The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Kansas State
No. 20 Women’s Basketball opens Big 12 play with 62-52 win at Kansas State
12.21.2020 | Women's Basketball
The Longhorns forced 34 Kansas State miscues and turned them into 38 points in the victory
MANHATTAN, Kan. – On Monday night in its Big 12 Conference opener at Bramlage Coliseum, No. 20 Texas women's basketball (6-1) turned 34 turnovers into 38 points and got a 27-point, six-rebound effort from junior forward center Charli Collier in powering its way past Kansas State (5-4), 62-52.
Junior guard Joanne Allen-Taylor continued her inspired early-season play by pumping in 14 points, including six massive tallies down the stretch in the fourth quarter, while grabbing five rebounds, dishing five assists and nabbing three steals.
Junior guard/forward Audrey Warren added a vital 12 points and four boards to go with two assists and two steals. Freshman guard Ashley Chevalier also nabbed a team-high five steals over 23 minutes of action.
Texas got off to a slow start offensively against the Wildcats, hitting just one of its first eight shots from the field as Kansas State took an 8-2 lead to the first media timeout.
The Longhorns battled back behind a 10-2 run to nab a 12-10 advantage with 1:05 to go in the first quarter as senior guard Kyra Lambert and Warren drilled consecutive treys.
With the teams tied at 12-all after the opening stanza, Collier took over for the Burnt Orange & White during the second. The Mont Belvieu, Texas, native scored 14 of her points in the frame (18 in the first half), including a stretch of eight in a row over 3:25 of game action. Warren also contributed five tallies in the quarter as the Horns finished on a 6-0 run to take a 33-21 advantage to the half.
Out of the break, Texas ignited on a 16-6 spurt to grab its largest lead of the night at 49-27 with 2:42 to go in the third quarter. Unfortunately for the Horns, Kansas State started to claw its way back as a 10-0 Wildcats run cut the UT advantage to 49-37 heading to the final stanza.
KSU continued to battle, using a Rachel Ranke three, a Christianna Carr bucket and consecutive baskets from Cymone Goodrich to cut its deficit to just five points with 5:54 to go.
Texas junior forward/center Lauren Ebo christened the Longhorns response with a lay-up before Allen-Taylor added six key points to give the Horns some breathing room again at 60-47 with 1:55 to play.
From there, Collier hit a pair of FT's and KSU drilled two buckets to finalize a 62-52 Longhorns victory.
Texas Women's Basketball Postgame Notes
Kansas State 52, #20 Texas 62
December 21, 2020
Bramlage Coliseum (Manhattan, Kan.)
Team Notes
- Texas is 14-11 all-time and 2-0 against Kansas State in Big 12 Conference openers. The Longhorns are 6-7 in Big 12 road openers and have won their last three dating back to 2015.
- Texas forced 34 Kansas State turnovers that led to 38 points. UT has managed at least 20 points off turnovers in all seven games of 2020-21.
- Texas limited Kansas State center and leading-scorer Ayoka Lee to just nine points. That was well below her average entering the night of 18.2 ppg.
- Texas added four more charges to give the Longhorns 25 for the season. Overall, 12 of those charges have been taken by junior guard/forward Audrey Warren.
- Texas is now 24-17 in its all-time series against Kansas State and 10-9 in Manhattan.
- Allen-Taylor tied her career-highs with five assists and three steals.
- Collier had 18 of her 27 points over the first 20 minutes of action.
- The 27-point effort was Collier's fifth 20-point game of the season and 10th of her career.
- Chevalier registered a career-high five steals and tied her career-high with two rebounds.
