Sooners Sweep Mountaineers Behind Balanced Effort

Saturday, February 4

Norman

2 PM

University of Oklahoma

18-4,8-3Big 12

West Virginia

14-7,5-5Big 12

West Virginia

Oklahoma

Sooners Sweep Mountaineers Behind Balanced Effort

February 04, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats Highlights

By: OU Athletics Communications

NORMAN – Oklahoma led by as many as 29 points in the first half and cruised to a 93-68 win over West Virginia on Saturday in Norman.

Five Sooners scored in double figures as No. 20 Oklahoma (18-4, 8-3 Big 12) set a new program mark with 18 first-half assists, breaking a nearly 40-year-old record. The Sooners led West Virginia (14-7, 5-5 Big 12) for almost the entirety of the contest to clinch their eighth win in Big 12 play, and improve to 11-1 at Lloyd Noble Center this season.

"We played really well today," head coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "It was a really fun day for us, and I thought that our crowd was awesome. I thought that our defensive intensity really fueled us, which it needed to, because West Virginia is really good. They have two of the best guards in this league, and it took an entire team effort to guard them."

After leading just 14-12 at the first media timeout of the game, the Sooners turned on their offensive jets to close the opening quarter on an 18-4 run to double up the Mountaineers, 32-16, in the first. The Sooners poured it on in the second, starting the quarter on an 11-1 run to lead 46-17 before WVU pulled within 20, as OU led 55-37 at the break. The Sooners dished out a school record 18 first-half assists, one better than the previous record of 17, set on Feb. 9, 1983, vs. Oklahoma City. An 11-0 throttling to open the second half put the game away, as Oklahoma outscored the Mountaineers in both the third and fourth quarters to finish off the dominant 25-point win.

Skylar Vann led the way, scoring 16 points with eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. She joined teammates Ana Llanusa, Madi Williams and Taylor Robertson as the only Sooners to post that stat line in the last decade of OU basketball. Liz Scott and Llanusa added 15 points, with Llanusa grabbing five rebounds and Scott hauling in three. Llanusa also dished out four assists. Nevaeh Tot sunk four of her six 3-pointers en route to 12 points. Madi Williams registered her career's 117th double-digit scoring game, tallying 11 points with four assists. Aubrey Joens was strong off the bench, becoming just the third player nationally this season to post a game with seven points, five rebounds, five assists and two blocks off the bench – teammate Skylar Vann is responsible for one of the other two occurrences. True freshman center, Beatrice Culliton, added nine points, six rebounds, and three assists as she joined Jessi Murcer and Shaina Pellington, both guards, as the only Sooner freshmen to register that stat line since 2009.

The Sooners, who entered the day with the nation's third-best scoring offense at 86.1 points per game, scored 90-plus points for the fourth time in their last six games. Oklahoma shot 52% (36-of-69) and held WVU to 43% (24-of-56) but allowed just 10 made fields goals in the second half. In addition, the Sooners forced the Mountaineers into 19 turnovers while allowing just six assists compared to OU's 28 dimes in the win. On the glass, OU dominated by outrebounding the Mountaineers 41-26, the team's sixth plus-15 rebounding margin of the season.

A big road test awaits the Sooners, who travel to Waco on Tuesday night for a matchup with Baylor at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center. The Bears knocked off the Sooners, 81-70, in Norman earlier in conference play.