The Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball squad ends their season with a Sweet Sixteen exit, in a tough loss against powerhouse South Carolina
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Oklahoma Sooners’ 2025-26 season came to a close on Saturday at Golden 1 Center, as the No. 10-ranked squad fell to the top-seeded and No. 4 South Carolina Gamecocks by a final score of 68-94 in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Oklahoma (26-8) struggled from the opening tip against the powerful SEC champions. South Carolina built an early 23-12 lead after the first quarter and carried a commanding 47-28 advantage into halftime.
The Gamecocks and Sooners traded baskets evenly in the third quarter, each scoring 21 points, but Oklahoma could not overcome the sizable deficit in the fourth period.
The loss came against the same South Carolina team that Oklahoma had defeated in overtime on January 22 in Norman.
Despite the disappointing ending, the Sooners continued to show the sustained success that has become a hallmark of head coach Jennie Baranczyk’s tenure. Oklahoma won 25 or more games for the fourth time in five seasons under Baranczyk and advanced to the program’s fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
This Sweet Sixteen berth marked the 12th in school history and represented the second straight trip to the regional semifinals.
Three Sooners played their final games in crimson and cream on Saturday: senior forward Raegan Beers, redshirt senior guard Payton Verhulst, and redshirt senior Beatrice Culliton, Oklahoma’s lone four-year player.
Culliton leaves the program having won 102 games as a Sooner and helped the team compile a dominant 57-8 record at the Lloyd Noble Center. She contributed to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and ranks in the top 15 all-time at Oklahoma with 131 career games played.
Beers and Verhulst each earned All-SEC honors during their time in Norman, with Beers additionally receiving All-America recognition in both of her seasons with the Sooners.
True freshman guard Aaliyah Chavez led Oklahoma in scoring with 21 points and added three assists in the contest. It marked her 12th 20-point game of the season. Beers chipped in with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Verhulst posted 12 points and three rebounds in her final game as a Sooner.
Chavez finished the season shooting an outstanding 92.9 percent from the free-throw line, tying both the Oklahoma program record and the NCAA freshman record.
Beers concluded her college career as only the third player in Sooner history to reach 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, joining legendary figures Courtney Paris and Molly McGuire. The three-time All-American and two-time All-SEC selection recorded 67 double-doubles across her career, the 23rd-most in NCAA history, with 37 of those double-doubles coming in just two seasons at Oklahoma, ranking third all-time in program history.
This season proved to be one of the most record-breaking campaigns in Oklahoma women’s basketball history. The Sooners set new program marks in several categories, including points per game at 85.9 (surpassing the previous high of 84.7 set in 2025), scoring margin of +17.3 (bettering the 17.0 mark from 1985), seven 100-point games (up from five in 2025), and 12 games with 90 or more points (matching the previous record from 2023).
These offensive achievements reflected the high-powered, up-tempo style that Baranczyk has established in Norman.
Looking to the future, Oklahoma returns several key pieces from this year’s roster. Junior Sahara Williams and sophomore Zya Vann, both of whom posted career-high averages in points, rebounds, and assists this season, will be back as starters.
They will be joined by the dynamic Chavez, who led the team with 18.4 points per game as a true freshman. Chavez ranks as the second-leading freshman scorer in OU history, trailing only Courtney Paris’s 21.9 points per game in 2006.
Her 80 made three-pointers rank third among Sooner freshmen all-time, and her 140 assists place second behind Stacey Dales’s 150 in 1999. Chavez also became just the second freshman since 2009, joining UConn’s Paige Bueckers, to average at least 18.0 points, 4.0 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.0 or fewer turnovers per game.
Baranczyk has steadily transformed the Oklahoma program into a consistent national contender, turning NCAA Tournament appearances and deep postseason runs into the new standard.
While the Sweet Sixteen exit stings, the combination of returning talent, experienced coaching, and a proven culture of excellence leaves the Sooners well-positioned for another strong push in the 2026-27 season.