Rori Harmon Fuels Longhorns' Fourth Straight Victory
Texas guard Rori Harmon had her second straight impressive outing, as the No. 14 Longhorns defeated West Virginia, 67-58, on Sunday in Big 12 women’s action.
Texas (19-6, 9-5) won its fourth straight game, and Harmon — just as in the Longhorns’ win over Iowa State on Wednesday — was right in the middle of it.
Harmon nearly had a triple-double for Texas, scoring 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. This came after Harmon scored 20 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out nine assists for the Longhorns against the Cyclones.
Texas won comfortably, but the Mountaineers (11-13, 4-10) did all they could to make the Longhorns uncomfortable at WVU Coliseum, where the Longhorns lost by 34 points last season. The game featured nine lead changes and eight ties, but all of those came in the first half. Texas grabbed control of the game with a 10-0 run to close the first half to take a 36-28 lead.
West Virginia trimmed the lead to three points a couple of times in the third quarter, with the last coming with 1:44 left at 48-45. But, from there, Texas pulled away, with Harmon leading the way.
Texas forward DeYona Gaston had a fine game, finishing with 13 points, while guard Audrey Warren added 11 points.
West Virginia is down several players, including leading scorer and guard KK Deans, who is out for the season with an injury. Without her, nearly every Mountaineer that played scored, led by forward Esmery Martinez (13 points, six rebounds), guard Madisen Smith (10 points, five assists) and forward Kari Niblack (nine points, four rebounds.)
Niblack left the game briefly in the second quarter after she was head-butted by Texas forward Lauren Ebo. Niblack needed medical attention and Ebo’s common foul was upgraded to an intentional foul, which was her third foul of the game.
Niblack ended up playing just 15 minutes, most of which was in the first half. Ebo played 12 minutes and didn’t score a point.
Texas remained two games back of both Baylor and Iowa State in the Big 12 standings with four games remaining. But, with Oklahoma’s loss to Iowa State on Saturday, the Longhorns are now tied for fourth place with the Sooners (the two split their season series). Kansas (19-5, 10-4) is in third place but faces a difficult week in which the Jayhawks face Iowa State and Baylor. Texas also plays Kansas on March 2.
So, the Longhorns can entertain the possibility of a Top 3 seed at the Big 12 Tournament, which starts on March 10 in Kansas City.
The Longhorns will be at Kansas State on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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