Vanderbilt continues to climb in latest women's basketball Power 10 rankings
It's not March yet, but the madness has already started.
No. 16 Oklahoma handed No. 2 South Carolina its second loss of the season in a 94–82 overtime thriller. Freshman guard Aailyah Chavez's late surge and an energized home crowd in Norman helped propel the Sooners to the historic victory, marking just the third time Oklahoma has defeated an AP top-2 opponent in program history.
The Gamecocks jumped out to an early lead 43-36 entering halftime, but Oklahoma flipped the script in the third quarter, pouring in 25 points to take control heading into final 10 minutes of regulation, 63-59.
South Carolina continued to struggle for most of the fourth, shooting 2-14 from the field to start. However, they didn't go down quietly, pulling together a 8-0 run in the final minutes to send the SEC foes to overtime.
That's when Oklahoma and Chavez hit its stride behind her four 3-pointers, taking a 90-77 lead — its largest of the game — with less than a minute left. The freshman star tacked on 15 points in OT by the final buzzer, scoring or assisting on 17 of the team's 19 points in the final five minutes of play.
It was the Aaliyah Chavez Show in OT 🍿 |
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork)
;Her career night featured 26 points and eight assists backed by a scorching Sooner offense, where all five starters finished in double figures.
The victory snaps Oklahoma's three-game losing streak, and handed the Gamecocks their first OT defeat since Dec. 30, 2021 against Missouri, and their first loss to a team outside the top 10 since March 6, 2022 against Kentucky in the SEC tournament.
