Oklahoma
Controversial ending makes loss to Oklahoma even harder for Texas women’s basketball
NORMAN, Okla. — Following a 71-70 loss to Oklahoma at the Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday evening, the Texas Longhorns chose to blame themselves.
Referees make for good scapegoats, though, and it’s unlikely that many Texas fans would have minded if some burnt-orange ire was directed toward the officials. But that wasn’t the tactic Madison Booker used when she was asked if she was fouled on the game’s final play.
“Did I get fouled? I really don’t know,” the freshman guard said.
“That’s a good answer,” said UT coach Vic Schaefer, who was seated to Booker’s right at the postgame press conference.
What about the controversial traveling call on Booker that set up the game-winning sequence for Oklahoma?
“We can say ‘the refs’ all we want, but I think we kind of got riled up at the end when those two calls happened,” Booker said. “I think we were just thinking about other things than just getting a rebound. A lot of factors was affecting us and our mental.”
In the end, Texas wasn’t beaten by the officiating crew. The Longhorns were done in by Sooners Lexy Keys, Skylar Vann and Payton Verhulst.
Keys hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left to lift Oklahoma to a one-point victory that secured the Big 12’s outright championship. The Sooners split last year’s conference championship with Texas, but they had last finished a season alone atop the Big 12 standings in 2009.
“First, just congratulate Oklahoma on winning the championship,” Schaefer said. “It’s awfully hard to do and coach (Jennie) Baranczyk and her team played really hard tonight and made one more play than we did.”
A wild ending to a wild game
Oklahoma was playing catch-up for much of Wednesday’s game, but Texas failed to take advantage of a 15-point lead that it built in the first half and the nine-point edge it held with 8:56 remaining. And Texas still led by three points before the wild sequence that ended the game.
With 26 seconds left, Vann made one of two free throws. The miss came on Vann’s second attempt and that set off a wild scramble for the ball. Oklahoma point guard Nevaeh Tot eventually got her hands on it, but her subsequent layup attempt missed and Booker grabbed the rebound. Booker, however, was called for traveling as she tried to scoot upcourt even though replays suggested that she may not have had possession of the ball in the first place.
“I’ll have to go back and look at it, but I’m really disappointed that something like that happens in a game of this magnitude from the vantage point that was made from,” Schaefer said. “I can’t really comment on that.”
Following the turnover, Vann missed twice. But after her second miss, Vann beat UT guard Shaylee Gonzales to the loose ball and was able to save it from going out of bounds with a pass to an open Keys, who then nailed the decisive 3-pointer.
“We had the opportunity to grab the rebound, it fumbled,” Gonzales said. “It’s just very unfortunate. We worked super hard to prepare for this game and we thought we had it. Unfortunately, we just didn’t end with the win.”
Sooners made the most of their second chances
Oklahoma finished with a 21-5 edge in offensive rebounds and scored 13 second-chance points. Oklahoma shot just 35.7% from the field.
“Twenty-one offensive boards was our Achilles,” Schaefer said.
After Keys knocked down her big shot, Texas called a timeout and drew up one last play. Booker drove to the basket after the inbounds pass, but Vann collapsed defensively and Texas was unable to get off a good look.
Booker finished with a game-high 26 points and also contributed seven assists and eight rebounds. Gonzales and Jones each added 10 points, but the two veterans combined to attempt just two shots in the second half.
Verhulst led the Sooners with 18 points while Keys scored 16. Despite being the shortest player on the court on Wednesday, the 5-foot-3 Tot led all players with her 10 rebounds and she also distributed eight assists.
Oklahoma, which recorded a 91-87 win over UT in Austin last month, will close out its regular season at Kansas on Saturday. Texas can secure the second seed in the Big 12 tournament by beating BYU this weekend.
“There’s still so much in front of us,” Texas guard Shay Holle said. “We’ve got to learn from it, but we can’t mope. Got to put our head down and go to work.”
Crews responded to a fireworks stand after it caught fire in Broken Arrow Saturday night.
Authorities urged people to avoid E. Kanosha Street near S. 236th E. Avenue as the road is closed and fireworks could spread in the area due to the fire.
Broken Arrow Fire Department released a statement confirming no injuries were sustained as a result of the explosions or fire.
Fire crews quickly controlled the fire in about 20 minutes according to Broken Arrow Fire Department.
The initial cause of the fire is under investigation.
Viewer Leslie Maxey, who lives close to the fireworks stand, sent in video of the ongoing fire.
