History was made Wednesday at the Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas as Rori Harmon became the fastest player to reach 500 assists in program history. Harmon beat the previous record holder by 11 games reaching the milestone in 79 games as the Longhorns dominated the UTRGV Vaqueros.
“It does mean a lot and I’m completely honored and I’m just grateful to be surrounded by great teammates,” Harmon said.
The Longhorns visited the UTRGV Vaqueros and dominated the game, never relinquishing their lead the entire game with a final score of 104-51. Texas won by 53 points even though they were not at full strength.
Head coach Vic Schaefer knows how special a player Harmon is, but also knows her potential is far greater.
“I told her if she could get her teammates to make just a few more a little bit faster, she’ll have a chance for 1000,” Schaefer said, “and that’s a crazy number when you think about it.”
Senior guard Shay Holle, who had 11 points, has watched Harmon develop into one of the best players in the country.
“Being able to watch her from her freshman year to now, obviously she came in really good, but it’s been a lot of fun,” Holle said.
Texas made the trip down to the Valley without senior Taylor Jones, its leading scorer this season. The forward is designated to be day-to-day as the Longhorns look toward the start of conference play later this month. Coach Schaefer told the media after the game that Jones will be evaluated tomorrow.
“She’ll be seen tomorrow, but we’re really hopeful that she’ll be back pretty quick,” Schaefer said.
Even without their leading scorer and the country’s second best shooter in terms of shooting percentage, the Longhorns reached triple digits and outscored the UTRGV bench 56-9. The offense did well in both transition play and running the halfcourt offense.
“I think we did a good job of that (getting out in transition), I thought we ran some good stuff on the halfcourt offensively,” Schaefer said. “When you score 104 points, you’re doing something right.”
One main factor of its high offensive output is success from the three-point line. The Longhorns shot 68% from beyond the arc, with graduate guard Shaylee Gonzales and Holle combining for five of the 11 made three-pointers. Gonzales credits the outside shooting success to the hard work put in during practice.
“I’d probably say our extra shooting, we get in like an hour before practice every day,” Gonzales said.
The Longhorns finish their non-conference schedule with Jacksonville State on Wednesday, Dec. 27 before their first conference game against the Baylor Bears just three days later at the Moody Center.
