Texas women’s basketball falls, 69-53, at No. 2/2 Baylor

By Steve Lansdale

WACO, Texas — Sophomore guard Audrey Warren scored a team-high 10 points and sophomore center Charli Collier pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds, but it was not enough as the Texas women’s basketball team fell to No. 2/2 Baylor, 69-53, at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

The loss dropped the Longhorns’ record to 18-11 overall, and 10-7 in games against Big 12 opponents, while Baylor improved to 28-1 overall, and 17-0 in Big 12 games.

The teams were [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]nearly even in the second half, in which the Bears outscored the Longhorns, 35-33, but that was only after the teams headed to the locker rooms with Baylor leading, 34-20.

Texas head coach Karen Aston said that while she was pleased with her team’s competitiveness, she would have liked to see how the game ended up if the Longhorns had made more plays that were within their reach.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Aston said. “We not at a point in the season where we’re finding a lot of good in a loss. But I did think that we were much more competitive than we were [when we played Baylor] in Austin — for a longer stretch of time and we were able to regroup a little at halftime. The lead was a little too much for us and we weren’t able to make enough shots, but I did think our second half was a better performance.

“I thought that the missed chippies that we had in the third quarter – we missed a couple of layups and a wide-open three that really could have given us a lift. We just didn’t make some easy bunnies that could have helped us. Aside from that, Bayor made some big momentum plays that separate them. They just played plays out. Pockets of rebounds turned into ‘and ones’ — picking up deflections, where, had we been more aware and played plays out, I think it would have helped us.”

Baylor, which led by as much as 23 points, outshot the Longhorns, 41.1 percent (the Bears hit 23 of 56 field goals) to 31.7 percent (20 of 63), and enjoyed a 47-34 rebounding advantage.

Guard Te’a Cooper led both teams with 20 points, while forwards Lauren Cox and Nalyssa Smith scored 17 and 13, respectively, for Baylor. Thanks in part to Cox and Smith, the Bears enjoyed a 34-16 edge in points in the paint.

The Longhorns now hold a 58-43 edge in the all-time series between the schools.

The Longhorns will play host to Oklahoma State at 11:30 a.m. Sunday for Senior Day in a game that will be broadcast nationally on the Longhorn Network.
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