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Oklahoma Sweeps This Week's SEC Basketball Awards

Sooners senior Raegan Beers and freshman Aaliyah Chavez take home Southeastern Conference honors after a great week for OU hoops.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma guard Aaliyah Chavez looks for a pass against Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma guard Aaliyah Chavez looks for a pass against Oklahoma State. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

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Oklahoma Sooners

By OU Media Relations

NORMAN — Oklahoma women’s basketball claimed a share of both SEC weekly honors on Tuesday, as Raegan Beers was named Player of the Week and Aaliyah Chavez earned her fourth overall and third consecutive Freshman of the Week honor.

Beers shared Player of the Week honors with Texas' Madison Booker, while Chavez split Freshman of the Week recognition with Tennessee's Mia Pauldo.

Beers, OU's All-American center, collected her first SEC Player of the Week honor of the season and a league-leading fourth of her career after guiding the Sooners to wins over Little Rock and No. 23 Oklahoma State. The senior averaged 24.0 points on 67 percent shooting, 13.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 block per game.

She opened the week with a dominant 26-point, 15-rebound double-double in just 23 minutes against Little Rock during a 55-point OU victory, adding a career-high five assists. In Saturday's in-state rivalry matchup against No. 23 Oklahoma State, Beers finished with 22 points on 10 of 14 shooting while recording 12 rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a 22-point Sooner win. Beers now leads the nation with nine double-doubles, including a country-best seven with at least 20 points, and has posted eight double-doubles in her last nine games.

Chavez earned her fourth SEC Freshman of the Week honor, the most in the league, becoming the first Sooner since Courtney Paris to receive four or more freshman weekly honors from a conference. Paris set the program record with nine such honors. The guard averaged 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals per game on the week.

Against Little Rock, Chavez shot 82 percent from the floor while scoring 20 points to go with three steals, three rebounds, one block and one assist. She did not miss from inside the 3-point line, finishing 9 of 11 from the field. On Saturday against No. 23 Oklahoma State, Chavez totaled 15 points and posted career highs in rebounds with seven and assists with six while matching a career best with three steals.

Her performance against the Cowgirls made her the first true freshman in at least five years to record 15 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals against a ranked opponent. Chavez continues to lead all true freshmen in scoring at 18.8 points per game this season.

The Sooners, riding the second-longest win streak in program history at 10 games, return to action on Dec. 22 when they close the non-conference slate against North Carolina Central. Tipoff is set for noon at Lloyd Noble Center.

SEC play opens on Jan. 1 as Oklahoma travels to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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