Greenville, South Carolina – No coin flips needed this time. The Texas women’s basketball team and South Carolina will settle this to court.
Behind the 25 points from Madison Booker and a strong fourth quarter from Lori Harmon in Texas, they advanced to the SEC Championship Game by beating LSU 56-49 at Bonsekows Wellness Arena on Saturday. With their second victory over LSU this season, Texas improved their record to 31-2.
Texas is also moving forward to playing South Carolina on Sunday at 2pm.
Texas and South Carolina split the series during the regular season, with the Gamecocks scoring a 67-50 victory at home on January 12, before Texas responded with a 66-62 victory on Moody Center Court on January 12. The two teams also split the SEC regular season championship.
Due to the rules of the SEC tiebreaker, the coins were turned over for tournament seeds. South Carolina has won that coin toss and is the number one seed in this bracket.
On Saturday, Texas and South Carolina set up traditional tiebreakers to determine the SEC’s advantage. In addition to UT’s seven-point victory in the SEC semi-finals, South Carolina received a 93-75 victory at Oklahoma.
Senior step up in the SEC semifinals
Texas senior Lori Harmon scored two points through three-quarters, missing all five attempts from the field. However, in the fourth quarter, Harmon notched eight points. She didn’t miss the Texas team’s field goals and free throws, which scored just 16 points throughout the quarter.
As Texas nurses a 50-46 lead in the final minute, Harmon has created several plays that don’t end in the stats sheet. LSU wasn’t falling into a bonus and there was a foul, so Texas had to inbound four basketball in seven seconds. With either Booker or Shay Holle inbound, Longhorns harmonized basketball every time without turnovers.
“We’re not necessarily working on those things, but we’re happy we actually got to put the ball in and knock down a free throw,” Harmon said.
Harmon stepped up ahead at the conference tournament. As a freshman, she scored 20 points in the Big 12 Championship Game and performed 30 points in the semi-finals. She scored a double double with 11 points and 10 assists against Oklahoma State the following year in the Big 12 semi-finals.
However, due to a knee injury, Harmon was sitting when Texas won the Big 12 tournament last season. On Saturday, she expressed her gratitude for being competing again in the postseason.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s a way I missed that tournament, and it gives me more fuel,” Harmon said. “I think we can beat those shots in the fourth quarter, but we’re just gaining confidence from our teammates. Everything that happens on the court is because we really believe in each other.”
Harmon distributed one assist on Saturday, which helped her join Camie Esridge as the only Longhorns to score 700 assists in her career. Ethridge recorded a school record of 776 assists from 1982 to 86, one of three players retiring Jersey Numbers by the UT Women’s Basketball Program.
Texas shuts down shortmand LSU violations
A day after scoring 101 points against Florida, LSU was held to the lowest point total since their 48-40 victory at Texas Tech on November 30, 2017.
The Tigers were not helped by the fact that all meeting guard Flau’jae Johnson had missed the game with shin’s injury. Star forward Anesa Morrow didn’t return to the game after suffering from manager Kim Malkey, who described him as a footing sprain early in the third quarter. Johnson and Morrow are two main scorers for LSU, while Morrow is one of the nation’s leading rebounders.
At a post-game press conference, Markey quickly pointed out that Texas also struggled offensively. Texas have scored more than 56 points in all but one of the games this season, with the Longhorns earning 31.6% off the field with 18 turnovers against the Tigers.
“Did Texas struggle? They only scored 56 points on all their weapons,” Markie said. “So I thought it was a game of defence. I thought both teams were defensive. It was just a lot of offensive play. Everything was tough.”
Texas wins the game but may lose sleep
Schafer pointed out that the Longhorns lose an hour of sleep overnight, as daytime savings will be effective on Sunday mornings. So Schafer said he might skip the shootaround on Sunday.
“Ten years ago, I’m strong, we have to get up and do a shootaround, we have to be here even if they give us,” Schaefer said. “Four decades later, I’ve changed. The player in front of me will say I’ve become softer. That’s fine. I’m worried about resting tonight.
Added Schaefer: “I really left it to them, be honest with you. We’ll see how it will turn out. Again, if you didn’t have tomorrow, your frame and your happiness tomorrow, you wouldn’t have got a chance against South Carolina.”
