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OU Basketball: Oklahoma Stays Hot With Impressive Road Win at Houston

The Sooners pulled away to a tense conference victory behind 21 points from Skylar Vann and 18 from Payton Verhulst.

John E. Hoover

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By OU Media Relations

HOUSTON – Skylar Vann scored 21 points while Payton Verhulst added 18 as the pair guided Oklahoma to a gritty 71-65 road win over Houston on Saturday night.

The win improved Oklahoma to 11-6 overall, as well as 5-1 in conference play for the third consecutive season under head coach Jennie Baranczyk. The Sooners shot a conference-high 52 percent from the field and held Houston (11-7, 2-5 Big 12) to just 37 percent in the win.

The Sooners led for 37:22 on Saturday, building its advantage to 10 points midway through the fourth quarter, but the Coogs, who entered the day 9-2 at home this season, refused to go away as OU needed clutch buckets from Vann and Verhulst down the stretch to finish it off.

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Vann's 21 points on an efficient 10-of-15 shooting performance led all scorers. The senior forward added five rebounds and four assists and has notched back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in over two years. Verhulst's 18 points came behind a pair of 3-pointers, and she tallied four assists, too. Sahara Williams' eight rebounds were the most among all players at the Fertitta Center, and Nevaeh Tot added six assists in the effort.

With the victory, Oklahoma now holds a 3-2 all-time series vs. Houston and Saturday's victory came on the 43rd anniversary of the Sooners' last win over UH. Oklahoma has now held five of its first six opponents to 65 points or fewer.

Oklahoma will take on No. 11 Texas next Wednesday in Austin at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.

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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.