The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
9-5,1-1Big 12
Iowa State
9-4,1-1Big 12
Women's Basketball defeats Iowa State, 81-75
01.06.2020 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns shoot 49 percent for first Big 12 win of the season.
AMES, Iowa – Texas broke a third quarter jinx, Joyner Holmes and Lashann Higgs each scored 17 points, and the Longhorns hit 49 percent from the floor -- as UT won its first Big 12 Conference game of the season with an 81-75 decision over Iowa State on Monday night at Hilton Coliseum.
The Horns committed their fewest turnovers in a single game since the 2013 season, a total of six, and lost the ball only once in the first three quarters.
Texas (9-5, 1-1), broke open a close game by taking a lead of 17 points in the third quarter, a period that has not always been favorable to UT this season. Iowa State (9-4, 1-1), saw the Longhorns win for the fifth consecutive time on the Cyclones' home floor.
Missing their first six shots, the Longhorns found themselves down, 11-0, at the 5:55 mark of the first quarter. Then, Texas mounted a 13-4 run – thanks to a trio of three pointers by Holmes, Sug Sutton and Jada Underwood – to close the score to 15-13 in favor of ISU at the 2:18 mark. The Cyclones led, 19-16, at the end of the initial period.
During a second quarter that featured seven lead changes, Texas claimed its biggest lead of the first half on a layup by Sug Sutton on the last play of the period -- taking a 37-31 lead into the locker room. After ISU led by as many as four, Texas went on a 9-2 run to end the quarter. Underwood had nine points, Sutton eight and Holmes seven during the first half, as the Longhorns hit 50 percent of their shots from the floor.
The Texas defense held the Cyclones to 29 percent of their field goal attempts during the second quarter, as Iowa State missed nine of its last 10 shots from the floor.
Texas dominated the third quarter, outscoring ISU, 27-17, shooting 62 percent from the floor and holding the Cyclones to 36 percent. At one point during the period, Texas hit seven of eight of its shots while holding ISU to one of eight during the same stretch. Holmes scored ten points during the quarter and bucketed Texas' last six points in the period. UT led by 16 going into the fourth quarter, 64-48.
Early in the fourth quarter, Iowa State managed a 7-0 run and Texas turned the ball over three times – after having committed only one turnover during the previous three quarters. ISU closed the score to single digits, but Texas held on with clutch free throw shooting to record a six-point victory.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Longhorns started, Holmes, Sutton, Underwood, Celeste Taylor and Charli Collier.
- The Cyclones lead the all-time series, 20-19.
- Texas hit half of its three pointers, 8 of 16.
- In addition to Holmes and Higgs, Sutton scored in double figures. She hit 14.
- Iowa State won the rebounding battle, 42-28.
- Texas scored 44 points in the paint, 15 second-chance points, and 29 bench points.
TEXAS HEAD COACH KAREN ASTON
"I thought this was a very big character test for our team, from the disappointment of losing at home. It's not who we lost to or anything like that. It's just that you try to protect your home court. And, again, it wasn't even that we lost but it's just that we didn't play our best.
"This was a really hard place to win. I told our team that anytime you get a road win, it's a huge thing. Obviously in Ames, it's really big. I thought our defense was really good tonight. It was very active. We got our hands on a lot of balls. In the first half we were very disruptive. Then, we were able to hang on. We knew they'd make a run. I thought the third quarter was very big for both of us. Just by watching film, we could tell that their third quarters were very productive and ours haven't been. II thought we were able to sustain effort and execution in the third quarter and that was the difference for us."
UP NEXT
Texas returns to action on Sunday, January 12, when it travels to Morgantown, W.Va., to face No. 19/21 West Virginia. Tip-off at WVU Coliseum is 12 p.m. CT on FSN. The game will be available on radio at 105.3 FM in Austin and online at TexasSports.com/audio.
