Sahara Williams's Tripe-Double Fuels Sooners Women's Basketball in Win Over Oral Roberts

NORMAN, Okla. — This is a look inside Jennie Baranczyk’s program that just keeps coming at you. On Friday morning, inside the Lloyd Noble Center, No. 14 Oklahoma took down Oral Roberts 93–62 in front of a program-record crowd of 8,039 students on annual Field Trip Day.

In front of a roaring, ear-splitting crowd of 8,039 on annual Field Trip Day, No. 14 Oklahoma put on a show in the Lloyd Noble Center on Friday morning, as the Sooners overwhelmed in-state foe Oral Roberts 93–62 to improve to 4–0 on the season.

No. 14 Oklahoma continued to play without sophomore standout Aaliyah Chavez on Friday, as she remains in concussion protocol, missing her third game of the season. Her teammates again stepped up in her absence, putting on a show for the home crowd.

The star of the morning was junior guard Sahara Williams, who produced a historic performance with a triple-double of 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, the fifth in the program’s illustrious history.

Not only did she anchor the offense and clean up the glass, Williams was a monster on defense as well, picking up five of Oklahoma’s season-high 16 steals. Her playmaking was so relentless that the rest of the team followed her lead in hunting down loose balls and starting up transition play.

From the first tip of the game, freshman phenom LeeLee Bell—swept national and SEC Freshman of the Week honors earlier in the week—got the Lloyd Noble Center rocking early with a deep three-pointer just seven seconds into the game.

The 14-0 run to open the game for Oklahoma was capped off by a pair of threes from Brooklyn Stewart and Williams within 20 seconds of each other. Oklahoma never trailed in the game and led wire-to-wire.

While OU’s shooting percentages did not look as good as in the previous games, with 37.4% from the field (34-of-91) and 33.3% from 3-point range (11-of-33), Oklahoma created many extra possessions in the game.

Hard-nosed rebounding is exactly what the Sooners brought to the court on Friday morning as the team outworked Oral Roberts on the glass to finish the game with a 66-43 rebounding advantage.

With 34 offensive rebounds, Oklahoma got plenty of second chances and converted them into 29 points. Oral Roberts was unable to convert any of their second chances into points.

Bell’s line was 16 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the young season. Stewart shot 5-of-8 from the field for 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks. Speiser shot 5-of-10 from deep for 15 points.

The Oklahoma pressure defense created 28 Oral Roberts turnovers, which the Sooners converted into 22 points on the other end. Gentry Baldwin led Oral Roberts (2-3) with 16 points and four assists.

With the win, Oklahoma extended its winning streak against unranked opponents to 35 games and improved to 25-15 all-time against the Golden Eagles, winning 22 of the last 23 contests against ORU.

UP NEXT: OU women’s basketball hosts Southern on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. inside the Lloyd Noble Center.