NORMAN — 27 turnovers.

That's how many times the No. 9-ranked Sooners had in their 80-73 loss to No. 5 Texas to open conference play Thursday at the Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners fell to 12-2 on the season and 0-1 in conference play.

The Sooners couldn't have asked for a better start. They shot 10-of-20 from the floor and committed just three turnovers, as they led 26-17 heading into the second quarter. They closed the first quarter on a 14-6 run.

However, the offensive issues piled up in the second quarter. The Sooners shot just 5-of-16 from the floor (31%) and coughed the ball up eight times in the frame, as they entered halftime with a one-point deficit. The turnover issues didn't improve after the break — the Sooners committed eight in the third quarter and seven in the fourth quarter.

The early start was promising, but the Sooners simply struggled to sustain that early momentum.

"We struggled to get into a flow, but it's hard to do that when you pass it to the other team," OU coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "... I thought our ball movement was really good in the first quarter. Then I thought we had some moments in the third quarter. But we went away from completing our cuts. We went away from just our receivers being relentless."

While Texas had their own turnover issues with 18, the Sooners' proved particularly costly. The Longhorns won the points-off-turnover battle 28-15.

The offense wasn't good enough to overcome those issues. The Sooners shot 46% from the floor (26 of 57) but only made 2-of-16 attempts from the 3-point line.

Here's a few other notes from the game:

— It was truly an ugly game from start to finish. The two teams combined for 44 fouls, 46 free throw attempts and 45 turnovers.

The Sooners' 27 turnovers tied their season high.

The ugliness came to a head late in the third quarter. Texas forward Kyla Oldacre shoved OU forward Beatrice Culliton to the ground during a battle for a rebound, and that resulted in a scuffle between the two teams. Officials reviewed the play for several minutes before assessing Oldacre with a technical and two Sooner players with personal fouls.

However, the Sooners were not rewarded two technical free throws.

"I don't know if I've had a (review) that long," Baranczyk said. "... The explanation was basically that they had an intentional foul and we reacted to it, so they negated each other."

— One of the casualties of the foul brigade was Reagan Beers. The Sooner forward picked up two quick fouls in the first quarters and sat the entire second quarter. She picked up her fourth foul late in the third quarter.

Beers — who leads the Sooners in scoring this season — finished with 11 points and six rebounds in just 16 minutes.

— One bright spot for the Sooners was Liz Scott off the bench. She provided an immediate spark with seven points in the first quarter and finished with 14 for the game.

"I thought Liz brought incredible energy," Baranczyk said. "... I thought Liz did some really good things."

— Peyton Verhulst led the Sooners in scoring with 23 points but she shot just 7-of-23 from the field, including 1-of-11 from the 3-point line.

— The Sooners killed the Longhorns on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 44-28. They even had 21 offensive rebounds, which led to 23 second-chance points. However, the turnover issues proved too much to overcome.

— It was a tough way for the Sooners to open SEC play, but Baranczyk is confident this is a learning experience for her team.

"I don't think we're as confident as we need to be right now. This is one of those games that you kind of hope we get a little edge back and make sure we know that we can do that. I haven't seen a team of ours pass up as many shots, either. Then we turn it over after. So those are the things that'll be really interesting as we process this, because this team is good. We have a really good basketball team. So I'm excited to see how we respond."

— Up next: The Sooners travel to No. 15 Tennessee for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday.

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