Texas Women Beat Aggies 79-64
AUSTIN (AP) - After struggling through a long, hard regular season, the Texas Longhorns look ready to do some damage now that it's tournament time.
Texas ended the regular season Sunday with an impressive 79-64 victory over defending national champion and No. 17 Texas A&M, giving its NCAA tournament hopes a huge boost. The Longhorns head into next week's Big 12 tournament on a three-game winning streak behind their best basketball of the season.
"I feel like we're peaking really at the right time," Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We've played inspired when our backs were against the wall."
A week ago, Texas (18-12, 8-10) looked in danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in five seasons under Goestenkors, who has struggled to return Texas to a national championship or even Big 12 title contender. Then, the Longhorns closed the regular season with wins over Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas A&M (20-9, 11-7) to send them into postseason with a big dose of confidence.
Sunday's win made it a regular-season sweep over their rivals, and even with a losing record in the Big 12, Texas should get in the NCAA tournament, Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.
"Texas played for their NCAA life," Blair said. "Texas will be in the tournament. They always find a way."
Longhorns senior guard Yvonne Anderson scored 25 points to go with nine assists and sophomore guard Chassidy Fussell scored 19 behind five 3-pointers for Texas. Anderson hit a career-high point total in her final home game, and she directed everything for the Texas offense with her quick drives and sharp passing.
"We know that during the season, we didn't do what we needed to," Anderson said. "I think with these last three games, we were trying to show that we deserve to be in."
Guard play has been Texas' strength all season, and the Longhorns also got solid games from post players Nneka Enemkpali, Ashley Gayle and Cokie Reed. Enemkpali had eight points and a career high 14 rebounds as those three worked together to contain Texas A&M's Kelsey Bone under the basket.
Bone finished with 13 points and eight boards. The Aggies were balanced offensively with four players scoring in double figures but were just 2 of 5 from 3-point and never found the baskets to rally in the second half.
Texas was 9 of 17 from long range, and a 3-pointer by Fussell put Texas ahead 52-43 with 13 minutes to play. Texas A&M pulled within 62-55 on a layup by Bone, but the comeback ended there. Anderson slashed the lane for a layup and Enemkpali followed with a tip-in that pushed the Texas lead back to 66-55.
Sunday may have marked the end of a rivalry. Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference after this year, and Texas officials have shown no interest in scheduling the Aggies for regular-season games in the future. The teams could still meet in this season's Big 12 tournament.
"Eventually, I think we'll come back around and play each other, but I don't think it will happen for a while," Goestenkors said.
Texas A&M is stumbling into the postseason, having lost three of its last four games.
"We've used the adage all year that everybody was giving us (their) best shot. But what are we supposed to do?" Blair said. "We're not playing like defending national champions. ... We're not ready for the Big 12 tournament, I'll tell you that."
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