The #24 Longhorn’s (7-2) got back on track on Wednesday afternoon with a 79-40 blowout win over the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (0-8).
With the win, the Longhorns remain undefeated (7-0) against unranked opponents, including four straight wins against mid-major schools. The team’s last three non-conference games are all against mid-majors.
“I'm just happy to come away with a win,” said head coach Gail Goestenkors. “This was a game where we knew we were going to really focus on what we needed to do to get better. I am proud of the way we played.”
The story of the game for Texas was the debut of sophomore post Kayla Brewer. Brewer was forced to sit out the first eight games of the season after transferring from South Carolina in the middle of last season.
“It felt great to finally be out there with my teammates battling it out and working hard,” Brewer said. “It felt really good. This was a different atmosphere.”
Goestenkors was impressed and plans to take advantage of the team’s size advantage with Brewer in the line-up.
“It was good to have Kayla back for her first game,” Goestenkors said. “We went with a bigger line-up more than we have in the past because we wanted to look at that. We know that is going to be important for us to have in the Big 12, so it was good to get a chance to get three bigs playing together at the same time.”
Sophomore guard Chassidy Fussell led the team once again with 22 points and five steals in just 26 minutes.
“The goal was to attack the basket and be physical,” said Fussell. “We knew that they were going to come out and be physical with us, so we had to be physical right back at them.”
The team also enjoyed an increase in attendance as a result of the 40 Acres Field Trip event. In an attempt to encourage the pursuit of higher education, UT Athletics invited students from local schools to attend the game for free and tour the UT campus.
“I was really impressed with the crowd,” Goestenkors said. “All those little kids were so nice to see, and it was nice to hear all those screaming voices cheering for us. It was just a great atmosphere for women's basketball.”
