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OU Basketball: Oklahoma Finishes Regular Season With Loss at Kansas

Payton Verhulst scored 20, but the Sooners couldn't limit their turnovers as the Jayhawks pulled away in the final minutes.
John E. Hoover|
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Finishes Regular Season With Loss at Kansas
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Finishes Regular Season With Loss at Kansas

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Oklahoma Sooners

This time, the champs couldn’t quite finish the comeback.

No. 20-ranked Oklahoma, champions of the regular season in the Big 12 Conference, couldn’t make enough shots and couldn’t cut out the turnovers, and the Sooners finished the regular season with an 83-74 loss to Kansas at Phog Allen Field House in Lawrence.

OU fell to 21-8 overall and 15-3 in Big 12 play while Kansas improved to 17-11 and 10-7.

Payton Verhulst led Oklahoma with 22 points and six assists while Lexy Keys had 11 (all in the first half), Reyna Scott 10 and Skyler Vann 9.

But OU, which has made a habit out of second-half rallies, again fell victim to the turnover bug and poor shooting, committing 18 miscues and making just 33 percent of their field goals outside of a red-hot shooting performance in the second quarter. For the game, OU made just 5-of-22 from 3-point range.

OU couldn’t overcome a career-best 29 points from freshman S’Mya Nichols (on 7-of-11 shooting) and 26 from Holly Kersgieter (11-of-16). That duo also accounted for 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.

The Sooners had a rough first quarter, trailing 19-10 at the break after shooting just 36 percent and committing seven turnovers. Nichols had 10 points in the opening period on 3-for-3 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers.

OU trailed by as many as 11 early, but then built an eight-point lead by making 10-of-11 shots in the second quarter (91 percent). That was highlighted by 4-of-4 shooting from 3-point range — three from Keys and one from Verhulst.

That magic went away in the third quarter, however, as KU surged back to an eight-point lead thanks to another drain of OU turnovers — six in the period, bringing the Sooners’ running total to 19 — and a 4-of-15 shooting performance (26.7 percent).

OU trailed 59-53 to start the fourth quarter, and KU extended that to 70-60 on two layups and a free throw by Kersgieter and a 3-pointer by Wyvette Mayberry.

Once the Sooners’ deficit reached double digits, OU went more than 2 1/2 minutes without scoring as KU pulled away to a comfortable home victory.

Both teams will be in action next week at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. The Sooners are the tournament’s No. 1 seed.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. 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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