The Oklahoma Sooners did about everything right in their Big 12 tournament semifinal matchup against Iowa State. The Sooners simply didn’t shoot as well as the Cyclones in their 82-72 loss.
Oklahoma and Iowa State shot the same amount of threes and free throws. The Cyclones made two more three-pointers and four more free throws, and that was the difference in the basketball game.
Oklahoma opened the game on a strong note, creating an eight-point lead in the first five minutes. Down 11-3, the Cyclones got hot from deep as Lexi Donarski, Denae Fritz, and Nyamer Diew each made triples to close the Sooners’ lead to 15-12 with just under three minutes to play in the first.
Oklahoma led at the end of the first 19-18, but Iowa State’s Ashley Joens started to find her shooting stroke. After going 2 of 7 from the field in the opening 10 minutes, Joens was 3 of 4 in the second.
Iowa State shot 10 of 13 in the second to take a 42-39 lead into halftime.
After half, the Cyclones stayed hot, going 11 of 15 and outscoring the Sooners 24-14 in the third quarter. Oklahoma was just 4 of 11 in the quarter
Though the Sooners made a valiant effort in the fourth to chip away at Iowa State’s lead, ultimately, the Cyclones’ shooting efforts were too much to overcome.
After dealing with an injury the last few days, [autotag]Madi Williams[/autotag] played 29 minutes and led the Sooners in scoring with 19 points on 9 of 16 from the field. [autotag]Skylar Vann[/autotag] had another good game off the bench, going 5 of 6 from the field and scoring 13 points. [autotag]Neveah Tot[/autotag] had 14 points nearly matching her career high of 16 points.
Oklahoma now waits for the NCAA tournament selection committee to tell them where they’re headed for the opening two rounds of Women’s NCAA tournament.