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03/22 22:56 CDT Beers' 18 points and 14 boards power Oklahoma past Michigan St., sends Sooners back to the Sweet 16 Beers' 18 points and 14 boards power Oklahoma past Michigan St., sends Sooners back to the Sweet 16 By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer NORMAN, Okla. (AP) --- Raegan Beers had 18 points and 14 rebounds to help No. 4 seed Oklahoma beat fifth-seeded Michigan State 77-71 on Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Beers, a 6-foot-4 senior center, used her strength to dominate the paint, even though Michigan State had the height to match her. Beers made 7 of 11 field goals and had four steals and two blocks. Aaliyah Chavez added 18 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Sooners (27-7), who advanced to play in the Sweet 16 of March Madness for the second straight year. Oklahoma will play the winner of Monday's matchup between No. 1 seed South Carolina and No. 9 seed Southern California. Reaching the Sweet 16 isn't enough for the Sooners, who defeated South Carolina in overtime during the regular season. "I think for us, this is our expectation now," Oklahoma guard Payton Verhulst, a senior, said. "Like, this is our bar. Obviously, we made the Sweet 16 last year, and our season didn't end the way we wanted going from there. So I feel like for us, we knew we wanted to get to this point for sure, and this was, like, the bare minimum." Beers said Oklahoma's is a direct result of the way coach Jennie Baranczyk has built the program. Baranczyk has guided the Sooners to a 127-41 record and NCAA Tournament berths in each of her five seasons. "She has created not just a winning culture, but a culture that wants to work and that wants to have fun while winning," Beers said. Rashunda Jones scored 20 points, Kennedy Blair had 14 points and nine rebounds and Grace VanSlooten added 13 points and seven rebounds for Michigan State (23-9). The Spartans were trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009. They have reached the NCAA Tournament all three seasons coach Robyn Fralick has been in charge. "At the end of the day, the kids left it all out there in a great game," Fralick said. "This particular team has really helped elevate our program and has done some things that haven't been done here in a long time." Michigan State led 42-37 at halftime behind 47.1% shooting. The Spartans held Oklahoma to 38.9% shooting and forced the Sooners into 14 turnovers. Early in the second half, with Michigan State leading 42-39, Michigan State's Jalyn Brown was called for a flagrant foul. Chavez made both free throws. Moments later, Beers scored in close, then made a mid-range jumper to put the Sooners up 45-42 and force a Michigan State timeout. The Sooners took a 57-54 lead into the fourth quarter. Oklahoma started the final period hot. A 3-pointer by Verhulst put the Sooners up 66-58. Michigan State got no closer than three points the rest of the way.

Freshman guard is learning fast Chavez has not shot particularly well in her first NCAA Tournament, but she's got 11 assists and just one turnover in the two wins combined. Baranczyk said Chavez improved throughout Sunday's game. "You could see her come out and press a little bit," Baranczyk said, "and then you saw her settle in and be able to get the ball, to a point that she's -- what you guys don't see is, she's play calling for other people."

Turnovers issue can't continue Chavez took care of the ball, but the Sooners still had 23 turnovers, which led to 21 points. "I'm not really happy with the turnovers that we had," Baranczyk said. "We had too many careless turnovers (to be) in March."

Free throws make a difference Oklahoma made 17 of 22 free throws while Michigan State made just 7 of 16. ___ AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

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