FORT WORTH, Tex. — Oklahoma, the most dominant NCAA women’s gymnastics team this season and perhaps one of the best in the sport’s history, did not advance out of the national semifinals after a stunning series of errors Thursday night.
Oklahoma
In stunning collapse, Oklahoma gymnastics fails to advance to NCAA final
“This was character-building for this team,” Oklahoma Coach K.J. Kindler said afterward on the ESPN broadcast. “They fought back hard. It was emotional. I give them all the credit for gutting it out through the whole end of it. It was tough.”
The Sooners’ unraveling began at the start. On vault, the Sooners’ first apparatus of the evening, three Oklahoma gymnasts had major mistakes. Faith Torrez, the first gymnast to compete, fell on her 1½-twisting vault, then Jordan Bowers and Katherine LeVasseur barely stayed on their feet with multiple deep steps backward on the same skill. Teams can only drop one score per apparatus so two of those low marks (9.45 and 9.375) factored into the Sooners’ total.
From then on, Oklahoma’s chances of a comeback were slim and probably would have required major mistakes from other teams. Alabama had a meltdown on beam with four falls, but Utah (197.9375 final score) and Florida (197.875) held steady. The Sooners’ hopes evaporated in the third rotation when LeVasseur and Ava Siegfeldt fell during their beam routines.
“They were trying to put everything into it, but at the same time, the emotions, I think, were taking over a little bit,” Kindler said of her team’s response to the early mistakes on vault.
Oklahoma may have been able to weather its errors on the beam, especially with the other four gymnasts scoring a 9.9375 or higher, if not for the disastrous start on vault.
In that first rotation, Oklahoma tallied a 48.325, more than a point lower than the majority of the team’s showings on that apparatus this season. The Sooners hadn’t scored that low on any apparatus since January 2021, and since 2012 Oklahoma had previously struggled that much on only two occasions.
The hallmark of this Oklahoma team had been its consistency, which makes Thursday’s disappointing showing all the more jarring. Before this competition, Oklahoma hadn’t scored lower than a 197.775 all season. Several hours before the Sooners’ session began, LSU Coach Jay Clark called Oklahoma the “prohibitive favorite” to win the final.
The Sooners have notched 11 of the top 20 scores in the country this season, according to Road to Nationals, the website that maintains all NCAA gymnastics scores. That’s the most scores in the top 20 for any team since 1998, when Road to Nationals began recording data.
The Sooners’ extraordinary dominance made them appear unstoppable. With a successful showing here en route to another national title, this Oklahoma squad may have been considered the greatest NCAA gymnastics team ever. But now, despite their accomplishments before this weekend, the Sooners will be remembered as the juggernaut that finished with a shocking collapse.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking on the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of their opening-round series. The OKC Thunder are hoping that they can repeat their Sunday afternoon performance in this contest. Game 2 will be an interesting test with the Suns having more time to prepare.
Phoenix was up against a rock and a hard place in the series opener. The Oklahoma City Thunder not only have the talent advantage but the rest advantage as well. Phoenix punched their ticket to the NBA Playoffs on Friday night by staving off the Golden State Warriors on Friday night before landing in Oklahoma City on Saturday and playing on Saturday afternoon to the tune of a 119-84 blowout Thunder victory.
The NBA has seen plenty of upsets already. The Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers have all stolen games from the higher seed. The Thunder know they have to keep the foot on the gas in this contest.
“These series are unpredictable. No 2 games are the same. The minute you make an assumption, you are overconfident, or the minute you go down and you’re overly urgent, that can impact your ability to be present in the next game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said pregame on Wednesday night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are seeing the Suns make an adjustment with their starting lineup by inserting Collin Gillespie to give Phoenix a trio of ball handling scoring options alongside Devin Booker and Jalen Green. This gives the Suns hope to be able to find better shot quality against this stifling Thunder defensive unit.
Oklahoma City is healthier now than they have been all season. The Thunder only are missing rookie Thomas Sorber (ACL) who is out for the year. This allows the Bricktown Ballers to roll out their traditional first five in this contest.
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Phoenix Suns, Game 2 Starting Lineup
Oklahoma City Thunder Starting Lineup
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G
- Lu Dort, G
- Jalen Williams, F
- Chet Holmgren, F
- Isaiah Hartenstein, C
Phoenix Suns Starting Lineup
- Devin Booker, G
- Jalen Green, G
- Collin Gillespie, G
- Dillon Brooks, F
- Oso Ighodaro, C
The series will shift to Phoenix this weekend as the Oklahoma City Thunder hope to head into Saturday afternoon’s Game 3 with a 2-0 advantage in the series.
Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of the NBA Playoff run for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA (KOKH) — The Oklahoma City Fire Department responded to a home fire late Tuesday evening, around 10:42 p.m.
According to OKCFD, fire could be seen from a window of the home located in the 4200 block of N. Phillips Avenue.
Firefighters were able to rescue an adult female from inside the home. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.
Investigators believe that the fire may have originated from an outlet near the refrigerator that had a power strip plugged in that was supplying multiple appliances.
There was also no smoke detector present within the home.
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NORMAN — The Sooners were behind the eight ball for much of Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts.
But one swing of the bat got them in a more favorable position.
Shortstop Jaxon Willits blasted a grand slam in the sixth inning to give No. 14 Oklahoma its first lead before eventually winning 7-6.
The Sooners trailed by as many as five runs before they rallied late.
In the first inning, Oral Roberts’ Cooper Combs hit a two-out grand slam to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable cushion. OU infielder Deiten Lachance got the Sooners on the board in the second inning with a solo home run, but ORU responded with a solo shot of its own in the next frame.
The Golden Eagles made it a 6-1 run game in the top of the fourth, and they appeared to be on cruise control. But in the bottom of that frame, OU’s rally began.
Dasan Harris made it a four-run game again with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth before Camden Johnson hit a sacrifice fly of his own in the fifth.
Then, in the sixth, the Sooners took their first lead of the game.
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Harris singled before Kyle Branch and Connor Larkin walked to load the bases. Willits then swung at the first pitch he saw, sending it well over the right-center field fence.
Neither team scored after Willits’ home run, as OU relief pitcher Xander Mercurius retired nine ORU batters in a row to seal the Sooners’ one-run win.
Michael Catalano started on the mound for Oklahoma, but his outing was short-lived — he gave up four earned runs on two hits and five walks in 1 ⅓ innings.
After coach Skip Johnson relieved Catalano in the second inning, six different OU arms entered the game. Reid Hensley collected the win, while Mercurius got the save.
OU improved to 28-12 overall with the win, while Oral Roberts dropped to 23-15. The Sooners are 7-3 in midweek games this season, and they clinched the season sweep of the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.
Next, the Sooners will hit the road for a three-game series against Auburn. The Tigers, ranked No. 11 by D1Baseball, are 10-8 in SEC play and took two of three games against Florida over the weekend.
The series will open on Friday, and first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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