The women's Oklahoma basketball team on Wednesday accomplished what their male counterparts were unable to get done a day earlier: Beat Texas.
Five Oklahoma players scored in double figures and Lexy Keys and Nevaeh Tot hit clutch shots in the final minute to lead the Sooner women to a thrilling 91-87 upset over the 10th-ranked Texas Longhorns. Moreover, they did so on the Lady Longhorns home court in Austin.
The Oklahoma men weren't as fortunate, falling to the archrival Longhorns 75-60 on Tuesday. It was the sixth straight OU loss to their Red River rivals. Head coach Porter Moser has not beaten Texas in his two and a half seasons as coach of the Sooner men's team.
Jennie Baranczyk was hired at about the same time as Moser to lead the Lady Sooners. She has fared a little better against Texas. With the win on Wednesday, the OU women are 2-3 under Barancyzk against the Texas women. It was Oklahoma's eighth win over a ranked team since Barancyzk took over. It also was the 900th win in the history of the OU women's program. The Sooners are the 45th NCAA Division I program to reach that mark.
Senior Skylar Vann led the Sooners with 19 points and a dozen rebounds, Payton Verhulst had 18 points and Keys contributed 15, including a three-pointer, one of four in the game, with 40 seconds to go that widened Oklahoma's lead to 88-84.
Freshman Madison Booker led Texas with a game-high 29 points, 14 of which came during the Longhorns' fourth-quarter rally. Senior Shay Holle was 10 of 12 from the field for a career-high 22 points.
Texas (18-3, 5-3) jumped out to a 23-17 lead after one quarter, but the Sooners responded with a 28-point second quarter and took a 45-39 advantage into the locker room at halftime. OU expanded its lead to 13 points in the third quarter and entered the final 10 minutes leading 72-61.
The Longhorns slowly cut into the Oklahoma lead in the final quarter and got within 85-84 with one minute remaining. That's when Keys and Tot took over. Keys' three-pointer put Oklahoma up by four and Tot finished off the scoring hitting three free throws.
"We're going to enjoy this one." Barancyzk said in her postgame comments. "We've had a roller coaster season. So if we've learned anything, we've learned that we need to just stay in the process."
With the big road victory, the Oklahoma women improved to 16-overall and 6-1 in the Big 12 and in sole possession of second place in the conference standings. Next on the schedule is a home game against Kansas at Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday