Oklahoma finished out the first quarter on a 16-1 run and was never headed from there on the way to a 96-62 blowout win over 6-seed Iowa in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday.
The Sooners (27-7), a 3-seed and host site for the first two rounds of the tournament, overcame an early 10-4 deficit to lead 20-11 at the end of the first quarter, widened the advantage to 38-25 at the half and outscored the Hawkeyes by 14 points in the third quarter to go up 68-41 with a quarter still to play.
A crowd of 8,138 was on hand at Lloyd Noble Center on Monday afternoon to witness one of OU's most lopsided wins of the season.
Head coach Jennie Baranczyk, an alum and former player at Iowa, has taken the Sooners to the NCAA Tournament in each of her four seasons at Oklahoma, but this is the first time her team has advanced out of the first two rounds. OU's reward for moving on, however, is a date with 11-time national champion and 2-seed UConn on Saturday in Spokane, Washington.
The 96 points were the sixth-most scored by the OU women this season, and the victory margin was the Sooners' third-largest over a Power Four opponent this season and the second most in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.
Six different Sooners scored in double digits in the game, led by 17 points from Skylar Vann, who was playing her final game at Lloyd Noble Center. Payton Verhulst added 16, Sahara Williams 13, Raegan Beers and Liz Scott both contributed 11 and freshman Zya Vann, younger sister of Skylar, had 10.
A third of Oklahoma's made field goals (33) in the game were from 3-point range (11), including nine in the second half. It was the 10th time this season OU had double-digit 3-pointers in a single game.
Iowa's 62 points were almost 14 points below its season average of 75.8. It was also the fifth fewest the Hawkeyes have scored in 34 games this season.
The Sooners have won 11 of their last 12 games and are 70-5 under Baranczyk and 18-3 this season when they score 80 points or more.
What stood out from the game:
Senior Skylar Vann has caught fire at right time
The heart and soul of this Oklahoma team, Skylar Vann had been battling through a scoring slump in recent games. She has averaged 10 points a game this season, but in her four previous games entering this year's NCAA Tournament, the fifth-year senior had scored a total of 16 points, which head coach Jennie Baranczyk acknowledged had affected Vann's confidence. The Sooner veteran has found her stroke at just the right time, however.
Vann scored 24 points with nine rebounds and four assists in Oklahoma's win over Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, and followed that up with a 17-point performance against Iowa, along with six rebounds and four more assists. Nine of her 17 points were 3-pointers.
"This is the Skylar we see every day," said teammate Payton Verhulst after Monday's game. "I'm really happy and proud that she is able to do this in the game, especially now. Tournament time is do or die, and she's doing."
OU's rebounding advantage over Iowa was insane plus-31
The Sooners have been monsters on the boards in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma grabbed 64 rebounds against Iowa, 31 more than the Hawkeyes. Twenty-four of the 64 were offensive rebounds, compared to just five offensive boards by Iowa.
Oklahoma was even more prodigious in its opening-round game, pulling down an unworldly 72 rebounds in the win over FGCU, which was an NCAA Tournament record. Those 136 combined rebounds are also a new NCAA Tournament record over a two-game stretch.
Sooners haven't made it to Sweet 16 since 2012-13 season
Oklahoma has been to the NCAA Tournament 23 times in the last 26 seasons and each of the last four under Jennie Barancyzk. But this season, the Sooners made it beyond the first two rounds and into the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 2012-13 season. Oklahoma has been to the Sweet 16 six times since 2000 and to the Final Four three times.