The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
6-4,0-0Big 12
Ohio
6-4,0-0MAC
Women's Basketball prevails over Ohio, 73-60
12.18.2019 | Women's Basketball
Five players in double figures and dominant rebounding pace the Longhorns.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas used a commanding presence on the boards, two double-doubles, and double-digit scoring from three additional players to defeat a resilient Ohio team, 73-60, on Wednesday night at the Frank Erwin Center.
Joyner Holmes achieved her eighth double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Charli Collier had her seventh double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and getting 16 boards. Celeste Taylor fell one rebound short of a double-double, scoring a game and personal high of 17 points and nine rebounds.
Texas (6-4) out-rebounded Ohio, 52-25, leading to 21 second-chance points for the Horns. The Bobcats (6-4) were led by Cece Hooks' 21 points.
Aided by three early Longhorn turnovers, the Bobcats claimed a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. Ohio led by an identical margin when the Horns began 11-2 run in the last four minutes, building an 18-14 lead at the end of the initial period. Taylor scored seven first-quarter points. Each team committed seven turnovers in the initial period.
Texas held Ohio scoreless during the first four and one-half minutes of the second quarter, mounting a 9-0 run to take a 27-14 lead at the 5:48 mark. The Bobcats answered with a 7-0 streak that cut the margin to four late in the half. Texas took a 35-29 lead into the locker room, bolstered by Taylor's 11 points and six rebounds. Collier had eight rebounds on the halftime stat sheet. Texas out-rebounded Ohio, 27-12, and the Longhorn bench provided 11 points, in the first half.
Texas scored the first seven points of the third quarter, taking a 13-point lead, but Ohio cut the lead to four by the 5:52 mark. However, the Longhorns scored 12 of the period's 16 remaining points to take a 12-point lead at the end of the third period, 54-42.
Ohio cut the Texas lead to six early in the fourth quarter, but the Longhorns rallied to take their largest lead of the game, 15, with one minute remaining.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Longhorns started Holmes, Taylor, Collier, Jada Underwood and Sug Sutton.
- Texas is now 2-0 versus Ohio in the all-time series.
- Five Longhorns scored in double figures – Taylor with 17, Holmes with 16, Sutton with 11, and Collier and Joanne Allen-Taylor with 10 each.
- Texas scored 40 of its points in the paint. Ohio had 30.
- Texas prevailed in second-chance points, 21-16; bench points, 16-5; and points on fast breaks, 13-9.
TEXAS HEAD COACH KAREN ASTON
"Well, it was good for us to play again. I'm sure I'll go back and look at the film and pick it apart, but I didn't know really what to expect just in a sense of not playing a game in 10 days. Timing was good for them, to be able to focus on finals, and catch their breath for a little bit. But I think that the timing of it, coming off the Tennessee game, probably would've been better for us to just play and try to build some momentum. That didn't work out that way. But they did get through finals and that's the most important thing. I think we got to the point, a couple of days ago, where we were really antsy to play and tired of practice.
I thought that we had some stretches where we were pretty good and other stretches where we just looked sloppy, not focused. Attention to detail was a bit of a rollercoaster. I hope that we can get this one under our belt, get back in game mode a little bit and clean that up. Obviously, we have to clean it up for Sunday. I thought a lot of players gave us a lift. I thought Celeste was really good from start to finish, and I thought Jo gave us a really good lift tonight. Then, being able in the latter part of the game to get Charli and Joyner back in the game together, I knew would present a problem. We just weren't able to do that, which I thought was a part of why we couldn't get any rhythm going offensively."
OHIO HEAD COACH BOB BOLDON
On forcing Texas into 24 turnovers:
"I thought when we got back, that we did an above-average job of guarding in the half court when we got back and were able to do so. We turned the ball over; we had a gross amount of turnovers and we didn't do a real good job of getting back in transition. When you give up double digits in transition points, fast-break points you're just not going to win. That's just bad defense."
On the team's mentality heading into the game:
"We knew that we were going to have a disadvantage in the post, and we had to try to counter out the number of possessions, somehow. Obviously, we weren't even close to doing that, but certainly, we generally do a decent job of creating turnovers and I thought that tonight we were decent in that as well. Definitely the highlight, the thing we did best."
UP NEXT
Texas takes on No.1 Stanford on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. The game will be telecast nationally on ESPN2. It will be available on radio at 105.3 FM in Austin and online at TexasSports.com/audio.
