OU women's basketball rolls past TCU in Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — OU’s Sahara Williams has never been one to back down from a challenge.

Williams entered the season with an uncanny fearlessness for a freshman.

And Williams stood tall again Saturday in the Sooners’ Big 12 women’s basketball tournament opener, helping lead OU to a 69-53 quarterfinal win over TCU at the T-Mobile Center.

“You can tell that she’s not scared,” Sooners point guard Nevaeh Tot said of Williams. “She’s going to guard anybody and it’s nice to have that on our team.”

Williams led the Sooners with 17 points and eight rebounds and helped frustrate TCU star Sedona Prince, getting her into foul trouble early.

“I think she really allowed the game to come to her today,” Sooners coach Jennie Baranczyk said. “You could see her growth over this year — it’s just phenomenal.”

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On back-to-back possessions in the second quarter, Williams drove the lane on Prince, who at 6-foot-7 has 9 inches on Williams.

Both times, Williams drew fouls on Prince, converting at the free-throw line and getting Prince in foul trouble.

The Horned Frogs’ star remained in the game through her foul trouble, but the fouls changed the way she could play.

“I think that’s a team that needs her on the floor,” Williams said. “Her presence matters — defensively, offensively. … Those two possessions were really big because you can’t play the way you want to play. I think it kind of took her out of her element and it kind of took the team out of their element.”

To that point, Williams hadn’t had much of an impact on the game.

The free throws were the first points she’d scored and she had just two first-half rebounds as the Sooners (22-8) were outrebounded 24-22 before halftime.

But Williams scored nine of her points in the third quarter and helped OU absolutely dominate the glass after halftime, 24-11, including 15-3 in the fourth quarter.

Here are three other takeaways from the Sooners’ win:

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Aubrey Joens beats the buzzer

OU grabbed the defensive rebound off the late shot-clock miss by Iowa State and quickly moved into transition.

But before the possession late in the third quarter got much traction, the buzzer sounded.

Not for the quarter, but for the shot clock, which hadn’t been reset.

Officials conferred as Baranczyk drew up a play and added just enough time for the Sooners to get off a shot.

Aubrey Joens took advantage, draining a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give OU a 52-42 lead heading into the fourth.

“I think that was a huge momentum shift for us,” Baranczyk said. “That was fun. I thought it was a great pass, great shot obviously. It actually is how we drew it up and you don’t get that with the help of a clock I guess.

“We worked today and we left a lot out there and sometimes that’s going to happen and you’ve got to find ways even when the ball doesn’t go in the hole.”

It was the end of a major sequence for the Sooners after TCU cut what was a 13-point deficit down to three with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter.

But OU scored the final seven points of the quarter to regain control.

Prince was on the bench for the final five, taking a break after being fouled hard by Skylar Vann with 1:05 remaining.

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New-look Horned Frogs push Sooners

On paper, the matchup with the No. 9 seed in the tournament doesn’t figure to be a problem for the top-seeded Sooners.

OU beat the Horned Frogs 72-55 on Feb. 7 in Norman.

But TCU is no ordinary No. 9 seed, fighting through a rash of injuries early in Big 12 play which led to them having to forfeit two games and drawing players from elsewhere on campus to allow them to resume their season.

But with Prince and Madison Conner back now, the once-ranked Horned Frogs have plenty of teeth.

“They’re not a nine,” Baranczyk said. “It’s almost NCAA Tournament preparation because it’s like a team you haven’t seen.

“There’s two players on that team that you have to game plan for. I thought Lexy Keys set the tone defensively. I felt like that was Nevaeh Tot’s probably best defense as well. They were both just so gritty.”

Conner had a game-high 19 and Prince had 14 but they were just a combined 11 of 31 from the floor as TCU shot just 28.8%.

Prince also missed five free throws.

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Up next: Iowa State in semifinals

The Sooners will take on Iowa State at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the semifinals.

It’s a big shift from previous years where the tournament was held at Municipal Auditorium and ran concurrently to the men’s.

Also, the addition of BYU to the conference necessitated taking Sunday off.

“I don’t love it,” Baranczyk said. “And at the same time — what do you do? I liked the format but I’m also a creature of habit. … But at the same time, who cares, all the days are the same right now anyway.”

Iowa State knocked off Baylor 67-62 in Saturday’s first quarterfinal.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU women's basketball rolls past TCU in Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal