Women’s basketball drops Arizona State, 85-65, faces UCLA in Sweet 16

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — Senior guard Brooke McCarty picked a great time to post her third career double-double, with 15 points and 10 rebounds, to lead the Texas women’s basketball team to an 85-65 win over Arizona State in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Monday at the Frank Erwin Center.

Texas led, 40-35, but was able to extend that lead in the second half, which Texas head coach Karen Aston said was a reflection of [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]her team’s ability to ratchet up its intensity when needed.

“I’m just incredibly proud of our basketball team — just the effort that the entire team put forth tonight, in particular in the second half,” Aston said. “The energy and enthusiasm that they’re playing the game with right now, and then just the fact that this is our fourth year in a row to go to the Sweet 16.”

McCarty was one of four Longhorns who scored in double figures: guard Lashann Higgs led UT with 19 points, while guard Ariel Atkins added 12 and forward Joyner Holmes chipped in with 10. McCarty and Atkins also shared the team lead with five assists apiece

ASU’s Kianna Ibis led all scores with 27 points. The Sun Devils’ season ended with a record of 22-13, while Texas improved to 28-6.

For the second time in as many NCAA tournament games, the Longhorns dominated the glass, pulling down 40 rebounds, compared to just 19 by Arizona State. McCarty’s 10 boards led the Longhorns, and were three more than the seven pulled down by forward Olamide Aborowa.

“We’re a little bit undersized, so the physicality of the game kind of caught up with us a little bit,” Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I thought our team down to the last possession kept their character, just kept playing hard. I’ll take that over anything in the country, so I’m really proud of them.”

The Longhorns excelled at both ends of the floor. After shooting 61.8 percent from the floor in the first round laugher over Maine, the Texas offense was nearly as efficient against ASU, connecting on a 61.7 percent rate (37 of 60) from the floor. The UT defense was as effective as the offense, limiting the Sun Devils to 39 percent shooting, including just 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from beyond the three-point line.

Higgs said after the game that the Longhorns’ hot shooting was a byproduct of them taking smart shots as much as it was knocking down the shots they took.

“I would say that it’s having more discipline on the offensive end — the discipline to reverse the ball, the discipline to make the right pass,” Higgs said. “I would just say it’s becoming more of a team effort. So I think that’s the reason why.”

With the victory, the Texas seniors join an elite group of players at any school that can claim four trips to the Sweet 16 in four years.

When pressed to explain that standard of postseason excellence, McCarty quickly deflected the credit toward Aston and the UT coaching staff.

“Well, I think it goes back to our coaches — their body of work is amazing,” McCarty said. “When you follow something like that, you have no choice but to be great. So I think it just goes out to them and how hard they work. Everybody’s just following suit. Everybody’s buying into the process. Everybody’s buying into the program.”

Texas will face third-seeded UCLA in the third round at 8:30 (central time) Friday in Kansas City. The game will be televised on ESPN and will be broadcast at texassports.com/audio and on 105.3 FM in Austin.

“We’re very familiar with them,” Aston said of the Bruins. “We’ve played them, we’ve scrimmaged them — we’re very familiar and they’re a really, really good basketball team … but I thought Arizona State was.”

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