Sooners clutch in crunch time, share first place with Texas Longhorns

After surviving an upset bid from Kansas State, the Oklahoma Sooners are back in a first-place tie with the Texas Longhorns with one game remaining.

In a game that seemed to be going one way after the first 10 minutes, in the second half, it went the other way.

Like another dominant offense on campus, Oklahoma led by as many as 22 and took a 16-point lead into halftime, and the Kansas State Wildcats seemed to take that personally.

The Wildcats defense held the Sooners’ No. 2 ranked offense in check in the third quarter. Gabby Gregory was on fire from three, hitting four shots from behind the arc in the first six minutes of the third to cut into the Sooners’ lead.

By the time the third quarter came to a close, Kansas State had outscored the Sooners 28-13 and were down just one heading into the fourth.

The rest of the game would be a tight, back-and-forth affair. Just when it looked like the Sooners were going to reassert their first-quarter dominance, the Kansas State defense would frustrate Oklahoma and help them get back into the game.

Down late, it looked like the upset was on the horizon for Oklahoma. However, some strong time-out usage by [autotag]Jennie Baranczyk[/autotag], missed foul shots from Kansas State, and a clutch layup from [autotag]Skylar Vann[/autotag] got Oklahoma to overtime, where they were able to take control of the ball game.

With the win and Texas‘ loss to Baylor on Monday, the Red River Rivals are back in a tie for first place in the Big 12. A win over Oklahoma State in Bedlam and a Texas loss would give the Sooners their first Big 12 regular season title since 2009. Texas will take on this same Kansas State team on Saturday to close the regular season.