A tenacity away from home helped the ‘Horns capture their 20th win of the season.
Led again by point guard Sug Sutton, the No. 14 Texas Women’s Basketball team is surging at just the right time as evidenced by a 61-55 win over Oklahoma State in a tough environment in Stillwater, Okla.
Three Longhorns pitched in with 10 points each, as graduate transfer Danni Williams, junior Joyner Holmes and freshman Charli Collier all hit that plateau.
The depth down low showed just what a spark it could be for Texas as numerous players stepped up while Jatarie White suffered through foul trouble during the game.
Senior Mide Aborowa helped control the action in the paint with a team-high eight rebounds.
“I thought the difference in the game probably was the contributions from Mide and Charli Collier because obviously Jatarie was in foul trouble the whole game and those two really gave us a lift,” head coach Karen Aston said.
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Sutton, who was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award Monday, poured in 17 points with aggressive yet smart play, contributing seven rebounds and six assists as well to help steer the offense along.
3Q 3:01 | Texas 39, OSU 34
Look at @kaorie‘s lay-up from this angle! 😮#OneMore pic.twitter.com/cGlB4LSEHz
— Texas WBB (@TexasWBB) February 13, 2019
The win makes it six straight seasons of 20-win campaigns for the Longhorns (20-5, 10-3 in the Big 12).
Texas outrebounded the Cowgirls 47-29, a crucial factor in a poor shooting game by both teams. Texas shot just 37 percent while Oklahoma State fared even worse at 34 percent from the field.
“We’ve been kind of harping on that which is we have four post players that play significant minutes and if they would all just do their best then we could get in a rotation where they could all feel like they contributed,” Aston said. “And I think this would be an example of that tonight.”
1Q 6:52 | Texas 4, OSU 3@JoynerTooTall within the paint!#OneMore pic.twitter.com/YpAh08Nw6X
— Texas WBB (@TexasWBB) February 13, 2019
Resilience was the story once again for Texas, as the team got off to a slow start but never let that deter them from forging ahead for the win. The Cowgirls took a one-point lead after one quarter, 11-10, but the Horns went on a quick run near the end of the first half to snare a 25-23 lead at the break.
After the break, though Williams nailed two 3-pointers to push the lead to eight, Oklahoma State hung around and made it a 42-39 game after three.
A back-and-forth fourth quarter made it imperative that Texas made its free-throws down the stretch and came up with stops — which they did to make sure the Cowgirls didn’t get closer than three during the final moments of the game.
4Q 3:07 | Texas 56, OSU 51
Needed that ✊#OneMore pic.twitter.com/0bzTKILCd3
— Texas WBB (@TexasWBB) February 13, 2019
The Horns hit the home hardwood for their next game, hosting Kansas State at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center in what’s shaping up to be a special day all-around.
The game marks the annual Shoot For A Cure game with free Texas Fighter t-shirts going out to fans while supplies last, and the game will be shown on FSN as well.
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