Longhorns earn No. 2 seed in Big 12 Tournament

By Blanche Schaefer

It’s the beginning of a new season as far as the Longhorns are concerned. With the final regular season game in the books and the Big 12 Tournament seeds set, Texas begins its push through the postseason this weekend. The Longhorns have hit the reset button after a blowout loss to Baylor on Monday and are continuing to take the season game-by-game.

“We look at it as a new season — from now on, we’re 0-0,” junior guard Brianna Taylor said. “We think of it as survive and advance … we have to change our mindset now that we know it’s ‘win or go home.’ We just have to get to the gym and regroup.”[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]

The Big 12 Tournament begins Friday, and UT is seeded No. 2 behind No. 1 seed Baylor. Texas has a bye until Saturday’s quarterfinals at 6 p.m., when the Longhorns will play the winner of Friday’s No. 7 TCU vs. No. 10 Kansas matchup. Heading into the tournament, the Longhorns are focused on continuing the style of play that earned them a 26-3 record.

“The mindset is to stay together,” senior guard Celina Rodrigo said. “We are not going to let this (Baylor) loss tear us apart and lose our confidence. We’re going to try to have the same confidence and energy as a team and take that into the tournament.”

The season ended on a sour note for Texas with a 26-point loss to Baylor in Waco. The Longhorns played a close game in the first half and went to halftime down 30-20. But the Texas scorers went cold, and Baylor ran away with the game in the third quarter, outscoring Texas, 30-10. Sophomore guard Brooke McCarty’s three-pointer and freshman guard Lashann Higgs’ eight points off the bench in the fourth quarter gave the Longhorns some late-game energy, but it wasn’t nearly enough to mount a comeback.

The Bears accounted for two of Texas’ three losses this season. But the players aren’t taking the loss to heart. If anything, it’s given the Longhorns motivation as they prepare for the Big 12 Tournament. Texas and Baylor could meet again in the conference championship game should they both win their respective quarterfinal and semifinal games.

“I believe in my team,” senior center Imani Boyette said after the game. “(We) played hard out there and were tough. We didn’t respond the way we wanted to, but I’m never going to question my team’s passion because from top to bottom everyone wants to be here. Everybody loves Texas. So Baylor beat us today, but eventually that’s going to change. It just wasn’t tonight.”

Compared to the rest of the season, the Longhorns have had a rough February. Texas began the month with back-to-back wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma State by at least 15 points each game. Sophomore guard Ariel Atkins started both games and scored a combined 38 points. But the Longhorns stumbled against rival then-No. 21 Oklahoma on Valentine’s Day. Texas lost 74-56 in Norman, shooting just 29 percent from the field and 30 percent from three. McCarty put up 19 points, including a 3-7 effort from behind the arc. Texas trailed, 49-45, at the end of the third period, but the Sooners outscored the ‘Horns by a whopping 29-7 in the fourth quarter. Texas head coach Karen Aston said the Sooners’ ability to play every possession with a sense of urgency and get the Texas scorers off-balance made the difference in the game, in addition to the Sooners’ accuracy from three.

“In the first half, we gave some better help, but in the second half they hit some threes and we were afraid to give help,” Aston said. “That was probably the biggest difference: they started to hit the perimeter shots. We missed some shots – a lot of shots. We missed some easy ones that messed with us a little bit since we’ve been shooting the ball well … missing shots was a huge factor. But there were a lot of 50-50 balls down the stretch that they probably wanted a little more than we did.”

Texas returned to Austin Feb. 17 with a shaky 58-51 win over Kansas State behind senior guard Brady Sanders’ 12 points off the bench.  A strong second-half rally pulled the Longhorns to victory after facing a 27-18 deficit at halftime. Aston said the bench players’ energy largely contributed to the Texas comeback.  Sanders has seen limited minutes after offseason surgery, but has become valuable off the bench and stepped into a leadership role for the team. She said every player is ready to do their part when their number is called.

“I just want to help the team,” Sanders said. “Whether it’s reps in practice or minutes in a game, I value them the same … As long as we get the win that’s really all that matters to me, so it’s really not hard to stay motivated when I know how special this team is. This is the last chance that we have, as a whole, to go far. I just want to help contribute to that.”

UT got back on track and rolled to victories over West Virginia, Texas Tech and TCU by a combined 57 points before stumbling at Baylor. But the loss is nothing but a learning experience now. With the regular season behind them and a clean slate in front of them, the Longhorns are focused on their end goal: a championship.

“It has been a phenomenal season,” Rodrigo said. “We’re going to keep building on it. We have accomplished a lot of our goals and it’s been a really great year for us … We haven’t lost any confidence in ourselves. We are still in a great place as a team, and we’re going to see what we can take away from it, take that to the tournament, and look forward from there.”

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