Why Oklahoma’s Aaliyah Chavez, Raegan Beers struggled vs. Gamecocks in NCAA rematch
In January, Oklahoma’s Aaliyah Chavez and Raegan Beers torched South Carolina for a combined 44 points on 17 of 34 shooting in a big upset win vs. the Gamecocks.
One only needed a halftime box score from Saturday’s Sweet 16 game to understand how differently South Carolina-Oklahoma Round 2 was going.
Chavez, the highest-scoring power conference freshman in the country, had seven points on 3 of 12 shooting in 17 minutes. Beers, the Oregon State transfer who dominated the paint three months ago, had six points in 14 minutes.
And South Carolina — torched by the Sooners offense when they played them the first time around in Norman — had limited OU to 28 points … and led by 19.
Chavez and Beers wound up getting theirs, and their final stats weren’t awful. But the two stars weren’t nearly as effective in their second meeting with South Carolina as they were their first, and a renewed defensive effort by USC fueled a 94-68 blowout win in the Sweet 16 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
“I thought we just really scrapped,” said South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, whose team advanced to an Elite Eight game vs. TCU Monday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Shutting down Chavez, Beers in first half
None of the stats from South Carolina’s 94-82 loss at OU on Jan. 22 were pretty. Chavez had 15 points in overtime alone. Beers had six offensive rebounds and fueled a plus-15 rebounding margin against a Gamecocks team used to being on the other side of that stat. Oklahoma’s 94 points were the most against South Carolina this year … by 16 points.
Oklahoma was quicker, faster and better that night and handed USC its only regular-season SEC loss. So, naturally, when the Sooners were paired with No. 1 South Carolina in its region as a No. 5 seed, the intrigue began.
But in their first legitimate test of the 2026 NCAA Tournament — playing an elimination game away from home, playing against a team to which they’d previously lost — the Gamecocks wore down Chavez and Beers early and took advantage.
Staley subbed early and often, bringing in bench players like posts Maryam Dauda and Alicia Tournebize and wing Agot Makeer to spend possessions guarding Chavez and Beers — and keep USC’s starters fresh to do the same.
Oklahoma didn’t lead at any point in the game and trailed by double digits the entire second, third and fourth quarters. Coach Jennie Baranczyk’s high-octane offense was held under 70 points for only the third time this season.
Final stats don’t tell the story
Chavez finished with 21 points on 21 shots and scored 14 of her 21 points in the second half with OU generally trailing by 17 to 24 points. Beers finished with a respectable 14 points and eight rebounds on 5-of-9 shooting but was far less of a factor in the paint. Chavez had a minus-24 in 37 minutes. Beers (minus-23 in 31 minutes) wasn’t much better.
Makeer said the guards’ goal was to make every attempt a hard one for Chavez, who scored 26 points and shot 5 for 10 on 3-pointers against USC in January.
“She’s a really good player, so she’s gonna get her shots up regardless,” Makeer said of Chavez. “As long as she’s not doing it at a high clip and a really good, efficient rate, I thought we’d be fine. We’d rather her take contested shots than give the ball to Beers when she has a steal.”
Dauda, one of the post players who came off the bench to spell starting center Madina Okot in defending Beers, said her group’s goals were “limiting (Beers) to one shot, boxing out and pushing her out of the paint. … Keeping fresh legs, that was very helpful, too.”
South Carolina’s depth — something that Staley admitted at the SEC Tournament earlier this month the team was still trying to build — helped starters like Okot, Ta’Niya Latson and Raven Johnson (the SEC’s defensive player of the year) maximize their own minutes on both offense and defense.
Considering USC dropped 94 points and shot 10 of 14 on 3-pointers, the rotation paid off. And it has the Gamecocks in their sixth straight Elite Eight after a no-sweat win against a team that, considering its past success vs. USC, could have made for a tricky rematch.
A dialed-in South Carolina team made sure that didn’t happen.
“We just beat them to the ball,” Staley said. “And at this point, the intangible piece, the game within the game, is going to be the very thing that can separate you from winning by 10 or winning by 20.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2026 at 9:16 PM.
