Texas Women’s Basketball creates an electrifying atmosphere to gain 68-53 win over No. 15 Iowa State
January 15, 2023
After securing a significant win over the No. 23 Kansas Jayhawks last week, Texas women’s basketball found its groove once more on Sunday against another veteran team, No. 15 Iowa State. The Longhorns earned a 68-53 win over the Cyclones by dominating their opponents for the seventh game in a row.
The Longhorns have defeated the Cyclones in the past six games they’ve played against each other. In its last victory against Iowa State on March 12, 2022, Texas came away with an overtime victory to secure its spot in the Big 12 Championship.
On Sunday, junior forward DeYona Gaston hit the court with leadership and confidence that seemed to radiate to her fellow teammates, with seven of them shooting 50 percent accuracy or more. Gaston led the team in scoring with 17 points. In two of her last three games, Gaston has scored at least 20 points and currently ranks second in the Big 12 for field goal percentage, with 56.6 percent accuracy.
“I just think that we’ve been attacking our scouts right,” Gaston said. “We’ve been playing hard in practice and so I think our confidence is going to keep building if we keep playing hard and attacking people like we’ve been doing.”
Running alongside Gaston was graduate guard Sonya Morris, who swooped in on multiple occasions to make sure the Longhorns stayed on top. Morris spent 30 minutes on the court, and she used every second to her advantage. Morris only played 14 minutes against Kansas due to foul trouble. The guard notched 11 points, two rebounds and one steal against Iowa State.
Turnovers have quickly become a crucial asset to the team’s success in terms of gaining points. In the last seven games, the Longhorns have held an advantage of 183-53 points off turnovers against their opponents. Texas ranks 9th in the NCAA in turnovers forced per game and 13th in the NCAA in turnover margin. Against the Cyclones, the Longhorns accumulated 26 points off 20 turnovers.
As Texas created a comfortable lead during the first quarter, it dwindled as Iowa State began to creep up at the end of the first half and into the second.
“I thought in the second quarter we were a little slow offensively,” said head coach Vic Schaefer. “But in the second half we were much better, and I just thought our kids were really special today.”
A roaring crowd of 6,405 attendees at the Moody Center responded accordingly to every shot, rebound and everything in between. Texas found a 12-point lead with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter and held Iowa State to only six points, ending in a 15-point overtake by Texas.
“Our crowd was tremendous and it got loud in there,” Schaefer said. “But you know, it’s easy to get loud when you got kids like this playing like they did today. And I think everyone in that arena appreciates how hard they play and just their toughness.”
The Longhorns are hitting the road as they take on the unranked Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock on Wednesday.
