The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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No. 15 Women's Basketball drops season opener to USF, 64-57
11.08.2019 | Women's Basketball
Collier and Holmes record double-doubles.
TAMPA, Fla. — The 15th ranked University of Texas Women's Basketball team lost its season-opening game on Friday night at the Yuengling Center, as USF sank seven free throws in the last 20 seconds to take a 64-57 victory.
The Longhorns (0-1) trailed for much of the game, but Texas mounted a fourth-quarter rally to go ahead by three with 5:45 remaining. But the Bulls closed the contest on a 15-5 run. Free-throw shooting decided the game, as Texas held USF without a field goal for the last 3:54, and the Bulls allowed the last UT points from the floor at 4:18.
Lashann Higgs led the Longhorns with 17 points. Joyner Holmes and Charli Collier each earned double-doubles for UT. Holmes scored 15 points and snagged 10 rebounds, and Collier bucketed 11 points and grabbed 10 boards. Sug Sutton scored 12.
Enna Pehadzic scored 16 points to lead USF, which advanced to 2-0 on the season.
USF went on an 8-0 run midway through the first quarter to take a 13-7 lead at the end of the period, as Texas hit only three of 13 shots from the floor and committed six turnovers.
Texas put together an 8-0 run of its own in the second quarter to tie the score at 15-15 with 6:11 remaining until halftime. The Longhorn defense held USF to a total of two points in the quarter until the 4:28 mark. Then the Bulls went on a 5-0 run to take a 24-19 lead into halftime.
In the halftime stats, Holmes led the Horns with seven points and Collier had six. Both teams committed double-digit turnovers, 11 for USF and 10 for UT. The Bulls bested the Horns by only one rebound, 18-17, and shooting was almost equal: 32.1 percent for USF and 31 percent for Texas.
USF led by as many as many as seven on two occasions during the third quarter, but Holmes hit a layup and Sutton made a free throw in the last 36 seconds to cut USF's lead to 42-38 at the end of the penultimate period.
Higgs used a put-back to tie the game with 6:57 left in the fourth quarter, and 30 seconds later she took a pass from Collier to score on a driving layup – giving Texas its first lead of the game, 49-47. After a USF basket, Higgs hit a three-pointer to give the Horns a three-point lead with 4:18 remaining.
USF then mounted its game-winning run.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Longhorns started Collier, Homes, Higgs, Joanne Allen-Taylor and Jada Underwood.
- UT shot 41 percent and USF shot 38 percent from the floor. UT hit only one of 11 shots from beyond the three-point line, while USF hit five of 23.
- The Longhorns shot 53 percent and the USF 68 percent from the free throw stripe.
- Texas got 14 points from its bench.
- USF won the rebounding battle, 34-31.
- Texas is now 34-12 overall and 6-2 under head coach Karen Aston in season openers.
- Texas and USF are now 1-1 against each other.
TEXAS HEAD COACH KAREN ASTON
"I thought there were some really good moments in this game. There were some things that we can learn from and build upon. Overall, it was an ugly game. Both teams brought pressure defensively and caused the other team to turn it over. There were possessions that got down to the end of the shot clock, causing some ill-advised shots that turned into offensive rebounds late in the game for them. I thought that was the difference in the game. I thought we had some players who will shoot the ball better as we move ahead. I think we'll shoot free throws better. It got down to a possession game, and they just won that part of it."
NEXT
The Longhorns return home to the Frank Erwin Center on Thursday, Nov. 14, for a 7 p.m. CT tipoff against UTSA. The game can be heard on 105.3 FM in Austin and on TexasSports.com/audio. The game will also be televised nationwide on the Longhorn Network.
