just 12 second-chance points. OU is 14-2 this season when it out-rebounds its opponent.
- The victory was easily the biggest of the season for OU women's basketball and marked the third time in program history that the Sooners have beaten a team ranked No. 2, and the first since beating No. 2 Kansas State 66-63 in January 2024.