No. 7 OU women’s basketball (24-7, 11-5 SEC) was decimated by No. 6 LSU (27-4, 12-4 SEC) 112-78, ending the Sooners’ six-game winning streak and SEC Tournament run.

Two of the nation’s best offenses duked it out in the quarterfinals in Greenville, South Carolina, and the Tigers simply outpaced the Sooners across the entire game after starting the game on a 12-3 run and holding OU to a season-low 26% from the field in the first half.

OU is now 5-7 against AP Top 25 opponents on the season, with two of those losses coming against LSU. In their previous matchup on Jan. 19, the Sooners took a 19-point blow at Lloyd Noble Center, capping off a three-game losing streak at the front end of the SEC slate. That string of losses saw OU drop down to No. 16 in the AP Poll, its lowest rank of the season, in week 12. Six weeks later, the Sooners rounded out the regular season as the No. 7 team in the country and held a projected No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Friday’s loss may drop OU to a No. 4 seed, according to ESPN’s Charlie Creme during Friday’s broadcast, but it should retain its first-round home game with its seeding buffer and strong resume.

Head coach Jennie Baranczyk and company are having an almost identical season to their first SEC campaign, where the then-No. 10 Sooners finished the regular season with a 23-6 overall and 11-5 SEC record, while making it to the SEC Tournament quarterfinal. OU fell to then-No. 5 South Carolina 95-73 in the quarterfinal game but was able to host a first-round game in the 2025 NCAA Tournament as it claimed a No. 3 seed on Selection Sunday. 

Friday’s game was little different than their quarterfinal outing last season, as the Sooners suffered another rout. The Tigers kept the All-SEC duo of freshman guard Aaliyah Chavez and senior center Raegan Beers in check, with the two combining for 26 points and 10 rebounds, down from their combined season averages of 34.4 points and 14.2 rebounds. 

Beers picked up personal fouls in every quarter of the game and eventually fouled out with just over four minutes left to play, limiting her minutes and on-court impact. Freshman forward Brooklyn Stewart also fouled out early in the fourth quarter, further limiting OU’s interior presence and leaving the Tigers with ample room to feast down low as they claimed 48 points in the paint. Four others finished with three or more fouls by the end of the game in addition to Beers and Stewart’s foul trouble. The Sooners were unable to find any rhythm offensively with their rotations in disarray due to foul trouble and were out of the contest midway through the third quarter.

LSU drew so much attention in the interior that it opened up the perimeter to be exploited as well. The Tigers cashed in 13 3-pointers and played the epitome of a dual-threat offensive game. 

Chavez finished as OU’s leading scorer with 20 points, followed by junior forward Sahara Williams with 19, but the rest of the supporting cast was unable to find similar production as Chavez and Williams were the only players to finish in double figures.

With their SEC Tournament coming to a close, the Sooners await their fate in the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, which airs at 7 p.m. March 15 on ESPN.

This story was edited by Joshua McDaniel.

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