The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
9-0
Canisius
6-3
No. 5 Women's Basketball improves to 9-0 with 92-62 win against Canisius
12.16.2015 | Women's Basketball
Senior center Imani Boyette totals 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Texas.
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Notes | Postgame Quotes
AUSTIN, Texas – On Wednesday night at the Frank Erwin Center, No. 5/6 Texas remained undefeated with a 92-62 victory over Canisius for the program's 990th all-time win. Four players led the Longhorns in double-figure scoring.
Senior center Imani Boyette led the way with 15 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double this season. Sophomore guard Brooke McCarty and freshman guard Lashann Higgs each added 14 points and five assists. Junior center Kelsey Lang finished with 10 points and two blocks.
Texas (9-0) shot a season-high 55.7 percent (34-of-61) from the field, connecting on eight three-pointers, and shooting 69.6 percent (16-of-23) from the free-throw line. The 55.7 shooting clip was the highest for the Longhorns since connecting at a 62.1 percent efficiency against Texas Tech on February 5, 2014.
"It's always good to get a win, so I was definitely pleased in some areas tonight and displeased in some areas also," Texas head coach Karen Aston said. "Coming off of a big win against Stanford on Sunday, I was curious to see if we would have an energy level today. And I don't think it was that we didn't have enthusiasm or energy, I just thought a little bit of our concentration and detail was lacking tonight. On the flip side, we shot the ball pretty well. We shot the ball from the three pretty good and I thought we shared the ball pretty well tonight. We'll have to play better on Sunday against Arkansas."
The Longhorns held Canisius (6-3) to 36.7 percent (22-of-60) shooting. Texas outrebounded the Golden Griffins 42-25, marking the eighth time in nine games that the Longhorns have won the rebound battle.
Tiahana Mills led Canisius with 13 points and made three of the team's nine three-pointers.
Junior guard Brianna Taylor opened the scoring game with a jumper at the 8:29 mark, quickly followed by two off the block scores from Boyette and Lang, giving the Horns an 11-8 lead going into the first media timeout. From there, the Longhorns went on an 11-2 scoring streak with buckets from Taylor, Empress Davenport, Boyette and McCarty, finishing the quarter with a 22-10 lead.
UT completed the 19-4 run spanning the first two quarters to take a 31-12 lead and force Canisius to call a timeout at the 7:49 mark. The Golden Griffins began shooting from long range with three three-pointers, closing the gap to an 18-point game. Canisius continued to battle back scoring nine more points before the half, until Texas shot back with a three-pointer from McCarty at the buzzer to send the Longhorns into the locker room with a 47-30 lead.
The third quarter started as a show down from downtown. Each team scored three three-pointers in the opening four minutes, jumping the score up to 58-41 before the media timeout. The Longhorns ended the third quarter leading 68-51.
Defense prevailed in the beginning of the fourth quarter until a steal from Higgs turned into a McCarty layup at the 4:55 mark, putting Texas ahead 76-57. The Longhorns went on a 12-7 streak with help from free throws that forced Canisius to call a timeout at the 2:09 mark.
Texas travels to Oklahoma City, Okla., for the Big 12-SEC Challenge. The Longhorns will face Arkansas on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally on FS1.
