Longhorn Women Sweep Season Series With Iowa State
The No. 16 Texas Longhorns continued their mastery over the No. 6 Iowa State Cyclones, sweeping the season series, 73-48, on Wednesday night.
The Longhorn women (18-6, 8-5 in Big 12) won their fifth straight game over the Cyclones (21-4, 10-3), who were hoping to seize control of the Big 12 race, especially after Oklahoma lost to Texas Tech earlier in the evening. Instead, the Cyclones head to their Saturday matchup with Oklahoma tied for the Big 12 lead with Baylor, which beat TCU on Wednesday.
Texas is still two games back of ISU and Baylor for the Big 12 lead, but the Longhorns wrapped up a nine-game stretch that featured seven games against ranked teams. With the win over Iowa State, Texas finished 4-3 against ranked teams, and have no more ranked teams to play down the stretch.
Texas clinched the game in the third quarter, outscoring Iowa State, 22-9, which included a 14-0 run that gave Texas a 49-30 lead with 2:38 left. At the end of that run, Rori Harmon drained a 3-pointer for Texas, which was shortly followed by a technical foul on Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly. Audrey Warren made the two free throws to give Texas the 19-point edge, which was never threatened.
Harmon and Warren were big keys to the victory for Texas. Harmon helped settle Texas after an 0-for-8 start from the floor and she ended up having a big night, scoring 20 points and draining two 3-pointers. She also had a team-leading nine assists and six steals. Warren, who came off the bench, combined with DeYona Gaston to defend Iowa State star Ashley Joens, and Warren finished with 16 points and four steals.
Joens, who was 12 points away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in Iowa State history entering the game, was the primary defensive focus for the Longhorns. Joens did not play in their first meeting due to COVID-19 protocols, and on Wednesday Texas held her to 18 points, as she passed Angie Welle with a free throw in the fourth quarter. Jones now has 2,156 career points.
Emily Ryan added 11 points for Iowa State, which scored the same amount of points against Texas on Wednesday as it did in their first meeting.
Harmon’s jumper with two seconds left gave Texas a 31-26 halftime lead. By then, Harmon had seven points and five assists to lead Texas, as they frustrated the Cyclones for most of the half with a full-court press.
Texas now moves on to a road game at West Virginia at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The Longhorns won the first meeting, 73-57, on Jan. 15. The Mountaineers have lost their last four games and are without leading scorer KK Deans for the rest of the season due to injury.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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