Sooners upset Texas, capture 2nd straight Big 12 title

NORMAN — The third-ranked Texas women’s basketball team fell 71-70 on the road against No. 20 Oklahoma on Wednesday night at Lloyd Noble Center.

Lexy Keys hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with four seconds left.

After a flurry of action, OU got possession trailing 70-68 with 13.4 seconds remaining. Skylar Vann missed, but scrambled to the ball and saved it to Keys. She hit the corner shot to push her game total to 16 points.

Texas called timeout after Keys’ basket, but couldn’t get off a good shot before the buzzer.

OU now has won 12 of 13. Payton Verhulst scored 18 points for OU (21-7 overall, 15-2 in Big 12 play), which split the conference regular-season title with Texas last season. OU entered the night with a one-game lead and two games remaining for both teams.

Madison Booker recorded her 10th game scoring 20 or more points with 26 points, eight rebounds seven assists and six steals to lead Texas.

Shaylee Gonzales scored 10 points and Taylor Jones added 10 points for the Longhorns. Jones also blocked three shots. Aaliyah Moore scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds for Texas.

The Longhorns (26-4, 13-4) used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to go up 52-40 on OU. Booker scored seven straight points during the span. Texas led 60-54 going into the fourth quarter.

OU took a 67-66 lead with 3:20 to play in the game, but Jones scored on an offensive rebound to give Texas back the lead at 68-67. The Longhorns would go up 70-67 on a pair of free throws by Booker with 50 seconds left in the game.

Texas led Oklahoma 7068 with 28 seconds left, but the Sooners grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds and knocked down a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds to play to go up 71-70. Texas had one last possession, but couldn’t convert as time expired.

The Sooners will visit Kansas in the regularseason finale on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.