Oklahoma Turns Back West Virginia At Big 12 Tournament

After a surprising second place finish in the Big 12 during the regular season, the Oklahoma women's basketball team was looking to translate that to success in the postseason.

The Sooners took care of business on Saturday, defeating West Virginia, 67-55 in the quarterfinals at the Big 12 women's basketball tournament.

Oklahoma led from start to finish and used an aggressive offensive attack to take down the Mountaineers.

Neither team shot the ball particularly well, as both teams shot below 40 percent, but the Sooners gained a big advantage at the free throw line and in the paint, a product of consistently driving to the rim and terrific work on the boards.

Oklahoma was 23-of-30 from the foul line, while WVU finished the game just 8-of-14. The Sooners also gathered in 15 offensive rebounds, leading to 22 second-chance points and outscored West Virginia in the paint, 26-10.

Four players scored in double figures for Oklahoma, led by Peyton Little's 15 points. Kaylon Williams had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Sharane Campbell-Olds had 10 points and was on the floor as much as she was standing, consistently diving for loose balls and making hustle plays for the Sooners.

A huge lift came from Maddie Manning, who came off the bench to score 11 points and grab six rebounds. It was Manning's longest outing of the season (30 minutes), and she showed flashes of the talent and ability she was exhibiting before her first ACL injury two years ago.

Bria Holmes led West Virginia with 17 points and also had seven assists. Averee Fields had 13 points and Bre McDonald had 12.

The Sooners led by as many as 16 points in the first half and went into the locker room with a 34-20 lead.

In the second half, West Virginia rallied, but was just unable to seriously threaten the Sooners. The lead bounced between nine and 12 points for much of the half, but a Holmes 3-pointer cut the lead to 57-50 with 4:48 to play.

Oklahoma responded with six straight over the next minute and a half to push the lead back to 13 and was able to cruise from there.

The Sooners will take on the winner of Texas and Texas Tech at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.