The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
14-6,6-2Big 12
Oklahoma
10-10,3-5Big 12
Women’s Basketball defeats Oklahoma, 70-53
01.28.2020 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns win fifth straight as they prepare to host No. 2/1 Baylor on Friday.
NORMAN, Okla. – Texas put together a 16-0 second-quarter streak to break open a close game, and then the Longhorns proceeded to grind out a methodical 70-53 Big 12 Conference win over Oklahoma on Tuesday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.
Texas (14-6, 6-2) won its fifth consecutive game of the season. Oklahoma dropped to 10-10 overall and 3-5 in conference action.
Lashann Higgs led the Longhorns with 19 points. Joyner Holmes put together her 11th double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Celeste Taylor scored 13 and Charli Collier 10.
Cold shooting characterized the game's opening minutes, with each team missing its first three attempts from the floor. Then, Texas hit its next five shots, as the teams exchanged the lead seven times. Texas led, 18-15, at the end of the first quarter.
Beginning with Higgs' three pointer with 41 seconds left in the first period, the Longhorns embarked on a 16-0 run that held the Sooners without points for the first five minutes of the second quarter – and without a field goal until the 2:53 mark. Texas limited OU to eight points in the second period, as the Horns led, 37-23, at halftime. Higgs paced UT in the halftime statistics with nine points, while Holmes had six rebounds.
OU cut the Texas lead to 12 points midway through the third quarter, but Texas quickly established 18-point margins twice, and then took a 51-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
Texas put together a 13-1 run midway through the fourth quarter to take as much as a 28-point lead before OU closed the game on an 11-0 streak.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Longhorns started Taylor, Collier, Holmes, Sug Sutton and Jada Underwood.
- Texas leads the all-time series with Oklahoma, 34-25.
- UT outshot OU in field goal percentage, 45-36.
- Texas scored 46 points in the paint, 20 off of OU turnovers and 30 from its bench.
TEXAS HEAD COACH KAREN ASTON
"I'm very proud of our team's start to both halves. We're a team that's much better when we start well and don't put ourselves in a hole. I'm proud of the team for its focus today. I was concerned about the game. Our team was affected, as everyone else is, by the [Kobe Bryant] tragedy. I thought we had a hard time focusing in the last few days. I didn't know what to expect today, so I thought they really rallied around each other and helped each other get focused. It was a really good defensive performance on our part. We were able to get out in transition, which was great for our team.
UP NEXT
Texas returns to action on Friday when it plays host to No. 2/1 Baylor. Tip-off at the Frank Erwin Center is slated for 6 p.m. CT and the game will be nationally televised by FS1. The game will be available on radio at 105.3 FM in Austin and online at TexasSports.com/audio.
