The Sooners lost their second game of the season. They first lost to UCLA in their second match of the season and then went on to put together a 13-game win streak. Ole Miss ended that streak with a 74-69 win in a physical game.
After the game, Oklahoma head coach Jennie Baranczyk took some of the blame on herself, saying that she didn’t have her team ready to compete. However, she also made it clear that her players would have to learn from this experience, especially young guards Aaliyah Chavez and Zya Vann.
“They were manhandled and they got to be better,” Baranczyk said in her postgame media availability. “So, I mean, I don’t care if she [Aaliyah Chavez] makes shots. I get it. That’s what she can do, but she’s got to do other things. And Zya [Vann] needed to do more. I just believe in them so much and have such high standards for them that I think that they’re not going to feel good after this game, and they’re going to feel that it was on them.”
Oklahoma lost a close game
Ole Miss came out hot to start the first quarter, securing a 15-3 lead in the first six minutes. Oklahoma just couldn’t make any shots or really stop Ole Miss from scoring to start the game. The quarter eventually ended with a 25-13 advantage for Ole Miss. Oklahoma battled back in a strong second quarter, but still lost by five points in the end.
While Ole Miss shot the ball very efficiently with 47% from the field and 42% from three, Oklahoma struggled to score. The Sooners only converted 34% of their field-goal attempts and went 6-25 from three. On top of that, Oklahoma turned the ball over 17 times.
Aaliyah Chavez, one of this season’s star freshmen, did what she always does: take a ton of shots and lead the team in scoring. She took 22 shots in 33 minutes on the court, including 14 3-pointers. She finished with a game-high 26 points and seven made field goals, which wasn’t a very efficient outing. Chavez also turned the ball over seven times and only recorded two rebounds and two assists—both well below her season averages.
Sophomore guard Zya Vann finished the game with 8 points on 3-6 shooting, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, and 5 personal fouls. It was one of her lower-scoring games of the season and tied for the most turnovers in a game this season.
Chavez, Vann, and the rest of the roster have to learn quickly from this loss. Their next three games are against Kentucky, LSU, and South Carolina. Kentucky just lost to Alabama and will be hungry for a bounce-back win. Likewise, LSU hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent yet and will either be desperate to change that against Oklahoma or prove that beating Texas—if they can manage to do so—wasn’t a fluke. South Carolina is a top-three team in the country and has steady, veteran contributors, much like Ole Miss.