Brooklyn Stewart Scores a Career-High 18 as No. 14 Oklahoma Routs San Jose State 98-44

NORMAN, Okla. Military Appreciation Night at Lloyd Noble Center turned into a demolition. No. 14 Oklahoma put six players in double figures, grabbed 30 offensive rebounds, and buried San Jose State 98-44 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the first meeting ever between the two programs.

Brooklyn Stewart led the way with a career-high 18 points and eight rebounds. Caya Smith added a career-high 15 on 5 of 7 shooting, freshman LeeLee Bell posted her second career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Keziah Lofton scored 14. Off the bench, Sa'Myah Smith and Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu both reached double figures. The Sooners moved to 3-0. The Spartans fell to 0-2.

Here is the box score (opens in a new tab), Oklahoma's recap (opens in a new tab) and San Jose State's game preview (opens in a new tab).

A 24-10 start settles it early

There was never much doubt. Oklahoma won the first quarter 24-10, and Lofton did a lot of the early damage, scoring 12 of her 14 points before halftime. The Sooners kept hammering the paint and the glass in the second quarter, won that period 26-13, and went to the locker room up 50-23.

San Jose State had one brief moment. The Spartans led for about 2 percent of the game, per ESPN's game data, and their largest lead was three points. After that, it was all Oklahoma.

The third quarter is where the game went from comfortable to lopsided. Oklahoma outscored the Spartans 26-5 in the period, and the margin climbed to 48 at 76-28 heading into the fourth. San Jose State scored five points in those 10 minutes.

The Spartans found a little more rhythm in the fourth quarter and scored 16, but Oklahoma still won the period 22-16. The Sooners' largest lead reached 58 before the final margin settled at 54.

The glass told the whole story

The rebounding numbers look like a typo. Oklahoma finished with 67 rebounds to San Jose State's 26, and the Sooners' 30 offensive rebounds were more than the Spartans' entire total on the glass. Bell grabbed eight of her 12 boards on the offensive end, and Stewart added four more offensive rebounds of her own.

That kind of advantage turns every miss into a second chance, and Oklahoma scored 28 second-chance points, according to the school. Oklahoma shot just 32 percent from 3 (10 of 31) and 64 percent at the free throw line (16 of 25), so the offense was not exactly crisp. It did not need to be. The Sooners scored 42 points in the paint to San Jose State's 14 and turned 17 Spartan turnovers into 21 points.

The defense was just as stingy. San Jose State shot 14 of 56 from the field, 25 percent, and 7 of 28 from deep. Cristina Sanchez Cerqueira, one of the Spartans' starters, went 0 of 11. Oklahoma also handed out 24 assists to San Jose State's six, a stat that shows how often the Sooners were passing up good shots for better ones.

Stewart, Bell and a deep rotation

Stewart was the most aggressive scorer on the floor, going 8 of 18 from the field in 20 minutes to go with eight rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block. Caya Smith was the most efficient, going 2 of 3 from 3 and adding seven rebounds in 23 minutes.

Then there is Bell. The freshman forward came into the night as the USBWA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week and the SEC Freshman of the Week, after scoring 25 points in her debut against then-No. 12 North Carolina in Paris. Oklahoma noted that Bell was only the second freshman in program history to open a career with back to back 20-point games. She did not need 20 on Tuesday. Bell scored 14 in 21 minutes, matched her season high with 12 rebounds, and blocked two shots. That gives her 59 points and 32 rebounds through three college games, numbers that would look good on a senior's stat sheet.

Sahara Williams was the connector. The forward finished with seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists, the kind of line that rarely shows up in a headline but keeps an offense humming.

The bench gave Oklahoma just as much. Sa'Myah Smith scored 11 with nine rebounds in 18 minutes and hit two 3s. Ozzy-Momodu went 5 of 9 from the field and got to the line five times. Jordan Speiser added three points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Sina Höllerl hit a 3 and dished three assists. Eleven Sooners played, and nobody logged more than 25 minutes.

Playing without Aaliyah Chavez

All of this came without star sophomore guard Aaliyah Chavez, who missed her second straight game. Sooners On SI reported that Chavez was on the bench and in team huddles, and that the SEC Network+ broadcast said she was in concussion protocol after the school had earlier described her absence as an undisclosed illness.

Without Chavez, Oklahoma spread the work around. Williams and Lofton combined for 11 assists, and the forwards punished San Jose State inside. Two wins at home without Chavez, by 57 and 54 points, suggest the depth is real, even if the level of competition will rise quickly.

A reunion on the other bench

The game had a familiar face on the visiting side. San Jose State coach Jonas Chatterton, now in his second season with the Spartans, was Jennie Baranczyk's associate head coach at Oklahoma in 2024-25, according to both schools. His staff also includes assistant Jordan Moser, a former Oklahoma player and the daughter of Sooners men's coach Porter Moser.

Chatterton's team came in with a promising freshman in Erika Mace, who scored 20 points in her college debut at Nebraska on Nov. 2, according to San Jose State. Oklahoma made sure there was no repeat. Mace finished with four points on 2 of 8 shooting. Adlee Blacklock led the Spartans with 11 points and six rebounds and went 5 of 5 at the line, and Eve Blagrove added nine points in 31 minutes off the bench.

San Jose State is now 0-2, with both losses coming on the road against teams that are in this week's Top 25. The Spartans finally go home, hosting Portland State on Sunday, Nov. 15, then California Baptist on Nov. 18 and Long Beach State on Nov. 21.

Why it matters for Oklahoma

Oklahoma jumped seven spots to No. 14 in the Nov. 9 AP poll, the biggest leap in the country that week, after the 91-79 win over North Carolina in Paris and a 95-38 rout of Morgan State. Tuesday kept the momentum going. According to Oklahoma, the Sooners had won 33 straight games against unranked opponents entering the night, and Baranczyk's teams were 37-3 at Lloyd Noble Center in nonconference play.

The bar is high in Norman. Oklahoma went 26-8 last season and reached the Sweet 16, where South Carolina ended its run 94-68, and the early returns suggest this group has the size and depth to chase more. This was game two of a six-game homestand, Oklahoma's longest since 2012-13. The stretch is a chance to get Chavez healthy and give Bell more reps before a brutal December. The Sooners play Virginia and Montana State in Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov. 23 and 24, visit Syracuse on Dec. 3 for the SEC/ACC Challenge, and face No. 2 Michigan at Barclays Center on Dec. 5.

First up is Oral Roberts on Friday, Nov. 13, at 10:30 a.m. CT on SEC Network+. It is Oklahoma's annual Field Trip Day, and the school expects more than 8,000 elementary students in the building. On nights like Tuesday, the Sooners give a crowd plenty to cheer.

Sources: ESPN box score, Oklahoma Athletics, San Jose State Athletics, The Associated Press, Sooners On SI.

Photo: Brendall Vargas/University of Oklahoma.