The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
13-2, 3-0
Oklahoma
5-9, 1-2
No. 11 Women's Basketball defeats Oklahoma, 73-63
01.09.2019 | Women's Basketball
Joyner Holmes’ first double-double of the season led the Longhorns to a 3-0 start to conference play.
AUSTIN, Texas—Junior guard/forward Joyner Holmes notched her first double-double of the season, leading the No. 11 Texas Women's Basketball team (13-2, 3-0 Big 12) past Oklahoma (5-9, 1-2 Big 12), 73-63, on Wednesday night at the Frank Erwin Center. With the victory, Texas improves to 3-0 in Big 12 Conference play for the fourth consecutive season. Holmes recorded 10 points and 14 rebounds, which was just one shy of tying her career high for rebounds, while also chipping in two assists and two steals.
Sophomore Destiny Littleton scored a team high 15 points, including 4-of-5 shooting from the free throw line, and also pulled down five rebounds. Senior forward Jatarie White posted 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and nine rebounds in 22 minutes. Senior guard Danni Williams was the final Longhorn to score in double figures, recording 11 points in the win.
Sloppy play plagued the Longhorns early on as Texas opened up the match with four consecutive turnovers before Holmes knocked down a free throw at the 7:17 mark to get UT into the scoring column. Oklahoma connected on five of seven field goals over the span of 2:31 minutes to give the Sooners an early 13-7 lead with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter. Williams knocked down a corner three-pointer with 35 seconds left in the quarter to trim the deficit to four (20-16).
Momentum shifted to UT in the second quarter behind White who led a 7-0 Texas run, scoring five consecutive points, including a put back layup that gave the Longhorns their first lead of the contest with 4:55 to go in the half. Texas' defense held Oklahoma scoreless for the last 3:20 of the first half as the Longhorns entered the locker room with a seven-point cushion (41-34).
Littleton found her stride to start the second half, supplying seven points in the opening minutes as the Longhorns maintained an eight-point advantage (53-45) with 4:19 left in the third quarter. A scoring drought that lasted 2:45 to end the quarter allowed the Sooners to claw back into the game, cutting UT's margin to just six (59-53) leading into the final period of play.
Oklahoma came out strong to begin the fourth quarter, quickly scoring six points to draw within two (61-59). Five consecutive points from Sug Sutton, including a traditional three-point play, would push Texas' lead back to seven (66-59) with 4:22 remaining. After trailing 34-33 with 3:20 left in the second quarter, the Longhorns led the remainder of the game en route to the 10-point victory.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Longhorns used the starting lineup of Holmes, Littleton, Olamide Aborowa, Sutton and Williams.
- Holmes recorded her first double-double of the season and the 10th of her career with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Over her last six starts, Holmes has been averaging 11 points and 7.7 rebounds.
- Littleton's 15-point outing marks her eighth game scoring in double figures this season. In her four games in the starting lineup, Littleton is averaging 13.8 points and four rebounds per game.
- White had a strong outing, scoring 13 points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes of play.
- Williams recorded another solid performance, contributing 11 points and connecting on 3-of-8 three-pointers. Williams also dished out three assists in 38 minutes.
- Freshman forward Charli Collier posted a nine-point and eight-rebound performance on 3-of 4 shooting from the floor in just 11 minutes of court time.
- Texas' dominance on the glass continued as the Longhorns out-rebounded the Sooners 46-30. Coming into the game Texas was averaging 45.3 rebounds per game.
- Oklahoma prevented Texas from capitalizing on fast break opportunities, holding to Longhorns to just two fast break points. This is the third time Texas has been held to just two fast break points this season.
- Texas took advantage of their size, outscoring Oklahoma 42-30 in the paint.
UP NEXT
Texas returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Ames, Iowa, to take on No. 20 Iowa State. Tip-off at Hilton Coliseum is slated for 4 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed by Cyclones.TV ($).
