Texas Women’s Basketball Defeats Penn 79-61 in Come-Back Victory to Advance

Despite a 15-point first half deficit, the Longhorns put together an impressive victory over Penn to advance to the round of 32 where they will face No. 4 Maryland on Tuesday evening in College Park, Maryland. The No. 5 Longhorns defeated No. 12 Pennsylvania 79-61 Sunday night thanks to 61 percent second half shooting.

The win over Pennsylvania is the first NCAA victory for Texas since 2008.

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Imani McGee-Stafford led the Longhorns with 20 points and 12 rebounds. McGee-Stafford was perfect at the free throw line and went 8-for-11 from the field. Nekia Jones and Empress Davenport contributed to the Longhorns with double-digit efforts, scoring 14 and 10 points respectively.

Frequent turnovers during the first half contributed to Pennsylvania’s first half lead. The Quakers went on an 18-2 run, a time when Texas went almost 10 minutes without a field goal. The Longhorns trailed by as much as 15-points, falling behind 32-17 late in the first half.

Right before half-time the Longhorns brought the score to within ten with an 8-0 run and a three-point shot by senior Gigi Mazionyte, trailing 38-31 heading into the locker room. In the first half, the Longhorns had committed 12 turnovers while the Quakers had only three.

After the break, Texas went on a 22-2 run early in the second half fueled by Pennsylvania foul trouble. In the second half,  Ivy League defensive player of the year Sydney Stipanovich picked up her fourth foul of the game and Kara Bonenberger fouled out with under 10 minutes to play.

With just over 14 minutes left in the game, senior Chassidy Fussell gave the Longhorns their first lead since the early minutes of the game with a three-pointer, bringing the score to 44-43. The score was part of a 14-0 run by the Longhorns. McGee-Stafford contributed with a three-point shot with 10:27 left to play, giving the Longhorns a double-digit lead and sealing the first round victory.

The Quakers finished their season with a 23-6 record and were led Sunday night by Alyssa Baron who scored 25 points in their game against the Longhorns. Stipanovich also contributed big for Penn, finishing with 14 points, mot of which were part of a last-minute come-back attempt in the second half.

With a win, Penn would have become only the second team from the Ivy League conference to win a gam in the NCAA Women’s Tournament. In 1997, No. 16 Harvard defeated No. 1 Stanford, the only time a No. 16-seed has defeated a No. 1 seed in either the men’s or women’s NCAA tournament. The Ivy League is now 1-22 in women’s NCAA Tournament games.

The Longhorns will face Maryland on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in College Park, Maryland. No. 2 Maryland defeated Army on Sunday afternoon.

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