AUSTIN, Texas — While No. 9 West Virginia had overcome injuries to post a 13-0 record, there was no overcoming No. 8 Texas on Sunday.
The Longhorns took command with 14 unanswered points to start the second half, enjoyed a massive 63-30 rebounding edge and dominated their Big 12 matchup 79-58 at Frank Erwin Center.
Another 20-point performance from guard Naomi Davenport wasn’t nearly sufficient for the Mountaineers (13-1, 1-1), who shot 31 percent from the field and rarely got second chances because of the Texas tenacity on the glass.
“They were a lot more physical and wanted the ball a lot more than we did,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. “We shied away. Of course, we have half our team not playing, but that’s no excuse. I thought we would be more physical and play, would battle them in the paint and we didn’t do it.”
West Virginia has been missing standout scorer Tynice Martin since she suffered a foot injury in August at Team USA camp. Forward Krista King (11.9 points, 7.2 rebounds) is in the midst of a four- to six-week recovery, and forward Krystaline McCune has been sidelined since Dec. 10.
The Longhorns (11-1, 2-0) committed 24 turnovers but pounded the ball inside and built a 30-point lead in the fourth quarter.
“I sure can’t complain about our effort, intensity defensively, attention to detail, all of that was really terrific,” Texas coach Karen Aston said.
“I thought it was good from start to the finish. I thought we did exactly what we needed to do to win the game. Obviously we need to clean up some turnover situations and slow down a little bit offensively but effort was tremendous, especially on the boards.”
Brooke McCarty led Texas with 17 points and a career-high nine rebounds.
Freshman Rellah Boothe scored a career-high 14 points, sophomore Alecia Sutton added 11, and center Jatarie White also finished with 10 points and nine boards for the Longhorn, who led 33-22 at the half.
When a huge run to open the third quarter pushed the cushion out to 47-22, West Virginia was finished.
“We got behind and we just started not running any offense, it was all one-on-one,” Carey said. “But give Texas credit, Texas just keeps coming in with players. They have a lot of talent, a lot of height, a lot of bodies.”
Chania Ray added 15 points, while Teana Muldrow had 13 points and a career-high six blocks for the Mountaineers.
UT enjoyed a 54-26 edge in paint scoring and a 37-8 margin in bench points.