Sooners Depth Puts Away Virginia on Road

Sunday, November 19

Charlottesville, Va.

1 PM CT

University of Oklahoma

5-0,0-0Big 12

Virginia

3-1,0-0ACC

Oklahoma

Virginia

Photo by: Ryan M. Kelly

Sooners Depth Puts Away Virginia on Road

November 19, 2023 | Women's Basketball

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By: OU Athletics Communications

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Five Sooners scored in double figures as No. 25/21 Oklahoma dispatched Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., 82-67, on Sunday afternoon.

The Sooners are undefeated through five games for the first time in the Jennie Baranczyk era and have won all their games by double digits. Oklahoma sunk a season-best 13 3-pointers on the day, outpacing the Cavaliers, who shot just 1-of-23 from deep.

"It's always a real challenge to come away with a win on the road," head coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "We definitely have some things we need to clean up, but this team just have a knack for staying together and finding a way to win games. I'm really proud of the way that we finished the game after a tough stretch there."

The Sooners (5-0, 0-0 Big 12) came out firing, outscoring the Cavaliers 24-18 in the first frame after jumping out to an 18-7 lead late in the first. More of the same came in the second quarter when they used a 17-7 run to take a 44-27 lead into the break. OU held UVA to just nine points on 21% shooting in the second, which marked the second-straight contest that OU held its opponent to single digits in at least one quarter. The Wahoos made their run in the third quarter, where they outpaced the Sooners 21-13 and cut the OU lead to just five with 7:46 left in the game, but Oklahoma closed the road game on a 22-12 run to put it away and secure the 15-point win.

Skylar Vann's 20 points and eight rebounds led the way, while freshman Sahara Williams posted an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double to power OU past UVA (3-1, 0-0 ACC). Payton Verhulst made four of her six 3-pointers to finish with 15 points, adding a career-high seven assists and six boards. Aubrey Joens added 12 points, and Lexy Keys poured in 11 points for the Sooners.

The Sooners shot 48% (30-of-62) as a team and outrebounded Virginia 49-43, improving to 5-0 this year when winning the rebounding battle. OU held its opponent to below 32% shooting for the first time in 2023-24, as UVA shot just 31.3% on the day.

OU travels to Fort Myers, Fla., this week for a pair of tough matchups at the Ft. Myer's Women's Tip-Off. The Sooners take on Princeton on Thursday and No. 15 Tennessee on Saturday.

"This upcoming week is a great opportunity for us to get better," Vann said. "We've got two tough games against really great teams, and we love that we're getting challenged early in the year. I'm just really excited to see how we respond and come together down there."

Oklahoma's game against Princeton will be streamed on FSWBucs.com, while Saturday's showdown with the Lady Vols at 12 p.m. CT will air on the Women's Sports Network.