AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 4 University of Texas women’s basketball team put away Iowa State, 75-54, Wednesday night in Austin and improved to 14-0 overall, giving the Longhorns their best start since 1985-6. UT also improved to 3-0 in Big 12 play, defeating the Cyclones for the first time since February 9, 2014.
“(Iowa State) has beaten us the last three consecutive times, and I’ve only beaten them once in my entire career,” senior center Imani Boyette said. “We knew they snapped our winning streak last year, and we thought that this would be a real ‘gut check.’ Every game is big in the Big 12, but (the Cyclones) do well when we guard bad. We knew that this would be lockdown defensively.”
[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]
The Texas defense locked down and held Iowa State to 33 percent shooting. Texas shot 40 percent from the field and 50 percent on three-pointers, hitting 11 threes on the night. Boyette grabbed a season-high 17 rebounds and 11 points for her seventh double-double of the season, while sophomore guard Brooke McCarty scored 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and a season-best 5-of-7 three-pointers. She said she attributes her high-scoring night to the team’s rhythm.
“Everybody was just relaxed, and they came out there and took the open shots that they had,” McCarty said. “We just got into a rhythm, and we were comfortable.”
The Longhorns and Cyclones traded threes to start the game. Iowa State junior guard Seanna Johnson hit a three-pointer to put the Cyclones on the board first, and McCarty answered on the next possession. The Longhorns found their rhythm and pulled ahead with a 14-2 run, closing the first quarter with a 23-12 lead.
The scoring evened out as the two teams traded buckets throughout the second quarter. The Cyclones hit a 6-2 run, but a three-pointer from senior Texas guard Celina Rodrigo erased the damage. Texas narrowly outscored Iowa State, 15-13, in the quarter and headed to the locker room with a 38-25 lead at the half.
“The critical part was that we made extra passes and we worked inside out,” Texas head coach Karen Aston said. “We were very relaxed and we make good decisions. When post players were open we threw it in there and when the skip passes were open we threw those. Our decision making was better.”
Scoring slowed in the third quarter. Iowa State freshman forward Meredith Burkhall made a 3-pointer to kick off the quarter. Junior guard Brianna Taylor hit a free throw for Texas at the 9:41 mark, but neither team would score until 6:13 when senior center Imani Boyette scored on a jumper. Senior guard Empress Davenport hit a corner three-pointer at the buzzer to close the third quarter, putting Texas up, 53-35.
Davenport hit another three at 9:41 in fourth quarter, scoring six points in 30 seconds. The teams continued to trade shots, but Texas outscored the Cyclones, 22-19, in the quarter to account for the final 75-54 score.
“I love our energy right now defensively,” Aston said. “I was very pleased. (Iowa State) is a hard team to play. It’s one of those matchups that has been difficult for us in the past, and it was pleasing to be able to defend them a little bit better than we had in the past and attack the areas that were open.”
Texas hits the road for its next two games. The Longhorns play at 5 p.m. Saturday at Oklahoma State and then travels to Lawrence, Kan., to take on Kansas at 7 p.m. Jan. 13.
[/s2If]
[s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]
[article-offer]
[/s2If]
Discover more from Horns Illustrated
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.