Baylor
Texas
Lady Bears Lose To Longhorns, 69-55
1/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas - Nina Norman scored 17 points, including eight in a key two-minute stretch late in the second half, to lead No. 15 Texas to a 69-55 win over No. 4 Baylor on Saturday.
Tiffany Jackson added 18 points and eight rebounds for Texas (10-6, 3-2 Big 12), which used a 15-2 run to close the game.
The win could was much needed for the Longhorns, who had lost four of their previous six games in a season that started with expectations of reaching the Final Four.
Sophia Young led Baylor (13-3, 3-2) with 13 points and 12 rebounds. The Lady Bears didn't score a field goal over the final 7:48.
Texas led 54-53 when Norman simply took over the game over the final four minutes. She started the run with a pair of free throws then slipped underneath on an inbounds pass to convert an easy layup.
Then, she grabbed a defensive rebound and went the length of the court for a layup that made it 60-55. Norman then forced two Baylor turnovers and the Longhorns steadily pulled away. Anissa Hastings scored the Longhorns' final five points, all of them from the free-throw line.
Defensively, Texas clamped down on Baylor's tough frontcourt duo of Young and Stephanie Blackmon, harassing them near the basket and rarely giving them easy entry passes.
Those two had combined for 44 points and 21 rebounds in Baylor's 63-60 win over Texas on Jan. 8. Blackmon had just three points and four boards this time around.
With those two struggling to get the ball, Baylor committed 25 turnovers, including five in a row during the Longhorns' final run.
The Longhorns fought back from a horrid start - they missed 15 of their first 17 shots - to briefly grab a 25-24 lead in the final minute of the first half on Norman's jumper.
But Baylor quickly retook the lead when Young snared a tough pass to convert a layup. Baylor then stripped the ball from Kalee Carey and Chameeka Scott hit a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner at the buzzer to make it 29-25 at the break.
Baylor couldn't capitalize on the momentum.
Jamie Carey's long 3-pointer put Texas up 35-33 and Jackson scored six straight points as the Longhorns built a seven-point lead. Carey hit another 3-pointer and Jackson made two free throws that made it 53-47.
Baylor managed to cut it to one, but Blackmon's layup with 7:48 to play was the Lady Bears' last bucket of the game.
JIM VERTUNO
AP Sports Writer
