Aaliyah Chavez and the Oklahoma Sooners pulled off a stunning victory against Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks. The 16th-ranked team was struggling in their recent matchups, which makes this win even more rewarding.
Chavez, in particular, has had a turbulent season so far. She leads the Sooners in turnovers with 3.1 turnovers per game, a stat no player would want on their sheet. But when she faced the number 2-ranked opponent, Chavez became a different player.
She started the game really slow, going 1 of 7 in the first half for just three points. At the end of regulation time, Chavez had just 11 points, going 4 of 14 from the field. The game went into overtime tied at 75, and that’s when the freshman point guard shifted gears.
The Sooners outscored Staley’s South Carolina 19-7 in overtime. 15 of those 19 points were scored by Chavez alone, which is now a school record. She pulled off one of the most clutch performances in recent years after having a below-average performance in regulation time.
Chavez led the Sooners to a 94-82 win, ending a three-game losing streak that included the humiliating 72-91 loss against the LSU Tigers. The 19-year-old received praise for her clutch performance, and Sooners quarterback John Mateer added a one-word message for her as well.
Mateer reposted a graphic from the Oklahoma Women’s Basketball team’s Instagram post on his IG story and wrote:
“BALLER!!!”
Chavez also received praise from South Carolina’s Dawn Staley.
“She was great,” Staley said. “She ran her team, hit big shots, handled the ball. Everything that you want a point guard to do.”
Hopefully, this will turn things around for Chavez as they’ll travel to Auburn to face the Tigers on Sunday.
Aaliyah Chavez’s Teammates Hyped Her Up
Chavez went 4 of 14 in regulation time. She was missing a lot of shots, which had been a recurring thing throughout the season. However, even during her struggles, she had the support of her teammates.
Her teammates kept telling her to keep shooting, and the strategy worked at a time when it mattered the most.
“My teammates kept on telling me to keep on shooting,” she SAID. “Sahara and Raegan looking and they were like, ‘That’s a great shot. I’ll take that shot a million times with you.’ So just knowing that they trust me on taking the shots that I was taking, it just brought my confidence up.”
The motivation from her teammates resulted in Chavez shooting 5 of 5 in overtime, including four three-pointers to seal the win.
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