Oklahoma Sooners-Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball

Redshirt senior forward Skylar Vann during the game against Iowa on March 24.

 Willie Gillespie/OU Daily

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No. 3 seed Oklahoma (27-7) defeated No. 6 seed Iowa (23-11) 96-62 on Monday at the Lloyd Noble Center in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Here are three takeaways from today’s win:

Three-point shooting momentum

At the beginning of the game, the Sooners started slow, not making a three in the first quarter. Despite poor shooting, the Sooners were able to pick up the momentum inside the paint, posting 16 points in the paint. In the second quarter, that number went up to 26.

Throughout the game, the Sooners kept up its momentum, extending the gap to a 34-point win.

In the first half of the game, Oklahoma struggled to complete a shot from within the three-point range. The team was only able to make two of 17 threes, giving them an 11.8% three-point shooting percentage. In the second half, the Sooners sank 9 of 17, making its overall three-point percentage 32.4%. 

“(Iowa) started on fire, and they had a lot of hustle plays right away, so we had to settle in,” head coach Jennie Baranczyk said. “I think we were running all over the place, and we just needed to steady up.”

Sahara Williams and Skylar Vann were critical for Oklahoma

Sophomore forward Sahara Williams and redshirt senior forward Vann led the way for Oklahoma in Monday’s matchup against Iowa. 

The forward from Waterloo, Iowa put up 13 points against her home state, grabbing nine rebounds and four assists. She showed her strength on both sides of the ball with five defensive and four offensive rebounds. The Iowa native had two blocks and stole the ball once. 

“Sahara has worked her butt off this summer, getting to this point like she was in,” said Vann in the post game press conference. “She’s been in the gym since the summer, getting her shot, getting her three going in that mid range, and that’s what you see today.”

The forward from Edmond, Oklahoma posted 17 points against the Hawkeyes on Monday. On both sides of the ball, Vann was aggressive and did not give up when there was a missed shot. She had six rebounds and four assists.

“I thought Skylar did a phenomenal job today,” said Williams. “I thought she worked her butt off in the off season, and this was just a day you can’t take for granted.” 

On offense, the two got under the glass, pushing their opponents out of the way to grab crucial rebounds and make crucial buckets. Both Williams and Vann were responsible for four of Oklahoma’s nine three pointers. Vann completed 3 of five 5, while Williams made 1 of 2. 

Hard working defense

Once again, the Oklahoma defense was aggressive and showed its defensive strengths. The team clenched key rebounds and worked hard to block and steal the ball from its opponent. 

The Sooners forced the Hawkeyes to turnover the ball 20 times, gaining 18 points as a result. In comparison, Oklahoma gave Iowa 16 points off 15 turnovers. 

After coming off a record-breaking game in the first round against Florida Gulf Coast with 72 rebounds, the Sooners were able to secure 64 with 40 defensive rebounds. On defense, Oklahoma was able to steal the ball from Iowa 13 times and blocked six of the Hawkeyes’ shots. This is the third most steals this season and the most in the 2025 postseason.

This season, the Sooners have averaged 47.5 rebounds per game, 3.8 blocks per game and 8.8 steals per game.

Next, Oklahoma will matchup against No. 2 seed UConn (32-3) in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday in Spokane, Washington at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

This story was edited by Josh McDaniel. 

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