The No. 21 Texas women’s basketball team suffered an in-conference upset loss in a tightly contested game against Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Texas fell to the Red Raiders 74-66 after failing to develop a consistent offensive attack. The Longhorns were able to keep the game within reach despite just shooting 33% from the field. Neither team was able to hit their shots at a high percentage due to swarming defensive efforts by both squads. Texas was able to capitalize on the fouls, shooting 76% from the free-throw line. Head coach Vic Shaefer said going 22-for-29 at the free-throw line is OK, but the routine plays weren’t executed.
“We didn’t shoot it well,” Schaefer said. “We went 2-for-19 in the third quarter. It would be hard to win at home or on the road.”
Junior guard Audrey Warren was available for Texas after missing the last four games due to concussion protocol. Before fouling out, Warren brought her reliable aggressive defense to create scoring opportunities for Texas. She has some rust to dust off, Shaefer said, but had a perfect day at the charity stripe and finished with 14 points in her debut back on the court.
“I’m so happy to have her back, she is a ‘toughness kid’ for us,” Shaefer said. “She went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line and that’s certainly a positive. We’ll get better with her and it will allow me to have a little more flexibility with my bench.”
Foul trouble posed a problem for Texas all game. Sophomore guard Celeste Taylor and junior guard Joanne Allen-Taylor both fouled out in the fourth quarter. Taylor and Allen-Taylor were two stand out players in the last quarter of play that kept Texas in close range of Texas Tech before having to leave the game.
“We had three kids foul out today,” Schaefer said. “Even the kids made a comment, we probably weren’t ready to play and we probably didn't respect our opponent.”
Texas Tech outperformed the Longhorns in their field goal percentage. Junior forward Charli Collier was held to just 2-for-11 from the field, and the Red Raiders outscored Texas in all but the last quarter. As Texas’ field goal percentage went up, so did Texas Tech’s free throw percentage. Collier attributed the team being outplayed by Texas Tech to lack of contagious energy.
“I just feel like there was no intensity in the game from any of us,” Collier said. “We didn’t come out with a lot of juice and that spilled into all four quarters of the game. There were some good moments where we played well but I feel like most importantly we need to come out with better energy.”
The Texas defense tightened up as the final minutes ticked off in the fourth quarter. The Longhorns restricted passing lanes and were able to draw a few fouls to keep the score manageable. But the amount of shots that bounced off the rim proved to be the deal breaker in today’s loss. Collier said she is ready to leave this game behind in Lubbock.
“You can’t dwell on it. Let tonight go by, it’s a new day,” Collier said. “You have to have a short memory when playing basketball. So it hurts right now, but you gotta let it go and move on to the next so what happened today won’t dwell on to the next game.”