“We were putting our daughter to bed with a book when we heard an explosion that was gradually getting louder and louder,” Maxey said.
This is a developing story.
What you need to know about Oklahoma ahead of the College World Series
North Carolina will face a dangerous Oklahoma team that is on a roll.
Oklahoma (41-22) has been just as dominant. The Sooners, making their 13th College World Series appearance and first since 2022, surged through the postseason as road warriors. They won the Atlanta Regional by upsetting No. 2 seed and ACC champion Georgia Tech in the final, then swept Big 12 champion and No. 15 seed Kansas by a combined score of 21-3 in the Lawrence Regional.
The Sooners, who are 3-0 in Omaha after beating No. 7 seed Alabama and knocking off No. 3 seed and SEC champion Georgia twice, are seeking their third national championship. Oklahoma won titles in 1951 and 1994 and finished as runner-up to Ole Miss in 2022.
Here are a few things to know about Oklahoma:
Best player: Catcher Deiten LaChance
LaChance is Oklahoma’s most powerful hitter. He is batting .333 with 12 doubles, two triples and team highs of 16 home runs and 65 RBIs.
Throughout the postseason, he is hitting .326 with four home runs and 15 RBIs. In Omaha, he is 5-for-14 (.357) with one home run and five RBIs.
Strengths
Like North Carolina, Oklahoma is a balanced team that is good at a little bit of everything and is built to frustrate opponents.
Oklahoma is a balanced hitting team like UNC, but the Sooners have hit a few more homers with 91, compared to the Tar Heels’ 82. That is largely due to the Sooners smashing 26 home runs in their 10 postseason games. In Omaha, OU has homered eight times, including five homers in its win over Georgia in its previous game.
The Sooners have stolen 129 bases this season. That is good for 24th nationally and second in the SEC.
Pitching-wise, OU is 18th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings and leads the SEC in shutouts.
Weaknesses
The most glaring weakness is the pitching staff, despite its ability to strike out opposing batters and record shutouts.
The Sooners have a 4.98 ERA as a staff. Only one pitcher with 10 or more appearances has an ERA under 3.60.
They also allow 4.51 walks per nine innings, which ranks 138th nationally.
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It was a Friday Night Lights in June kind of moment for the Oklahoma State Cowboys as Israel “Izzy” Hammons made his commitment announcement.
The Choctaw, Okla., rising senior announced his decision to commit to Oklahoma State on Friday during an Instagram Live session. The Cowboys beat out a roster of schools vying for the linebacker, most notably Texas.
Hammons made just two official visits — one to OSU and one to Texas last week.
His commitment pushed the Cowboys’ 2027 recruiting class back to nine players after the defection of Mount Carmel (Chicago, IL) offensive lineman Chase Clark to Purdue.
Commitments are non-binding. The earliest that Hammons can sign with OSU is in December.
Izzy Hammons to OSU
Hammons is the first four-star player to commit to the Cowboys this cycle. Their previous commitments all came from three-star players. The 6-3, 225-pound linebacker was considered a Top 200 player in the country by both On3/Rivals and 247Sports. Both services had him ranked as a Top 10 player in the state of Oklahoma at any position. He’s also considered the No. 1 linebacker in the state.
He also runs track and field, competing in the high jump and the 100-meter days, with a personal best of 11.30 seconds in the latter.
The Longhorns came in hot at the end but already had linebackers committed to the program this cycle. For the Cowboys getting a pledge from a player like Hammons is key to shore up a position where they didn’t have a commitment and where they plan to use senior transfers as starters in 2026. That means OSU and head coach Eric Morris must start building a pipeline now.
OSU’s Class of 2027
After Clark’s decommitment the Cowboys were down to eight recruits for 2027 entering Friday, most of which were on the offensive side of the ball and starting with Iowa Colony (Texas) quarterback Carson White, who was the cycle’s first commitment in April.
Up front, OSU has two offensive line commitments Jake Baker of Ensworth High School in Nashville, Tenn., and Sonny Mullen of Troy, Texas. When it comes to skill positions players the Cowboys have three commitments as well, including two wide receivers — Cooper Hooker of Pryor (Quapaw, Okla.) High School and Ake O’Neal of Argyle, Texas. Oklahoma State also has a pledge from tight end Talan Scott of Queen City, Ariz.
Defensively, the Cowboys have commitments from safeties Chayce Davis of Euless (Texas) Trinity High School and Bryson Brown of Broken Bow, Okla.
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