Aaliyah Chavez scores 16 as No. 7 Oklahoma rolls past Arkansas 89-44

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Aaliyah Chavez scored 16 points and No. 7 Oklahoma rolled to an 89-44 win over Arkansas on Thursday night.

Payton Verhulst and Raegan Beers played key roles for the Sooners in their final regular-season home games. Verhulst had 14 points and five assists and Beers had 11 points and 12 rebounds. They potentially will play at home at least one more time — Oklahoma has a good chance to be a host in the NCAA Tournament as one of the top 16 overall seeds.

Freshman Brookelyn Stewart added 11 points and a season-high 15 rebounds for the Sooners (22-6, 10-5 Southeastern Conference), who won their fifth straight.

No one reached double figures for Arkansas (11-19, 0-15), which lost its 16th consecutive game. Taleyah Jones, Arkansas’ leader with 17.2 points per game heading into the night, finished with five points. Oklahoma held the Razorbacks to 22.4% shooting,

Oklahoma won big despite making just 3 of 22 3-pointers. Arkansas wasn’t much better, connecting on 5 of 29 from deep.

Oklahoma led 27-15 in the second quarter before breaking the game open with a 10-0 run. The Sooners held the Razorbacks to 29% shooting in the first half and led 44-22 at the break. Oklahoma outscored Arkansas 12-0 from the free-throw line in the first half.

Chavez scored 10 points and Stewart had seven points and 11 rebounds in the first half. Stewart matched Arkansas’ rebound total in the first 20 minutes and helped the Sooners snag 32 boards.

Oklahoma shot 50% from the field in the third quarter and extended its lead to 65-36 heading into the fourth. The Sooners scored the first 16 points of the fourth quarter as Arkansas didn’t score until 4:28 remained.

Up next

Arkansas: Hosts Auburn on Monday.

Oklahoma: Visits Missouri on Monday.

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