The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
No. 12 NC State
Women's Basketball falls to No. 12 NC State, 84-73
11.29.2019 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns run into hot-shooting Wolfpack in first game of Rainbow Wahine Showdown
HONOLULU – No. 12/12 NC State, shooting 53 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the three-point line, defeated Texas, 84-73, in the Longhorns' opening game of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown on Friday afternoon at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Sug Sutton led Texas (3-3) with 23 points, including a trio of three pointers. Joyner Holmes recorded her sixth double-double of the season, scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. She tied the Texas record for double-doubles in one season held by Nneka Enemkpali, set during the 2012-13 campaign.
Aislinn Konig and Kai Crutchfield, with 25 and 23 points, respectively, paced NC State (6-0).
After a scoreless run for most of the first two minutes, Celeste Taylor hit a pair of three pointers to help the Longhorns take a 10-2 lead. NC State then used four three-pointers of its own to lead, 18-15, after a 16-5 Wolfpack run. Taylor's jumper and subsequent free throw knotted the score, 18-18, at the end of the first quarter. NC State shot 54 percent in the period, including a four-for-seven performance from beyond the three-point arc.
Both teams battled evenly for the first five minutes of the second quarter, but then NC State went on an 11-4 run to give the Wolfpack a nine-point lead as halftime approached. Sutton's two free throws with three seconds remaining cut NC State's halftime lead to 39-32. The Wolfpack shot 60 percent in the half, including five of nine three-point shots. Texas shot 32 percent from the floor and hit only two of 13 from beyond the arc. Taylor scored 12 in the first half for UT.
NC State used a trio of consecutive three pointers to take a 14-point lead during the first three minutes of the third quarter. Sutton's two field goals, one of them a three-pointer, plus her two free throws helped the Longhorns cut the Wolfpack lead to eight, 56-48, at the end of the third quarter.
Holmes hit a layup to cut NC State's lead to six at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but the Wolfpack went on an 11-2 run to give NC State a 16-point lead with six minutes remaining. The Horns cut the lead to eight on two occasions in the last three minutes, and then Sutton hit a three pointer to trim the margin to seven with 1:20 left. The Longhorns' comeback efforts were hampered by foul trouble sustained by Collier, who fouled out with 7:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, and Holmes, who committed her fourth foul with 7:20 left in the game.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Longhorns started Sutton, Holmes, Collier, Taylor and Lashann Higgs.
- Texas now leads the all-time series with NC State, 6-2.
- Texas won the rebound battle, 38-37.
- Texas shot 80 percent of its free throws, sinking 20 of 25 attempts.
- Texas hit 33 percent of its field goal attempts.
TEXAS HEAD COACH KAREN ASTON
"I thought the second quarter was our Achilles heel because we started out with such a purpose. But with Charli getting into foul trouble, that sort of discombobulated us. We have to keep our composure. I thought we sort of lost that in the second quarter when we started anxious and shooting too quickly, taking shots that weren't within the framework of the offense. We dug ourselves a hole and gave them some confidence that carried through into the second half.
"I think there are some positives you can take away from [the way the players battled]. We were in a similar situation against Arizona and did not do that. I think there are some steps being made, but that team was way more physical than we were. We've got to address that and figure out how to keep our composure when a team is trying to knock us off of our path and keep us from doing what we wanted to do—which I thought they did a good job of today."
UP NEXT
Texas will play North Texas on Saturday at 4 p.m. (CT) in the Longhorns' second game of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. Texas closes out the tournament on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. (CT). The games will be available on radio at 105.3 FM in Austin and online at TexasSports.com/audio.
