Slow Start Dooms No. 10 Oklahoma in Loss to No. 4 Texas

It was no secret Oklahoma was going to have its hands full when the 10th-ranked Sooners took on fourth-ranked Texas on Sunday in Austin, Texas.

The Longhorns overwhelmed the Sooners early, snapping OU's three-game winning streak with a 78-70 win at the Moody Center.

The game was fairly close late in the first quarter after Raegan Beers' conversion after a Texas turnover to cut the deficit to two, 12-10 with 2:28 remaining.

But then the Longhorns began a 16-2 run, where the Sooners went nearly six minutes without a field goal.

Oklahoma's 10 first-quarter points and 24 first-half points were its fewest of the season.

The Sooners didn't go down easily, though, cutting the deficit to nine several times in the third.

OU made it a seven-point game in the fourth, as Zya Vann recovered from getting her shot blocked late in the shot clock, launching an off-balance shot to make it 62-55 with 7:15 remaining.

But the Longhorns scored six quick points to quickly extend the lead back to 13 and all but put the game away. The stretch eventually turned into a 9-0 run.

Oklahoma (17-5, 5-4 SEC) has more than a week off before it takes on No. 5 Vanderbilt on Feb. 9 in Nashville.

Here are three takeaways on the Sooners' loss:

Texas' Defense Takes Over Early

The Longhorns' figured to do their best to make life difficult on young Sooners' guards Aaliyah Chavez and Vann, and they did.

Vann particular struggled to handle Texas' defensive pressure, turning the ball over five times — four in the first half.

The Longhorns forced 13 turnovers by Oklahoma in the first half as they built a lead as big as 21 in the second quarter.

The Sooners recovered some in the second half, finishing with 21 turnovers to tie a season high.

Texas' Rori Harmon mostly held the assignment of guarding Chavez, who finished 3 of 13 from the field and 1 of 6 from behind the arc for nine points.

Chavez finished with 11 points, avoiding tying her season low in scoring with a pair of free throws in the final minute.

The Sooners finished with a season-low 11 assists.

Vann scored 10 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, before fouling out with 1:28 remaining.

Payton Verhulst Helps Steady Sooners

Texas threatened to run away with the game in the second quarter, going up 37-16 with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.

But then Payton Verhulst started getting hot.

Verhulst scored six of Oklahoma's last eight points in the second quarter to help make it a 16-point game at the break.

That included draining a 55-foot running 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Sooners a bit of momentum going into halftime.

The 3-pointer was the only one OU hit in the first half, as they missed their first seven from distance.

Verhulst then kept it going in the third, scoring eight points as she finished with a team-best 18 points.

She was 7 of 11 from the field.

Raegan Beers Doesn't Foul Until Late

Beers has dealt with plenty of foul trouble this season, and against Texas, it figured she would need to be physical.

But Beers avoided foul trouble, not being called for her first foul until more than a minute into the fourth quarter when she got tangled up with the Longhorns' Kyla Oldacre under the basket.

Beers recorded her 16th double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She finished with two fouls.

Read More Oklahoma Basketball

Texas' Defense Takes Over Early

Payton Verhulst Helps Steady Sooners

Raegan Beers Doesn't Foul Until Late