The Sooners set a new NCAA Tournament record in the first round.
The Oklahoma women’s basketball team is onto the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and the Sooners did so thanks to second chances.
The 3-seed Sooners handled the 14-seed Florida Gulf Coast Eagles 81-58 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center. Next, the Sooners will play the 6-seed Iowa Hawkeyes on Monday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.
In Saturday’s win, OU fought off a late comeback attempt from an FGCU team that was on a 23-game winning streak. But the Eagles eventually ran out of gas while having to essentially beat the Sooners twice almost every possession.
As a team, the Sooners pulled in 72 total rebounds compared to FGCU’s 35. OU had an advantage, though, as its shortest starter, Reyna Scott at 5-foot-10, was still almost as tall as FGCU’s tallest starter, Lauryn Taylor at 5-foot-11.
Those rebounds resulted in 27 second-chance points for the Sooners.
The Sooners’ 72 rebounds were the most ever by a team in an NCAA Tournament game. The previous record was 69, set by UConn against St. Francis in 2018.
The OU program record for most rebounds in a game still stands at 75, which the Sooners accomplished against Cameron way back in 1982.
This season, only Troy averaged more rebounds a game than the Sooners, who averaged 47.3.
The Sooners’ rebounding efforts have been led by junior center Raegan Beers, who averages 8.9 this season. On Saturday, Beers had a ridiculous 18 rebounds with a game-high 25 points for a double-double.
Sophomore forward Sahara Williams also had double-digit rebounds with 10. Skylar Vann also pulled in nine.
“A lot of missed shots,” OU coach Jennie Baranczyk joked afterward. “It was a game of pace — that’s part of it, where both teams are really getting up and down. The 23 offensive rebounds means we missed quite a few, but at least we were there to cover them up.”
