In front of a capacity crowd at the Moody Center on Sunday, the No. 4 Texas Longhorns (21-2, 6-2) beat the No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners (17-5, 5-4) in the 70th Red River Rivalry, 78-70, the 38th straight home victory for head coach Vic Schaefer and the Horns.
In the first quarter, the Longhorns jumped out behind sophomore forward Justice Carlton aiding Texas’ 47.1 shooting percentage in leading the offense with nine points and three rebounds. Texas’ defense held Oklahoma’s offense to a 31.3-percent shooting while
forcing five turnovers as senior center Reagan Beers scored four points for OU in the opening period, but the Longhorn stood on top, 19-10.
True freshman guard Aaliyah Crump came off the bench in the second quarter to lead the Longhorns with 10 points while sophomore Bryanna Preston added three assists. OU out-shot Texas at 45.5 percent, but turned the ball over eight times in the quarter. The Texas offense closed out the first half shooting 45 percent from the field while the defense held OU’s offense to 37 percent to secure a 40-24 lead.
In the start of the second half, the No. 10 Sooners came out swinging with guard Payton Verhulst hitting eight points with two assists. OU went to shoot 52.9 percent from the field to outscore Texas 23-20 in the quarter. While in the third, the Texas offense shot 66.7 percent with only nine total shot attempts from the field as Carlton and junior wing Madison Booker and Carlton combined 10 points.
The rivals slugged it out in the fourth quarter with the Texas offense shooting 58.3 percent from the field and OU’s offense hitting half its shots. Sophomore guard Zya Vann led the Sooners in the fourth with 10 points. The Sooner defense was able to force 12 turnover points in the second half while Texas shot 62 percent from the field.
Overall, the Longhorns shot 51 percent from the field and were led by Booker and Carlton with 16 points apiece while sophomore guard Jordan Lee hit for 14 points. Texas’ defense scored 25 points of turnovers and out-rebounded the Sooners overall, 36-32, while the Longhorn bench contributed 20 points, including 12 from freshman guard Aaliyah Crump.
Next up, Texas hosts host No. 6 LSU in another top-10 matchup on Thursday at 8 p.m. Central on ESPN.
