Oklahoma Wins an Overtime Thriller at Baylor

Baylor led wire-to-wire in regulation, but Oklahoma got its usual star contributions late.

Ultimately, overtime was needed to settle a classic showdown in Waco.

Taylor Robertson sent the game to overtime with a clutch 3 in the final seconds, and Ana Llanusa’s 3-pointer with 3:38 left in OT gave the Sooners their first lead as OU held on to seize a 98-92 victory Tuesday night at Ferrell Center.

OU improved to 19-4 overall and 9-3 in Big 12 Conference play. Baylor fell to 16-7 and 7-4.

Oklahoma came into Tuesday a game behind Texas in the conference standings, and a half-game ahead of the Bears.

OU needed a stirring comeback to erase a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter and send the game to extra time, where the Sooners’ momentum continued.

After Caitlin Bickle’s two free throws cut OU’s first lead to 86-85, Skylar Vann made a jumper from the top of the key for a 88-85 Sooner lead.

A Baylor offensive foul led to a layup by Llanusa that made it 90-85, but Baylor wasn’t done.

Two free throws by Bickle and Sarah Andrews’ fourth 3-pointer tied it at 90 with a minute left.

Llanusa then added two free throws for a 92-90 lead, but Baylor tied it with a bucket inside.

Madi Williams made it 94-92 with a jump shot, and Llanusa hit one of two free throws to extend it to 95-92 with 29 seconds left.

Baylor’s next possession was a wild attempt against sticky OU defense that was rebounded by Williams, which Tot turned into two clinching free throws with 13 seconds to play.

The win gave OU the series split with the Bears, who won the first meeting in Norman, 81-70, back on Jan. 3.

Llanusa and Vann each scored 20 points for OU. Robertson scored 14, Tot 13, Liz Scott 11, and Williams finished with nine.

Baylor got 30 points from Bickle and 20 from Andrews.

Both teams shot 44 percent from the floor, and Baylor narrowly won the rebounding edge 46-44. The Sooners had 26 assists, while Baylor had 25.

Oklahoma trailed almost the entirety of regulation — there were two ties — but the Sooners heated up just in time.

After OU got a late steal, Tot missed a potential 3-pointer with 35 seconds to play.

Jaden Owens seemed to put it away when she stretched the lead to 83-78 with a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left.

But Tot went coast-to-coast with a quick layup that made it 83-80, and Llanusa swiped the inbounds pass, drove to the lane and kicked out to Robertson for the tying 3-pointer with 14 seconds to play.

Baylor had led by a dozen before the Sooners ignited.

Baylor stretched a four-point lead to eight at the close of the third quarter when Darianna Littlepage-Buggs — an Edmond product — made two free throws, and Bickle made two more.

Those free throws came after a scrum in the OU paint resulted in a common foul on Beatrice Culliton and technical foul on Kennady Tucker for pushing a Baylor player.

Oklahoma began the fourth quarter down 66-58 but quickly closed the gap on a 3-pointer by Llanusa.

The Sooners then missed four straight shots at the rim before Vann scored inside to close to to 68-63.

That’s when the Bears began to separate.

Baylor’s Jana Van Gytenbeek got to the rim and converted a three-point play for a 71-63 lead, and Ja’Mee Asberry drained a 3-pointer on a skip pass from Andrews to make it 74-63.

Baylor then matched its largest lead at 12 when Littlepage-Buggs converted a putback into a free throw, but the Sooners got going late with an 11-1 run.

Scott got the Sooners back into it with five unanswered points, including a layup off an assist from Tot and a free throw for a three-point play, followed by a jump shot that cut it to 75-68 with 3:49 left.

With Bickle strapped with four fouls, Scott scored inside again to shrink Baylor’s lead to 76-70 with 3:26 to play.

Vann made two free throws at the 3:02 mark to cut Baylor’s lead even further at 76-72, but then Scott fouled out on the next defensive possession.

After two more missed free throws by Baylor, Vann got an uncontested layup on a cut to the basket and a perfect pass from Williams, cutting the Bears’ edge to 76-74 with 2:28 to go.

The teams exchanged baskets, then Andrews drained another 3 from the right wing to rebuild the lead to 81-76 with 1:44 left.

Williams scored on a driving layup to make it 81-78 and the Sooners called timeout with 46 seconds to play to set up the final sequence of regulation with Tot and Robertson scoring the key buckets in the closing seconds.

OU is back on the court Sunday at Kansas State.