No. 19 women’s basketball beats Princeton 74-50 in Rori Harmon’s return

Avery Garrett, General Sports Reporter

Looking to even its record after coming off only one win in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas last week, No. 19 Texas beat a Princeton team that finished 14–0 in the Ivy League last year 74-50 in just their second all-time meeting.

Texas retired former women’s basketball player Annette Smith-Knight’s No. 15 jersey before Sunday’s game at the Moody Center. The former forward scored 2,523 points in her collegiate career, the all-time record across Texas men’s and women’s basketball. In 1986, she helped lead the Longhorns to an undefeated season and a national championship.

Sophomore guard Rori Harmon made her return to the court on Sunday after a foot injury that held her out so far this season.


“It’s nice to have our team back with Rori back,” head coach Vic Schaefer said. “I thought we could do better defensively, but then you look at the sheet and you hold them to 28% field goal percentage and that’s obviously a good thing for us. I am happy for our team.”

Without Harmon, Texas averaged 20 turnovers per game and had not executed plays the way Schaefer wanted.

“She just brings a level of confidence for me,” Schafer said. “I have been doing this long enough, and there are just certain players you want to make sure know what time the bus is loading and where it is loading from. If you know they are there, then you feel pretty good about the night, and she is probably one of those.”

Harmon said she felt great coming back after an almost three-week break, and that the Longhorns’ early struggles, winning one of their first four games, convinced her it was time to return.

“After the losses we had, something has to change,” Harmon said. “I was like, ‘I need to come back, and I need to be ready.’ We have to turn it around. This isn’t one of the things where you lose one and you keep losing. We are going to fix it.”

Sophomore forward Aaliyah Moore dominated through the first quarter, scoring 9 of Texas’ 17 points while no other Longhorn recorded more than 2 points in the opening quarter. Texas got to the rim with the help of Moore, junior forward DeYona Gaston and graduate student guard Sonya Morris who scored a combined 33 points for the Longhorns on the afternoon.

Junior forward Taylor Jones recorded her 16th blocked shot of the year in the second quarter. Heading into Sunday’s game, Jones ranked eleventh in the country in blocked shots. Texas was less dominant in the second quarter as most of the Longhorns’ scoring came from the free-throw line.

At the end of the first half, Texas led the Tigers 29-20. The Longhorns forced 10 turnovers but gave up 11 themselves.

Texas scored 21 points in the third quarter, advancing its lead to 15 over the Tigers due to Jones’ and Harmon’s power on the boards. The two brought down five rebounds in the period.

“I thought Taylor was really special in the third quarter,” Schaefer said. “She kind of put us on her back, and we gave her the ball and she did some really good things there.”

Texas established firm control of the ballgame in the fourth quarter, stretching their lead to 24 by the end of the game. With the win, the Longhorns hold an even record after a shaky start, advancing to 3–3 on the young season.

The Longhorns will face the 7–2 South Florida Bulls on Friday at home, hoping to add to their two-game win streak.