Texas was without their Madison Booker due to a hamstring injury in practice during the week, so Texas did something coach Schaefer rarely does. Texas went to a zone defense.
Junior starting forward #23 Aaliyah Moore scored a team high 16 points, had seven rebounds, and hit 8-11 free throws during her 34 minutes of play. Taylor Jones returned to form with 13 points, sank 5-6 free throws, pulled down a team high nine rebounds, and had a season-high seven blocks.
Jones said in the post game, “Just trying to be strong, boxing out, finishing shots, and blocking shots too … it just worked tonight.”
Shaylee Gonzales also scored 13 points, hit 3-8 from three point range, and secured six rebounds and played all 40 minutes as did Shay Holle who put in nine points and five rebounds.
It was a given that Texas’ effort in the game was going to be at a high level. Coach Schaefer commented after the game saying, “I don’t think anybody in the room was ready for what they watched today both for players missing and how we played. I hope y’all know I’m almost allergic to zone, but man our kids were so special today. I couldn’t be more proud of them. “
Due to Booker being out, Texas had no fast break points. Coach Schaefer said that was by design.
Overall in the game, Texas hit 20-54 shots (37%) from the field, 4-15 from three point range, and 80% of their free throws hitting 23-29.
On the season, Texas’ record is 19-3. All three losses were to Big 12 opponents giving Texas 6-4 in Big 12 Conference play.
Next up is No. 13 Baylor up in Waco at the new Foster Pavilion February 1 (Thu) at 7:30 PM. The game will be televised on ESPN. Texas and Baylor have met early where Baylor handed Texas their first loss of the season, so Texas will be looking to return the favor.
Texas and Baylor games usually are high scoring and average 72+ points a game.
| #HookEm
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