Oklahoma women's basketball: Sooners overwhelm Iowa to advance to NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
NORMAN — In the final minute of the third quarter of Monday’s game between OU and Iowa in the second round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament, Kendrick Lamar’s “TV off” blared through Lloyd Noble Center.
It was Hawkeyes fans that might’ve been looking to flip the channel or find something else to do.
The large crowd inside the arena mostly wanted to savor the result.
Despite early struggles from some of their top players, the Sooners grabbed control early and never relented, beating Iowa 96-62 to advance to the Sweet 16.
After three consecutive seasons getting bounced in the second round, the third-seeded Sooners are heading to the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2013.
The Sooners (27-7) will take on either UConn or South Dakota State on Saturday in Spokane, Washington.
Here are three takeaways from the Sooners’ win:
Sahara Williams shows out against home-state team
When Sahara Williams checked out with just more than four minutes remaining in the game, she tried to pass Jennie Baranczyk with just a simple hand slap.
Baranczyk wasn’t having it.
OU’s coach grabbed Williams’ hand and pulled her tight with a hug, smiling as she delivered a message to Williams.
Williams, a Waterloo, Iowa, product, was at the center of almost everything the Sooners did in the first half especially.
With Raegan Beers, Skylar Vann and Payton Verhulst struggling for varying reasons, Williams made sure the Sooners grabbed the lead.
She finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
All of Williams’ points came in the first half, where the Sooners built up an 11-point lead going into halftime.
Skylar Vann takes over in the third
Skylar Vann, the star of the Sooners’ first-round win over Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, was mostly quiet in the first half.
Vann had just two points on 1-of-4 shooting, though she did have three assists.
But the redshirt senior came alive in the third, scoring 12 of the Sooners’ 30 points in the quarter to all but put the game away entering the fourth.
Vann was 4 of 4 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers, two rebounds and two steals in the quarter. She finished with a team-high 17 points.
OU led 68-43 after the quarter.
All eight of the Sooners’ third-quarter field goals were assisted.
Raegan Beers has tough day
Raegan Beers finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds, but it didn’t come easy for the Sooners’ leading scorer.
She was knocked to the floor in the third quarter after getting popped in the face defending Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke.
Her nose was bloodied in the fourth quarter.
Beers played just five minutes in the first half, limited in each quarter by foul trouble after the sixth-seeded Hawkeyes (23-11) clearly made it a point to go after her.
But Beers fought through it all, scoring more of her points at the free-throw line, going 7 of 8 there.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU women's basketball overwhelms Iowa to reach March Madness Sweet 16
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