Texas Tech Upset No. 9 Texas Women, 74-61

The Lady Raiders won their first game in Austin since 2013, while Texas saw their seven-game winning streak end

Back at full strength and facing a team that had lost three straight, the Texas Longhorns seemed to have a clear path to their second straight Big 12 women’s basketball victory.

Texas Tech had other ideas, as the Lady Raiders came into the Erwin Center and took care of the No. 9 Longhorns, 74-61, on Wednesday night in Austin.

Texas (10-2, 1-1 in Big 12) welcomed back the players it had lost to COVID-19 when it faced Oklahoma State on Jan. 2, and also embraced the return of freshman forward Aaliyah Moore, who had missed more than a month due to an injury.

But it was Texas Tech (8-5, 1-1), a team that was 3-3 away from Lubbock, that looked like the more together team as it ended Texas' seven-game winning streak.

Texas Tech held the Longhorns, who averaged nearly 80 points per game entering the contest to 61 points. The Lady Raiders won their first game against a Top 10 team since 2011 and their first game in Austin since 2013.

The Lady Raiders started the game scorching hot from the field, shooting better than 60 percent from the floor in the first half. They maintained their lead with an impressive night at the free throw line (33 of 42), while dominating Texas in the paint and on the glass, including a 44-32 edge on the boards.

Bre’Amber Scott, a former player for Texas coach Vic Schaefer at Mississippi State, had 21 points for the Lady Raiders. Scott transferred to Texas Tech from Little Rock after last season and was making just her second start for Texas Tech after injuries kept her out of the lineup for nine games.

Texas Tech forward Vivian Gray led Texas Tech with 23 points, while Taylah Thomas had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Nothing went right for Texas. As a team, the Longhorns shot 29.2 percent from the floor. Both Joanne Allen-Taylor and DeYona Gaston — the latter of which returned to the lineup from COVID protocols — fouled out.

Audrey Warren helped Texas cut the Lady Raiders’ lead to 34-30 at halftime after a nine-point second quarter. But Warren wasn’t able to do much else offensively, and she scored 11 points. Freshman point guard Rori Harmon added 10 points. Aliyah Matharu led the Longhorns with 12 points.

Texas didn’t lead on Moore too much. In her first game of 2022, Moore — who was picked the Big 12 preseason freshman of the year — scored four points and grabbed one rebound in 20 minutes.

Texas learned before the game that its Sunday game with Baylor had been postponed due to COVID protocols at the Baylor program. Texas is not scheduled to play again until it hosts Kansas on Jan. 12 and West Virginia on Jan. 15. Texas won’t hit the road again until it faces Iowa State on Jan. 19.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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