Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 19/21-ranked West Virginia University women's basketball team's win streak was snapped at 11 wins after the Mountaineers suffered a 72-71 upset at the hands of Oklahoma, at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, on Saturday.
 
West Virginia held a solid lead throughout most of the contest, but couldn't overcome a Sooner offensive spark in the fourth quarter to put away the win. OU outscored the Mountaineers 15-5 in the final frame to come away with the upset victory.
 
Sophomore guard Kirsten Deans paced WVU's scoring efforts, netting 22 points and dishing out six assists. Redshirt senior guard Kysre Gondrezick (19) and junior guard Jasmine Carson (10) also finished in double figures in the loss, while sophomore forward Esmery Martinez led the way with nine rebounds.
 
"I give Oklahoma credit," WVU coach Mike Carey. "They hit shots, we didn't. When we got and (junior forward) Kari Niblack in foul trouble, they were killing us on transition because nobody talked at that time. We weren't getting back. In the fourth quarter, we scored five points because I think we took 13 shots and none of them were 3's. We were 1-for-9. We did have an opportunity to win there and ran a play.
 
Esmery had a wide-open shot and missed it. Kari got the rebound and kicked it out. We looked slow. We had foul trouble. (Junior guard) Madisen (Smith) was getting cramps in her calves. We weren't getting back and playing defense. We didn't go to the foul line. (We had) way too many turnovers once again. (We were) leaving our feet in the paint. Those kinds of things add up to a loss."
 
The Mountaineers controlled the opening tip, but the Sooners were the first on the board with an easy layup. Niblack quickly responded with a short jumper to tie the game, followed by a 3-point jumper from Gondrezick. OU then hit a pair of 3-pointers to go up 8-6 at the first media timeout. Out of the break, the Sooners extended their lead with a two-point bucket, but Gondrezick drove in for a layup, before Niblack added a pair at the line.
 
West Virginia reclaimed the lead after a Gondrezick steal led to a breakaway layup from Deans, but Oklahoma knocked down a triple to go ahead 13-12 with just over a minute remaining in the quarter. To close out the opening frame, Gondrezick connected on a trey before Smith hit one of her own as the buzzer sounded to give WVU a 20-13 advantage heading into the second quarter.
 
To open the second frame, West Virginia jumped out to a quick double-digit advantage, with back-to-back layups from Deans and Gondrezick, followed by jumper from Ejiofor for the 10-point lead. Carson knocked down a triple to put WVU up, 29-16, and force the Sooners to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Sooners went on a run of their own, scoring seven unanswered points to cut the Mountaineer lead to six. As the final minutes of the first half ticked off the clock, the two teams traded baskets back and forth, with WVU taking a slight, 40-36 advantage into the locker room.
 
Martinez opened second-half scoring for West Virginia, spinning into the lane for a layup. The Mountaineers then jumped out to an eight-point lead after a trio of buckets from Gondrezick, Niblack and Martinez, but OU responded by forcing three WVU turnovers to cut the Mountaineer lead to three. West Virginia and Oklahoma continued to battle back and forth throughout the third quarter, but a Mountaineer scoring spark began with a 3-pointer from Deans before she dished one to Smith for a fast-break layup. West Virginia then jumped out double-digit lead but took a 66-57 lead into the final frame after an OU triple at the buzzer.
 
The Sooners used the momentum from the final seconds of the third to go on a 13-0 run and take the lead for the first time since the 1:49 mark of the opening quarter. West Virginia went scoreless in the fourth until Deans sunk a driving layup at the 1:53 mark, but Oklahoma held on to a 72-68 lead with just under a minute to play.
 
With the clock winding down, Deans hit a triple to put WVU down by just a point, before Gondrezick intercepted the Oklahoma inbounds pass to give the Mountaineers the ball with 22 seconds remaining. West Virginia got a pair of shots up, but couldn't convert, falling 72-71 at the hands of the visiting Sooners.
 
West Virginia finished the game shooting 45.8% (27-of-59) from the field, while going 8-of-25 (32%) from beyond the arc. Final numbers showed OU at 49.1% (26-of-53) from the floor and 41.7% (10-of-24) from 3-point range. The Sooners held a slight advantage in rebounds (30-28) and steals (14-11), but WVU edged Oklahoma in bench points (12-10), fast-break points (12-11) and points in the paint (34-30).
 
West Virginia returns to the road on Wednesday, Feb. 17, for a mid-week matchup against No. 7 Baylor in Waco, Texas. Tipoff from the Ferrell Center is set for 8 p.m. ET, and the contest will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.