Takeaways: Aaliyah Chavez stakes claim as top freshman with OT explosion in Oklahoma's upset of South Carolina

In the first seven seconds of overtime against South Carolina, Oklahoma freshman Aaliyah Chavez had a bad pass turnover. In the rest of the extra period, she solidified her position as the top Freshman of the Year candidate. 

Chavez finished the night with 26 points, and 15 of those came during the extra period to lift No. 16 Oklahoma to a 94-82 upset over No. 2 South Carolina. This was only the Sooners' third win ever against an AP top two team, and most importantly, this statement win helped them get back on the right track by snapping a three-game losing streak. 

The win came almost exactly a year after South Carolina crushed Oklahoma 101-60. Raegan Beers is still the veteran leader of this team, but the addition of Chavez is injecting even more energy into the program.

Her shot selection is sometimes questionable and there is certainly room for her to grow, but Chavez doesn't shy away after mistakes. She plays fearlessly and that is exactly what helped her team on Thursday night. Despite starting the game shooting just 1 of 7 from the field, Chavez took over when her team needed her the most. 

"She just played," coach Jennie Baranczyk said postgame. "And the joy she played with and the energy she played with, but she had the same energy for her team the whole game. There was a difference in us today that really allowed her to do that. I think everybody on her team knows that's in her, knows it will come out and has an incredible belief in the person that she is."

Chavez is currently averaging 18.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Those numbers are comparable to the ones from the freshman years of recent college basketball stars, including Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Hannah Hidalgo.

Earlier this month, Chavez had a chance to put her team within one possession against Kentucky with six seconds remaining in the game. She got a good look, but her 3-point attempt fell short and Kentucky eventually took a 63-57 win. That moment was on her mind when Oklahoma was trying to finish the job against South Carolina.

"I kind of thought back to the Kentucky game where I missed the shot," Chavez recounted. "Raegan (Beers) was the first one next to me who was like, 'forget about it, forget about it. Just let it go.' We've been talking in practice a lot and we've been drawing up last-second plays, and you can see that they have all the confidence in me. So I kind of just brought their confidence and I gave it to myself, and I was just ready to play in overtime."

Chavez entered the season as the No. 1 player in the 247Sports class of 2025 rankings. She was playing well, but up until Thursday, the race for Freshman of the Year had multiple candidates with resumes good enough to compete. These included USC's Jazzy Davidson, Gonzaga's Lauren Whittaker and UConn's Blanca Quiñonez. Although there is still a lot of basketball left to play this season, a clutch performance against the No. 2 team in the nation certainly raised Chavez's stock.

Here are other recent women's college basketball storylines:

Iowa continues to rise

On Monday, the Hawkeyes entered the AP Top 10 for the first time in the Jan Jensen era and the first time since Caitlin Clark's senior year. Iowa kept that momentum going with an 85-78 overtime win against Maryland on Thursday night. 

Sure, the Hawkeyes blew a 17-point lead with 3:15 remaining in regulation, but at the end of the day, they got a solid win on the road and Iowa is still undefeated in the Big Ten.

"'We have a decision right now,'" Jensen recounted her message to her team before overtime. "'We got five more minutes. Do we want to be timid and we want to let something that we fought so hard for slip away? Or do we want to play five minutes hard and take what we think we want to get?'

"...For us to calm down and still handle all that, that was a heck of a win and I'm really, really proud of them."

Texas Tech is now on a losing streak

The Lady Raiders were one of the last three undefeated teams remaining with a 19-0 start, their best since the 1992-93 season. However, Texas Tech stumbled for the first time with a 65-59 loss against Kansas State on Jan. 17. They were outrebounded 46-20 in that game, which was a season low in rebounds for the Lady Raiders. 

They then suffered a 73-61 loss BYU on Wednesday while shooting just 19 of 57 from the field, or 33%, which was their lowest shooting percentage of the season.

Up next, Texas Tech will hit the road to take on Utah on Saturday night. The Utes already showed how dangerous they can be when they got an 87-77 overtime victory over then-No. 8 TCU earlier this month.

Winter weather affects schedules

A major winter storm is expected to hit the country this weekend, which has led to multiple games getting rescheduled. Here are the ranked teams whose games have been affected so far:

• No. 1 UConn's game at Seton Hall in New Jersey was moved from Sunday to Saturday at noon. 
• No. 21 Duke's game at Pitt was also moved from Sunday to Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
• Brown is still hosting No. 20 Princeton on Saturday, but the game has been moved to from 2 p.m. to 12 p.m. ET.

Game to watch this weekend:

Vanderbilt at South Carolina, Sunday 1/25 at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN

An 81-53 win over Auburn on Thursday helped No. 5 Vanderbilt register a 20-0 start for the first time in program history. Besides No. 1 UConn, the Commodores are the only other undefeated team remaining in women's college basketball. They have already collected some quality wins against LSU and Michigan, but their next matchup might be their toughest one yet. 

Vanderbilt took down LSU in Tennessee, but now Shea Ralph's squad has to face South Carolina on the road. The Gamecocks will pose a particularly difficult challenge because they will be looking to bounce back from their overtime loss to Oklahoma. The game is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and will be available on ESPN.