Every time Texas women’s basketball tried to disrupt LSU’s momentum and find a way back to a lead, the Tigers put a stop to it.
Until the fourth quarter.
As the last 10 minutes of an uphill battle for the Longhorns began, freshman guard Jordan Lee sank a jumper that cut the Tigers’ lead to just one point.
From then on, the Longhorns didn’t let up.
Texas shots started to go in, and LSU started to crumble. In a game where the Tigers were in control for nearly 30 minutes, the Texas toughness that head coach Vic Schaefer preaches so often started to shine through.
“That is the name of the game right now, especially for me. We go down 12, nobody’s like, ‘What are we going to do?’’’ senior guard Rori Harmon said. “Nobody’s doing that. It’s because we have a level of trust in each other – confidence and trust.”
Even though sophomore forward Madison Booker had trouble with her shots at first, going 0–11 in the first half, she ended the game with a team-high 16 points as her teammates picked up the slack. Every other Texas player that took the court put up points, displaying the team’s depth.
“I looked down this whole roster, we have the pieces. We have the pieces to be great … We came back against a great team, a great, talented team, and we beat them,” Booker said. “That’s just to show you, we can come back from anything, as long as we play as one.”
By the fourth quarter, the Longhorns were doing exactly that. Their rally against the Tigers electrified all 10,542 attendees in the Moody Center.
Schaefer thanked the sold out crowd and took to the court after the game ended, giving an impromptu speech to the fans that showed up. Schaefer’s voice was hoarse, as he choked up and he thanked the cheering burnt orange crowd clad.
“You guys make such a great difference. We walk around here and talk about ‘Texas tough’ and ‘Texas fight’ all the time,” Schaefer said, surrounded by his smiling players. “That team right there is your team! They are Texas tough!”
This game caps off a difficult stretch of four ranked matchups over the past two weeks. Texas will finally have a bye week and a chance to rest before heading to Georgia on Feb. 24.
These games have shown Schaefer what his team is capable of and what they might accomplish in the looming SEC Championships at the beginning of March, but for Schaefer, it’s all about reminding his team to be present.
“Embrace the moment right now. Embrace this moment in your life and live it. Live it,” Schaefer said. “If this is who we are, then you live it every day … You’ve worked hard all your life to get to this moment. Live it.”
