No. 7 Texas women pull away in 2nd half for 65-43 win at TCU

FORT WORTH, Texas -- — Shay Holle and seventh-ranked Texas had a new bus for the nearly 200-mile ride back to campus after a big second half to beat TCU.

The necessary transportation switch was a nice reward after a long day.

Holle scored 12 of her 14 points after halftime when the Longhorns used a huge run to pull away for a 65-43 win over TCU on Saturday, a rainy day when their first bus broke down on the way to the morning shootaround, forcing them to Uber in four or five different vehicles to and from the arena.

“I mean, it was a day, but we got through it,” Texas senior guard DeYona Gaston said.

“You adjust, and that's what we did,” coach Vic Schaefer said.

Along with having to make sure to get bigger Uber vehicles, Schaefer said there was then no water pressure at the hotel when taking showers after the shootaround. But he said they had a very nice new bus for the ride home to Austin.

“It's been a heck of a day,” he said. “Oh, and by the way, we played a basketball game.”

Madison Booker added 13 points for the Longhorns (22-3, 9-3 Big 12), who led only 29-27 before an 18-1 run in the third quarter. That game-turning spurt started with Booker's jumper that was the first of their 13 consecutive points, and the standout freshman also had a 3-pointer in that span.

TCU (15-8, 2-10), still playing without its top three players because of injuries, trailed only 23-20 after scoring the last nine points of the first half.

“Proud of our team for competing and fighting. Especially the first half we were able to kind of junk it up a little bit and keep it close, and kind of kept the tempo in our favor,” first-year TCU coach Mark Campbell said. “Credit Texas for coming out in the third quarter, and really flexed their muscle. They really did. Pounded the ball inside, pounded us on the glass, and we weren’t able to to recover.”

Aaliyah Roberson and Agnes Emma-Nnopu each had 11 points for the Frogs, who shot only 29% (14 of 48) from the field. Una Jovanovic had 10 points and Emma-Nnopu had nine rebounds.

The Longhorns missed their last six shots of the first half after Taylor Jones' jumper with 4:41 left for a 23-11 lead. After missing 16 of their first 18 shots, the Frogs finished the half 5-of-8 including two 3-pointers by Emma-Nnopu.

“Just really proud of our kids in the second half,” Schaefer said. “They answered the bell.”

BIG PICTURE

Texas: After missing nine of its first 11 shots in the game, and having that drought before halftime, Texas shot 60.7% (17 of 28) after halftime.

“We just weren't being very aggressive in the first half. We had open looks that maybe we weren't taking, and we also needed to focus on getting the ball inside more,” Holle said. “We've just got a lot of confidence, even when the ball isn't necessarily going in.”

TCU: The Frogs, 1-8 plus two Big 12 forfeits since a 14-0 start, were the only team in the nation with two 20-point scorers before both got hurt. TCU is still hopeful of getting back Sedona Prince (broken finger), the 6-foot-7 transfer from Oregon, and Madison Conner (MCL) before the end of the regular season. Senior point guard Jaden Owens won't return because of a torn ACL and meniscus in her right knee.

UP NEXT

Texas plays Wednesday night at Houston (12-11, 3-9), which has lost six of its last seven games.

TCU remains home to play No. 22 West Virginia on Tuesday night.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball