Sooners sputter in the second half, fall to UCONN in the Sweet 16

The Mighty UCONN Huskies flexed their muscles in the second half, ousting OU in the Sweet 16, 82-59. UCONN star Paige Bueckers showed why she is likely the number-1 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft, pouring in 40 points, 19 of those in the fourth quarter. 

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It was a game of runs early on. OU opened the game by scoring the first 8 points. UCONN responded with a 10-0 run and led 17-12 after one. 

The second quarter belonged to the Sooners. Payton Verhulst scored her first points of the game with an early-second triple, and then caught fire. Her next three-pointer was shot from the logo and gave OU the lead 24-23! It also kicked off an 8-0 run in which all 8 points were scored by Verhulst. 

Oklahoma led by as many as 6 points in the second and took a 36-32 advantage into halftime. Verhulst scored 13 points in the second quarter alone. 

I don’t know what UCONN head coach Geno Auriemma said to his team at halftime, but whatever the 11-time national champion’s message was, it worked. UCONN went from down 4 to up 8 in a matter of five minutes, leading OU 48-40 by the middle of the third. 

Despite an OU timeout, the bleeding continued for the Sooners. UCONN would go on a 20-2 run that included a stretch of 16 straight points for the Huskies. OU scored just 10 total points in the third and trailed 59-46 heading into the final stanza.

Paige Bueckers took over down the stretch. Until being subbed out with 3:08 to play, Bueckers was the only UCONN player to score in the fourth quarter.