The Texas women’s basketball team headed north on I-35 Sunday afternoon to face its biggest competition of the season against No. 7 Baylor. The Longhorns fell flat on offense en route to a 60-35 loss.
While the Texas scoring attack was underwhelming throughout the game, Baylor’s No.1-ranked offense in the Big 12 proved too much for the Longhorns in Ferrell Center. The Longhorns lacked intensity on offense, head coach Vic Schaefer said.
“You have to learn from your mistakes, and you have to be a competitor,” Schaefer said. “You can’t hang your head in a game. You have to play both ends of the floor. It’s not football, you don’t get to come out and not play defense, and we still fight that.”
Texas had just one player finish in double digitsand only scored 18 points in the second half. The offensive chemistry displayed in the win against Oklahoma State last Wednesday was nonexistent in Waco.
“I thought our team had some really good opportunities to score the ball,” Schaefer said. “You’re talking about a Baylor team that makes it tough on everybody defensively, and they’re known for that. I thought they gave us some stuff tonight, and we just couldn’t capitalize on it.”
The season’s leading scorer for Texas, junior forward Charli Collier, shot just three times in tonight’s contest, finishing with just two points and fouling out along with junior forward Audrey Warren. With Collier unable to find the basket, players had to fill her place, junior forward Lauren Ebo said.
“Certain defenses play certain ways, and today they were focusing a lot on Charli,” Ebo said. “That’s when other people have to step up.”
The guard position is and has been an important position for Texas all year with opponents double-teaming Collier in the paint. However, Texas guards shot just 36% tonight from the field.
“I thought we started off the game a little timid,” Schaefer said. “I thought our guards were a little timid coming out of the shoot.”
The most glaring stat from tonight’s game wasn’t the score, but Baylor out-rebounding Texas by 20 despite Texas putting in the “big offense,” which consists of Collier and Ebo.
A silver lining for tonight’s loss was the defensive effort. Although not strong enough to pull within close range, the Longhorns held Baylor to its lowest-scoring game all season.
“I thought we competed defensively,” Schaefer said. “We held them to eight points in the third quarter. We held them to 60 points, which that’s a really good offensive team over there, and I thought we competed.”
Texas will remain in Waco for the night in hopes to return Monday before heading out to Dallas to face a big game against TCU. With making shots, rebounds and not allowing turnovers on the agenda for practice, Texas is looking to tighten up the offensive attack before Wednesday.
“We’ve got to regroup and get focused to go play a really good TCU team that I think is playing really well right now,” Schaefer said.
