The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
2-2,0-0Big 12
UTRGV
2-2,0-0WAC
Women's Basketball defeats UTRGV, 85-69
11.20.2019 | Women's Basketball
Collier, Higgs and Holmes record double-doubles on 40 Acres Field Trip day
AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Women's Basketball team, led by Joyner Holmes' and Charli Collier's fourth consecutive double-doubles, broke open a close game in the second quarter and cruised to an 85-69 victory over UTRGV on Wednesday at the Frank Erwin Center. Holmes, who hit 7-of-9 field goal attempts, scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Collier scored 11 and gathered 10 rebounds.
Lashann Higgs also earned a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards for Texas (2-2). Freshman Isabel Palmer, playing her fourth collegiate game, scored 15.
Trelynn Tyler scored 29 for UTRGV (2-2).
A noisy contingent of 7,233 fans, including more than 5,500 kids representing fourth through seventh grade classes from 54 different schools, packed the Erwin Center for the ninth annual 40 Acres Field Trip.
A trio of three-pointers by Celeste Taylor, coupled with a defensive effort that held UTRGV to 27 percent shooting from the floor, gave Texas a 19-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Vaqueros took a one-point lead early in the second quarter and trailed the Horns by only five midway through the period. Then a 13-4 run, which saw four Texas players score, led to a 39-25 Longhorn halftime lead. Taylor, with nine points, and Holmes, with seven, paced UT in the halftime statistics. Texas shot 47 percent from both two- and three-point territory, while limiting UTRGV to 24 percent from the floor during the first half.
In the third period, Holmes hit three of four field goal attempts and scored eight points to lead the Longhorns to a 65-47 advantage going into the last quarter.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Longhorns started Holmes, Collier, Taylor, Higgs and Sug Sutton.
- Texas shot 47 percent from the floor and 39 percent from beyond the three-point arc. The Longhorn defense held UTRGV to 33 percent from the floor.
- The Horns out-rebounded the Vaqueros, 54-29.
- Texas hit 14 of 18 free throws.
TEXAS HEAD COACH KAREN ASTON
"This is always a fun game for our players and the community. I just want to say again, a huge thanks to the University of Texas and our athletic department for supporting this game, and to all the schools for participating. I think it's a great day for everyone. It's a win-win because they get a chance to see our university and be exposed to women's basketball. I think more importantly than even being at a Texas basketball game, for some of these guys it's the first time to see a women's basketball game, and I appreciate all the efforts for this game.
"I thought that our team tried to do some things that we addressed in a quick hurry, because we had a quick turnaround from the Arizona game. I thought we wanted, at the beginning of the game, to try to move the ball intentionally--which was skip passes, quick reverses, and playing off of our post players. Sometimes with this young group, everything is very literal for them. I thought there were some possessions early in the game where, yes, we want to play off of our post players. But really, there were four players around them, so let's keep it moving. It's just a learning process for them.
"Yes, we want to play inside-out because I think our posts are very effective. Tonight, particularly in the first half, we needed to make shots and I thought we did that. That was the most encouraging thing today: I thought our guards got to see the ball go through the hoop, and as we move forward that has to happen. I still continue to be a little bit frustrated with our team, with their carelessness sometimes with the basketball and not making the simple play. Our ability or inability right now to guard the basketball is very frustrating for me. I think everybody knows that I love defense, and I like to control the tempo with our defense, and we're just not guarding the ball very well and we've got to try to address that in the next few weeks."
UTRGV HEAD COACH LANE LORD
We want to thank the Texas staff and administration for letting us come up here. They were down at our place last year in the valley and hopefully we will continue to play each other. What an atmosphere you guys had today! I've only been back in Texas for a year, so excuse my "non-Texas, ya'll". We really enjoyed the experience and I thought we really competed hard. We continue to battle outside in almost every position. We really dared Texas to shoot three's because they've been struggling with that and to their credit, they answered the call. Great game for them.
UP NEXT
Texas will host Southern University on Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center. Tip-off is scheduled at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be available and on radio at 105.3 FM in Austin and will be televised nationwide on the Longhorn Network.
