Jan. 9—Even on a day when she was struggling, Oklahoma’s Madi Williams found a way to make a play when her team needed it.

On the previous possession, Ana Llanusa passed the ball inside to Sylar Vann, who got a tough layup to fall around an Iowa State defender. The Sooners took an 80-79 lead with seven seconds remaining in the game.

The play marked the 10th lead change in the last 10 possessions, in a game that would come down to which team could make a key stop. Following Vann’s layup, the Cyclones got the ball to the hot hand in Ashley Joens, who drove straight at Williams on the right block.

Williams, who already had four fouls to that point, went straight up to block Joens’ layup. She also made a headsup play to grab the rebound and call a timeout with just over a second remaining on the clock.

The Sooners inbounded the ball to Taylor Robertson, who knocked down both free throws to help secure an 82-79 win.

Here are three takeaways from Oklahoma’s win over No. 11 Iowa State: Llanusa continues hot stretch: Llanusa never scored more than 14 points in any of the Sooners’ non-conference games but entered Sunday’s match averaging 26 points per game over the last two games.

Against the Cyclones, Llanusa got the ball off and inbounds pass in the closing seconds of the third quarter and took one dribble before knocking down the 3-point shot.

It was Llanusa’s third 3-pointer of game and 11th point of the third quarter to help the Sooners take an 11-point lead into the final period.

Llanusa finished the second half with 16 points on six of eight shooting and was the Sooners’ leading scorer for the third game in a row with 23 points.

Sooners struggle on defense in the fourth: After holding the Cylones to 25% shooting in the third quarter, the Sooners struggled to come up with key stops down the stretch.

Lexi Donarski and Joens combined for 20 points to bring the Cyclones back on a 22-10 run to start the final period. In the end, the Sooners held the Cyclones to 38% shooting in the game and allowed just four offensive rebounds.

Williams played 24 minutes in the game and was dealing with foul trouble. Liz Scott also finished with four fouls and two other Sooners had three.

Joens was the game’s leading scorer with 27 points on 6-19 shooting. Donarski added 20 points on 7-14 shooting.

Moving on: The Sooners were able to get a bounce-back win after watching their six-game winning streak snapped against No. 23 Baylor at home on Tuesday.

In that contest, a slow start proved to be too much for the Sooners to overcome. On Sunday against the preseason Big 12 favorites, Oklahoma only shot 38% from the field in the first quarter but played solid defense to take a one-point lead into the second.

Iowa State had eight first half turnovers and only converted on five of its 17 3-point attempts in the first two quarters.

The win is Oklahoma’s fifth over a ranked opponent in two seasons under head coach Jennie Baranczyk. It was also Baranczyk’s first win over the Cyclones as the Sooners’ head coach.

The Sooners will be back in action Wednesday in a road game against Texas Tech at 7 p.m.