Late Surge Lifts No. 16 Oklahoma Past Auburn, 72–65

Sunday, January 25

Neville Arena • Auburn, Ala.

1 PM

University of Oklahoma

16-4,4-3SEC

Auburn

13-8,2-5SEC

Oklahoma

Auburn

Late Surge Lifts No. 16 Oklahoma Past Auburn, 72–65

January 25, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score OU 72, Auburn 65 – Final

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Aaliyah Chavez scored 18 points and No. 16 Oklahoma avoided a big upset, defeating Auburn 72-65 on Sunday.

The Sooners, coming off a 94-82 overtime win over No. 2 South Carolina on Thursday, were locked in a battle with the unranked Tigers until finishing the game with a 13-6 run over the final minutes.

Auburn's A'riel Jackson scored seven points early in the fourth quarter and Harissoum Coulibaly's layup tied the score at 57-all with six minutes remaining. Another Coulibaly layup made it 59-59 with 4:50 remaining but the Tigers managed only six points the rest of the game.

Sahara Williams and Raegan Beers scored 13 points each for Oklahoma (16-4, 4-3 SEC) and Brooklyn Stewart added 12 off the bench.

Jackson scored 19 points off the bench, Mya Petticord and Ja'Mia Harris 12 each, and Coulibaly 10 for Auburn (13-8, 2-5).

Oklahoma scored the last seven points of the first quarter to take a 19-12 lead. Jackson scored the first five points of the second quarter to get the Tigers within two points. Later in the quarter, a 6-0 run gave the Tigers their first lead of the game, 27-25.

Consecutive 3-pointers by a Chavez got the Sooners going again and they went on to lead 35-30 at halftime.

Petticord scored Auburn's first eight points of the third quarter, but it wasn't enough to keep the Sooners from extending their lead to 47-38. The Sooners' lead was 51-41 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the quarter but Auburn closed to within 53-48 entering the fourth.

The Sooners host Texas A&M on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 6 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center. Tickets are available through the OU Ticket Office.

POSTGAME NOTES

• No. 16 Oklahoma (16-4, 4-3 SEC) defeated Auburn (13-8, 2-5 SEC), 72-65, at Neville Arena in Auburn on Sunday to win its second straight game and finish the week with a 2-0 record after beating No. 2 South Carolina on Thursday.

• The Sooners battled for 40 minutes with the Tigers, leading 19-12 after the first quarter and by five at the break. The Sooners' five-point lead held through the third frame before Auburn tied the game at 59 with 4:50 left in the fourth. The Sooners closed the game on a 13-6 run that was highlighted by a Zya Vann dagger 3-pointer with under a minute left to seal the win.

• The Sooners have now won 23 straight against unranked foes and are 34-1 over the last two seasons. Sunday's victory is slated as a Quadrant 2 win in the NET, and OU is now 2-0 in Quad 2 games in 2025-26 and hasn't dropped a Q2 contest since March 2024.

• Four different Sooners scored in double figures as OU improved to 15-1 on the year when scoring 70 points and 109-20 since 2021. Oklahoma shot 41.9% on the day, moving to 14-0 this season when shooting 40% or better from the floor – OU shot 47% in the second half.

• The Sooners held the Tigers to 65 points and held them to 37.7% from the field as OU has now kept 17 of its 20 opponents under 40% shooting and leads the nation in opponent field goal percentage at 32.3% this season.

• Aaliyah Chavez led OU in scoring for the ninth time this year, finishing with 18 points and four made 3-pointers. The freshman guard also added four assists and two rebounds in the win.

• Freshman Brooklyn Stewart had a career day, scoring a career-high 12 points and matching her career bests with eight rebounds and four assists.

• Sahara Williams and Raegan Beers each scored 13 points, with Williams corralling nine rebounds and Beers grabbing six. The two were each efficient offensively with Williams shooting 62.5% on the day while Beers finished 6 of 9. Williams added three steals.

• Oklahoma has now won seven of its last eight true road games, improving to 3-1 this season and 36-16 on the road under fifth-year head coach Jennie Baranczyk.

• The Sooners wore their alternate Jordan anthracite uniforms in Auburn, marking the first time this season the alternate uniforms had been tapped as OU improved to 12-2 since 2021 in the dark grey kits.

• Oklahoma returns to action on Thursday night when it hosts Texas A&M at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+. The Sooners defeated the Aggies, 72-50, to open conference play on Jan. 1.