Charli Collier too much for Texas Tech to handle in 19-point UT win
AUSTIN, Texas — Center Charli Collier scored 30 points and pulled down 19 rebounds to lead the Texas women’s basketball team to a 72-53 win Saturday over Texas Tech at the Frank Erwin Center.
The victory avenged UT’s 74-66 loss Jan. 17 in Lubbock and salvaged a split of the season series between the Longhorns and the Red Raiders. The win also improved UT’s record to 12-4 overall, and 6-3 in games against Big 12 opponents, and gave the Longhorns 10 victories in 11 home games, including seven straight at the Erwin Center, this season. Texas Tech fell to 8-9 overall, and 3-8 in games against 3-8 in conference games.
Collier’s scoring outburst was her second game with 30 or more points, this season and in her career, and her first against a Big 12 opponent (she scored a career-high 44 in UT’s 106-69 rout of North Texas).
Coupled with her work on the glass, she now has an NCAA-leading 12 double-doubles this season. Collier has been particularly relentless over the last four recent games, during which she has pulled down 75 rebounds, or an average of 18.8 per game.
UT claimed a modest 42-38 rebounding advantage over their guests, and each team collected 11 offensive rebounds. But it was the they made their offensive rebounds pay off, with a dominant 18-4 edge in second-chance points.
The Longhorns held a modest 18-15 lead after the first quarter, but effectively ended the game in the second quarter, during which they outscored the Red Raiders, 25-8 to take a 43-23 lead into the halftime intermission. During the quarter, the Longhorns unleashed a 19-0 run, in which Lambert drained three shots from beyond the three-point line.
Critical in the outcome was the Longhorns’ defensive effort against Texas Tech’s two-time All-America guard Vivian Gray. The UT defense swarmed Gray, who had to work for each of her 12 points — she shot 5-of-14 from the floor, and missed both of her three-point attempts. She also led the Red Raiders with 9 rebounds.
Guards Kyra Lambert and Celeste Taylor joined Collier in double-figure scoring, with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Texas will return to the court at 7 p.m. Wednesday when the Longhorns take on Oklahoma in Norman. OU enters the game with a 5-7 record, including a 2-5 mark in games against Big 12 opponents. The first game between the Longhorns and Sooners, scheduled for Jan. 12 in Austin, was postponed because of COVID-19 concerns.
