Texas women’s basketball faces critical matchups against TCU, Oklahoma

By Riley Zayas

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas women’s basketball team was stunned at home Saturday, 60-54, by Kansas State. It was a disappointing end to the week for the Longhorns, especially after victory seemed very near heading into the fourth quarter.

“I thought our gameplan was pretty spot-on,” head coach Karen Aston said after the loss. “I thought the game [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]got away from us when we had really settled in, but we just couldn’t convert. We could’ve extended the lead and separated from them a little bit and I think once we didn’t do that, we gave them some confidence and lost some detail on their guards.”

Despite this unexpected loss, the Horns can not get down on themselves heading into these last two crucial weeks that will be so important in the team’s effort to keep a stronghold on third place in the Big 12 standings.

The Horns will get to face the perfect opponent at the perfect time when they take on TCU at 6:30 Wednesday in Fort Worth. Sitting just ahead of the Horns in second place with an 11-3 record against Big 12 opponents, TCU was UT’s first opponent in conference play Jan. 3. The Horned Frogs defeated Texas, 65-63, in Austin, a victory which began TCU’s unforeseen rise toward the top of the Big 12 standings.

With only three games remaining before the conference tournament, there is little chance Texas will catch TCU, even with a road victory Wednesday. Texas currently has an 8-6 conference record, while TCU is three games ahead at 11-3. But heading into the conference tournament as a bubble team to make the NCAA tournament, the Longhorns need all the experience they can get against top teams in the conference like TCU, who will test them all over the floor, before the Big 12 tournament. UT will need a good showing in Oklahoma City to solidify its place in the NCAA tournament.

With a 20-5 overall record, TCU has played phenomenally at home this season, assembling a 12-2 record in Fort Worth. Guard Lauren Heard has been her team’s biggest scoring threat, averaging 17.5 points per game which is the fourth-highest average in the league. The 5-foot-9 Heard put up a season-high 26 points in the last meeting with Texas. TCU relies heavily on its three-point shooting to win them ballgames, with two of their sharpshooters in the top four in the Big 12 in three-pointers per game. Those two are guards Jaycee Bradley and Austin native Kianna Ray, each of whom has made more than 54 threes this season. As a team, the Horned Frogs are shooting 35 percent from behind the arc. In addition, head coach Raegan Pebley has developed a strong and reliable group of post players.

Surprisingly, despite being a guard, Heard has emerged as TCU’s leading rebounder, with 165 total boards.

If Texas has two keys to a win, it will be the Longhorns’ ability to limit TCU’s three-point opportunities, and the rebounding battle. If the Horns can accomplish both of those tasks, there is a good chance they will come away with a marquee conference win here in the homestretch of the season.

Texas will welcome Oklahoma to the Erwin Center Saturday for a 7 p.m. showdown its second-to-last home game of the season, which will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network.

The Sooners, who are led by head coach Sherri Coale, offered little resistance when they faced Texas Jan. 28 in the teams’ first meeting of the season, as the Horns rolled to a convincing 70-53 victory in Norman. However, there are always surprises in Big 12 play, especially this season, and the league is largely competitive, with seven teams all within three games of each other. Oklahoma enters the week with a 5-9 conference record, the result of a current four-game losing skid.

On the heels of a frustrating 2018-19 campaign in which it posted an 8-22 overall record, Oklahoma has made strides this season with many of last year’s young underclassmen emerging as leaders for this squad. With an overall record of 12-14 this year, the Sooners can not be underestimated, especially by Texas, which has had its fair share of trip-ups, like Saturday’s loss to K-State. Oklahoma has risen to the occasion as the underdog more than once this season, beating then-No. 25 LSU in non-conference and also taking down then-No. 17 West Virginia.

Like TCU, Oklahoma is a fantastic scoring team, and can shoot the three really well, averaging 75 points per game, which is the third-best in the conference. In addition, the Sooners are second in the league in three-point percentage, converting on 37 percent of their three point tries this season. The Longhorns’ guards will have to defend the arc really well this week in order to pick up two victories. The Sooners’ offense’s gain is the defense’s loss, as OU’s lack of defense throughout conference play has resulted in more than one loss, including the Jan. 22 overtime loss to Texas Tech, in which the Sooners allowed the Lady Raiders to hit 38 percent of their shots, and forced just 13 turnovers.

Among the deadly Oklahoma sharpshooters is 5-foot-7 guard Taylor Robertson, who has been far and away her team’s best three-point shooter, making a team-high 120 treys. From anywhere on the floor, she has been excellent, knocking down 47 percent of her field goal attempts, and averaging 19.8 points per game. In addition, guard Ana Llanusa has 40 steals and is aggressive on the glass, pulling down 36 offensive rebounds.
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