Oklahoma scoring leaders Raegan Beers and Aaliyah Chavez are almost opposites.
Beers is a strong, steady 6-foot-4 senior center who was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection. Chavez is a mercurial 5-foot-10 freshman point guard who was a second-team choice.
Coach Jennie Baranczyk has made the combination work, as the duo has powered an offense that ranks third nationally with nearly 87 points per game. The Sooners (24-7), seeded fourth in the Sacramento 4 Region, will host No. 13 seed Idaho (29-5) on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Chavez is the team鈥檚 leading scorer with 18.4 points per game. In her breakout moment, to lead the Sooners . Still, she is shooting just 37.8% from the field and 31.4% from 3-point range on the season.
Part of Baranczyk鈥檚 challenge has been giving Chavez freedom as her highly recruited star balances her natural tendency to take over as a scorer with the need for her to distribute. Chavez had seven assists in regulation against South Carolina before the scoring explosion in overtime, showing she can do both well against elite competition.
Even with the growing pains, Baranczyk loves having Chavez on her side.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 underestimate her in any game, in any situation,鈥� Baranczyk said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 not out here to prove herself or to prove anything. She wants to play Oklahoma basketball, and that鈥檚 actually 100% of who she is and why I absolutely love coaching her and why her team absolutely loves playing with her.鈥�
Chavez is a 93.9% free-throw shooter on 115 attempts, so she often creates problems when she drives, even when her shot is off.
鈥淚 love her effort and her energy,鈥� Baranczyk said. 鈥淚 think that part is always really good. And you can see that she has gotten better. She鈥檚 put different people in different positions. But I want her just to go have fun and play.鈥�
Beers is a powerhouse in the paint who affects the game on offense, even when she doesn鈥檛 have the ball. She averages 15.7 points on 61.5% shooting and grabs 10.4 rebounds per game.
Beers surpassed 2,000 career points during an over Florida.
鈥淲hile that is an individual achievement, I also see that as a team achievement,” she said, 鈥渁nd I鈥檓 so thankful for the group that I got to achieve that with, and excited for our run that we鈥檙e going to keep going on.鈥�
The Sooners are much more than a two-person team. Junior forward Sahara Williams averages 12.5 points and 7.9 rebounds. Senior guard Payton Verhulst averages 11.9 points per game and sophomore guard Zya Vann averages 10.5.
A possible rematch with South Carolina looms in the Sweet 16, but Baranczyk is focused on an Idaho team that won the Big Sky Tournament.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not in a place that we鈥檝e ever been able to look far ahead,鈥� Baranczyk said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been to the Sweet 16 and that鈥檚 it. So we can鈥檛 worry about who we might play later. We鈥檝e got to be able to make sure again that we come out and we鈥檙e really good against Idaho on Friday.鈥�
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