Junior forward Aaliyah Moore completes comeback by helping Texas win Big 12 Tournament Championship

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On December 11, 2022, Aaliyah Moore crashed to the floor at the Moody Center, tears filling her eyes after suffering a torn ACL that ended her season.

Just over two years later, tears filled Moore’s eyes as she sat at the podium after scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds in the Longhorns Big 12 Tournament Championship victory over Iowa State.

Texas beats Iowa State to win Big 12 Tournament Championship

It’s been a difficult road back for Moore, and the emotion of her journey was in full display when she was asked to put the past two-plus years into perspective.

“You don’t know unless you go through it, I’m just really proud of this team, I’m really proud of myself, like I said, it was not easy,” Moore said.

“I couldn’t have gotten through it without my support system, a big shoutout to my mom, and grandmom and my whole family, they’re my everything and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

The junior forward averaged 10.9 points per game, and 5.8 rebounds per game this season.

Most importantly for her, she stayed on the floor, playing in 29 games total while starting just over half of the Longhorns’ contests this season.

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“A lot of people don’t come back from ACL’s maybe the way they were before, it just takes time, so for me to be able to come back, Coach to trust me again, and me being able to trust my knee and just to go out there and play, it’s my freshman year all over again,” Moore said.

Her efforts this season have brought her conference honors, as she was named All-Big 12 Second Team.

“I’m so thankful, so blessed, yeah, this is why I came here.”

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