No. 8 Oklahoma Sets Program Scoring Record in 11th Consecutive Victory

NORMAN — The only real questions Monday when No. 8 Oklahoma took on North Carolina Central were how much the Sooners would win by and if they would reach triple digits yet again.

The Sooners took care of business, beating the Eagles 126-54 at Lloyd Noble Center to set a program record for points in a game.

Eight players scored in double figures for the Sooners, led by 21 from Zya Vann and 20 from Aaliyah Chavez.

"That's pretty impressive," Sooners coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "And then you watch a Payton Verhulst, who wasn't in double figures today but set everybody up, and that's what she does. She starts screening for everybody and she finds joy in that. ... That's Oklahoma basketball."

OU (12-1) extended its winning streak to 11 with the victory. The winning streak is the second-longest in program history, behind on the 20-game streak from the 2008-09 Final Four team.

The Sooners reached triple digit with just less than seven minutes remaining on Emma Tolan's putback that put OU up by 56.

The Sooners have scored 100 or more points six times during the streak.

The game was never in doubt as Oklahoma scored the game's first six points and led by 20 by the end of the first quarter.

North Carolina Central was just 2 for 10 from the field in the first quarter.

The Sooners exploded for a 40-point second quarter, including a Chavez corner 3-pointer at the buzzer to put OU up 67-29 at halftime.

The Sooners have scored 90 or more points in nine consecutive games, the longest active streak in the country.

The previous scoring record for OU was 122 against Western Carolina last season.

The Sooners topped that record on Keziah Lofton's layup with about 1:30 remaining.

Lofton finished with a season high 15 points.

The Sooners also set a home program record with 33 asissts. The previous record of 32 was set last season vs. Omaha. The overall record is 35, set against Oklahoma City in 1983.

Here are three quick takeaways from the Sooners' victory:

Zya Vann Puts up Monster Numbers

Well, there was another bit of intrigue that developed early in Monday's game — whether sophomore guard Zya Vann would join the club of OU players to record a triple-double.

Vann finished with a career-high 21 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and three blocks. her rebounding and blocks totals were also career highs.

"She's just having fun playing," Baranczyk said. She's just playiung basketball. She plays both ends, she takes a lot of pride in every possession, she stays in the moment, she doesn't think about the scoreboard, she doesn't think about what she did wrong the play before or what she has to do the next play. She's doing a really good job of just playing and you can see it. You can see just how confident she is."

She had 14 points, six rebounds and six steals at halftime, but with the Sooners turning down the defensive pressure some, and digging deeper into their bench in the second half, Vann wasn't able to reach the mark.

Vann's previous career scoring high was 19 against Little Rock on Dec. 11. She hadn't had more than six rebounds in a game.

"Probably my confidence and my patience, because I feel like my skillset is basically still the same," Vann said when asked about what she is most proud of about her growth this season. "But I think being more confident and having more patience — I think it's really importance to have patience whenever you're playing in this system."

Vann said watching other players — collegiately, and in the WNBA and NBA — show patience helped her realize she needed to show that more in her game. She specifically mentioned watching Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as an example.

Verhulst was the last OU player to record a triple-double, Nov 27, 2024 against Duke.

Sooners Dominate Defensively, on Glass

Oklahoma forced 13 first-quarter turnovers to jump out to a big lead with four of Vann's steals coming in the opening 10 minutes.

North Carolina Central finished with 29 turnovers and the Sooners outscored the Eagles 36-18 off of turnovers.

OU also dominanted on the glass, outrebounding NC Central 60-35, and scoring 31 second-chance points. The Sooners also outscored the Eagles 66-16 in the paint.

Raegan Beers joined Vann in leading the Sooners with 10 rebounds.

Ready for SEC Play

Though Oklahoma has been challenged at times during non-conference play, the Sooners’ schedule gets much more difficult from here on out.

OU opens SEC play Jan. 1 at Texas A&M before opening up the home portion of the conference schedule Jan. 4 against Mississippi State.

After that, the Sooners play four consecutive games against ranked opponents.

Ten of the league’s 16 teams have one or fewer losses and none have more than three.

In their inaugural SEC season last season, OU went 11-5 and finished fourth.

Though the results have been strong so far, Baranczyk said her team needed to continue to grow.

"We've got to rebound a little better," Baranczyk said. "I know I say that and I look at the rebounds (Monday) but I'm never going to be satisfied in that area. I think our ball movement can be better at times, I think we know that, and part of that is you have to get the game experience of being able to read each other and understand each other."

Baranczyk also said she would like to see more growth defensively.

Read More Oklahoma Women's Basketball

Zya Vann Puts up Monster Numbers

Sooners Dominate Defensively, on Glass

Ready for SEC Play