Women’s basketball suffers blowout loss to No. 4 Baylor in final regular-season game

By Blanche Schaefer

WACO, Texas — After defeating TCU Saturday night, the Texas Longhorn players spoke about the importance of carrying momentum into Monday’s marquee matchup with No. 4/4 Baylor. Instead, the Bears drubbed No. 6/8 Texas, 74-48, in Waco in the final regular-season game and claimed sole possession of the Big 12 title.

“Congratulations to Baylor, first and foremost,” Texas head coach Karen Aston said. “Credit to (the Bears) and their defense. We just dug too big of a hole, and then we went downhill from there.”[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]

The game didn’t begin as a blowout. The teams traded buckets in the first quarter, and UT trailed by a single point, 14-13, at the start of the second. The Bears began to distance themselves from their guests, outscoring the Longhorns, 16-7, in the second period. Texas went more than six minutes without scoring a single point until a single free throw by freshman guard Jordan Hosey snapped the drought with 12 seconds left until halftime. The Longhorns headed to the locker room with a 30-20 deficit and a still-manageable game on their hands.

“It was a 10-point game at half, but I don’t think it should have been,” Aston said. “We missed a lot of easy shots in the first half. The energy was good and we turned them over, but didn’t capitalize in the first half. That was probably deflating to our team.”

Texas fell apart in the third quarter, managing only 10 points while the Bears put up 30, thanks to a 22-3 run in the latter half of the period. Baylor sophomore guard Kristy Wallace scored 13 of her 23 total points in the quarter.

The Longhorns actually outscored the Bears, 18-14, in the final quarter, but it was too little too late. Sophomore guard Brooke McCarty hit UT’s first three-pointer of the night and finished the game with a team-high 12 points and four assists. McCarty was the only Texas starter left on the floor in the fourth quarter. The Texas bench provided valuable energy, as freshman guard Lashann Higgs scored eight points, including a steal that she drove back for a layup in the final four seconds to end the lopsided affair.

The Texas offense struggled to hit shots all night, connecting on just 29 percent of its field goals, compared to Baylor’s 53 percent. The Bears dominated from behind the arc, shooting 45 percent against UT’s 11 percent.

The Longhorns will take this week to hit the reset button before the Big 12 Championship tournament begins Friday in Oklahoma City. Texas has a bye until the quarterfinals Saturday, and seeds will be announced Tuesday evening.

The team’s one-game-at-a-time mentality holds steady as the Longhorns prepare for tournament play. In the aftermath of the loss, the Texas players said they haven’t lost their grit and passion.

“I believe in my team,” senior center Imani Boyette said. “They 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 is going to change. It just wasn’t tonight.”

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