Sooners Comeback Falls Short to UCLA in Second Round

Monday, March 20

Los Angeles, CA

9 PM CT

University of Oklahoma

26-7,14-4Big 12

UCLA

27-9,11-7Pac-12

Oklahoma

UCLA

Sooners Comeback Falls Short to UCLA in Second Round

March 21, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats Highlights

By: OU Athletics Communications

LOS ANGELES – Oklahoma erased an 18-point deficit but ran out of gas in the final quarter Monday night, falling to No. 4 seed UCLA, 82-73, in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.

The loss marked a close to Oklahoma's historic season. The Sooners won a share of their first Big 12 championship since 2009 and made the NCAA tournament for the second season under head coach Jennie Baranczyk.

The fifth-seeded Sooners (26-7, 14-4 Big 12) trailed the Bruins 34-16 at the midway point of the second quarter but stormed back in the third, outscoring UCLA 26-12 out of the half to take a one-point lead into the fourth. But a cold shooting stretch in the final frame saw the Bruins retake the lead on their home floor. Free throws down the stretch gave UCLA the win and ended the Sooners' season.

Playing her last game as a Sooner, Madi Williams finished with 24 points, six assists and two rebounds. Ana Llanusa, also in her final game, finished with 15 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Junior Skylar Vann added 14 points and six rebounds with two assists.

UCLA's Charisma Osborne finished with 36 points on 11-of-21 shooting to power the Bruins' attack. The Bruins advance to the Sweet 16, where they'll face No. 1 overall seed South Carolina next weekend.

Oklahoma's redshirt senior trio of Williams, Llanusa and Taylor Robertson end their college careers as the highest-scoring trio in program history. Williams' 2,365 career points are second in program history, only trailing Courtney Paris. In addition, Williams grabbed two rebounds on Monday night, finishing five rebounds shy of 1,000 for her career. Robertson saw her record streak of 73 straight games with a made 3-pointer come to an end on Monday but ended her career as the NCAA's all-time women's 3-pointer record holder, making 537 treys as a Sooner. Her 2,346 points are third all-time at Oklahoma, behind only Paris and Williams. Llanusa's 15 points on Monday were good enough to move her into 10th all-time in scoring at OU, closing her college career with 1,659 points.

As a team, Oklahoma's 26 wins were the most since the 2009-10 Sooners went 27-11. The seven losses, all to teams that made the NCAA Tournament, were the fewest for an OU team since 2008-09 when the Sooners went 32-5 en route to the Final Four.