WOMENS BASKETBALL
Texas 80, Connecticut 68
By JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas - Rori Harmon scored points 27 and had 13 assists, and No. 10 Texas earned the program's first ever win over No. 11 UConn 80-68, sending the struggling Huskies to their third loss of the early season.
Freshman Madison Booker added 20 points and four assists for Texas (9-0) which had been 0-10 against the Huskies (4-3). was the eighth time in the series both teams had been ranked in the top 15.
Texas bolted to a 15-3 lead as the Longhorns made their first six shots in the biggest game of their season so far. Booker, Harmon and Shaylee Gonzales made consecutive 3-pointers.
The Longhorns looked to be in total control when the lead stretched to the 18 in the third quarter. Gonzeles' buzzer-beating layup to close the period made it 60-43 heading into the fourth.
UConn rallied by making its first 10 shots of the final period to cut the deficit to 74-68 before Amina Muhammad's layup, and two free throws by Harmon with 46 seconds left pushed the lead back to 10. That ended the Huskies' threat.
Aaliyah Edwards led UConn with 22 points. Huskies star Paige Bueckers scored 13 points but only five came in the first half while blanketed defensively by Harmon. She was 4-of-11 shooting and did not score in the second quarter.
BIG PICTURE
UConn: The Huskies are struggling and likely to continue tumbling in the rankings into territory they have not seen in a long time. UConn has not been ranked lower than No. 11 since they were No. 13 in the penultimate Associated Press poll of the 2004-2005 season.
Texas: Booker was the preseason Big 12 freshman of the year and she certainly was not cowed by the biggest game of her young career. In fact, she thrived. The 6-foot-1 forward has the ball skills to relieve Harmon at point guard and oozed confidence every time she touched the ball.
December 3, 2023
| UConn | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| A. Edwards | F | 38 | 9-11 | 4-8 | 0-0 | 1-6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 22 |
| I. Brady | F | 26 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| N. Muhl | G | 38 | 4-4 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| P. Bueckers | G | 35 | 4-11 | 3-4 | 2-5 | 0-4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| A. Griffin | G | 20 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| K. Arnold | 24 | 2-4 | 5-6 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | |
| A. Shade | 11 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | |
| Q. Samuels | 8 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | |
| Totals | 200 | 26-44 (.591) |
12-18 (.667) |
4-10 (.400) |
5-29 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 20 | 68 | |
| Texas | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| M. Booker | F | 40 | 9-21 | 1-3 | 1-4 | 0-3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 20 |
| A. Muhammad | F | 34 | 6-8 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 6-8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 15 |
| T. Jones | F | 19 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| R. Harmon | G | 39 | 9-17 | 7-8 | 2-5 | 1-5 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 27 |
| S. Gonzales | G | 31 | 3-9 | 2-2 | 2-5 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| A. Moore | 12 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| K. Faye | 11 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | |
| S. Holle | 9 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| N. Mwenentanda | 5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 31-68 (.456) |
13-17 (.765) |
5-15 (.333) |
16-32 | 18 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 18 | 80 | |
Officials: Gina Cross, Maj Forsberg, Nykesha Thompson
Attendance: 10,763
