The Oklahoma women's gymnastics squad continued to demonstrate why it's the best in the country, defeating No. 4 Alabama on Friday night at Lloyd Noble Center, the Sooners' fourth win over a team ranked in the top-5 this season and second in front of the home fans.
Spurred on by an energized and electric LNC crowd of 8,000-plus (the OU men's basketball team averages around 6,500 for home games), the Sooners posted a winning team score of 198.200 to 197.475. It was the second time in as many weeks that Oklahoma has reached the championship-level 198 mark.
Sooners beat No. 4 Alabama for 4th top-5 victory this season
The Sooners were led by sophomore Addison Fatta, who won the all-around title with a collective score of 39.725, the second time she has gone over the 39.700 level this season. In recording the high all-around score, Fatta recorded the top score on vault with a near-perfect score of 9.975 and shared high score on the floor exercise routine with Azaraya Ra-Akbar of Alabama, with matching 9.950s.
Three Sooners in sophomore Lily Pederson and true freshmen Ella Murphy and Mackenzie Estep shared the high score on the uneven bars with Alabama's Chloe LaCoursier, all with scores of 9.925. Oklahoma's team bars score of 49.575 was its highest of the season in that event.
Senior Faith Torrez was the individual winner in her specialty, the balance beam, sticking a near-perfect score of 9.975.
A major factor in OU's sixth team win of the season was a remarkable string of stuck landings. The Sooners stuck five of six dismounts on both bars and the beam. Three of the six OU individuals on vault stuck their landings.
"We always say our goal is four out of six stuck dismounts," said Sooner head coach K.J. Kindler, in her 20th season at OU. "So five out of six exceeds expectations and puts you in a different category."
The seven-time national champions Sooners will be in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday for the Metroplex Challenge, a quad competition against No. 10 Arkansas, Arizona and Texas Western. OU will travel to Gainesville, Florida, on Friday for another top-five dual competition against No. 2 Florida.