NORMAN — There were plenty of big-time moments during Oklahoma’s first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
There were several that were impactful to the outcomes in the Sooners’ 89-59 win over Idaho and their 77-71 win over Michigan State, and some that were more symbolic in nature.
Here’s a look at three of those, as fourth-seeded Oklahoma turns its attention to top-seeded South Carolina, which they’ll face at 4 p.m. Saturday in Sacramento, Calif.
Brooklyn Stewart’s First-Half Minutes
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While Aaliyah Chavez has gotten the lion’s share of attention among OU freshmen — and rightfully so — Brooklyn Stewart has been a key piece off a limited bench for the Sooners.
She’s been especially important when either Sahara Williams or Raegan Beers get in foul trouble.
In Sunday’s win over Michigan State, it was Williams that found first-half foul trouble, limiting her to just nine minutes.
Stewart came up big during that stretch, with eight points, four rebounds and a steal in nine first-half minutes.
“That girl has come off the bench with so much energy all year,” Beers said. “And she continues to do that, whether it’s March Madness or not, and that is something that we needed and was super, super important in this game as we played another phenomenal team who had size so we needed to bring size off the bench.”
Stewart also added some juice in the second half, getting demonstrably upset with a tie-up call after fighting for the ball underneath the basket, then getting a steal off the subsequent inbounds pass after the Spartans’ inbounder tried to bounce it off the back of Stewart’s leg.
Stewart even makes plenty of contributions from the bench.
“Even though she’s not in the game, I always hear her on the bench after I hit my free throws,” Chavez said. “… Even on the bench, I heard her, ‘You’re so good, good free throws.’ She’s just an amazing person.”
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Emma Tolan’s 3-pointer
Another freshman, Emma Tolan, isn’t in the normal rotation for the Sooners but still gets plenty of credit for the lift she brings off the bench.
In Friday’s win over the Vandals, the game was well in hand in the fourth quarter when the Sooners inbounded the ball off a team offensive rebounds.
The pass came in to Stewart, who quickly flipped it out to Tolan, who without hesitation hit a 3-pointer.
Oklahoma’s bench — which by this point included most of the starters — went crazy.
“She’s awesome,” Sooners’ senior Payton Verhulst said. “And I feel like then when you get to see someone like that succeed when they go on the floor, something they work on every single day in practice and might not get the opportunity every single game to do it, so when they do it’s so easy to cheer for them, so easy to love on them and obviously she does it for us every single game even when she doesn’t go in.”
Tolan felt the energy from her teammates.
“We all love each other so much, we hang out so much outside of basketball, and that really shows when we celebrate each other like that,” Tolan, who is from Ireland, said. “I didn’t even see the bench reaction, but they were telling me about it. It’s so much fun.”
Oklahoma guard Zya Vann prepares to pass against Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI
Zya Vann’s Assist
Although she played last season, Zya Vann’s role has increased significantly as a sophomore.
Vann’s performance might’ve been overshadowed a bit by Beers and Chavez in the second-round victory, but the point guard was a huge piece of the puzzle.
In the fourth quarter, she found Verhulst for a 3-pointer that helped give the Sooners control for good.
The assist was the sixth of the game for Vann, who finished with 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks as well.
“Zya was phenomenal,” Sooners coach Jennie Baranczyk said. “What was really neat for Zya is she made some big plays on the offensive end, but she also — I thought she just came up with a big rebound, obviously she gets scrappy. Zya is not an outward personality. She’s not someone that’s going to be super loud and have this huge presence. She’s just kind of quiet sometimes and she does her job and she just works. That’s what’s endearing about her. … I thought she was absolutely incredible this year, or this game.”