Rori Harmon finds her shot, and No. 20 Texas avenges last month's loss at Texas Tech

Heading into Wednesday night, the Texas women hadn't lost a basketball game in three weeks.

Back on Jan. 18, the Longhorns were beaten 68-64 by Texas Tech, a road loss that eventually cost them their spot in the Top 25 poll. Texas, though, responded with five straight wins, climbed into first place in the Big 12 standings and is No. 20 this week.

Twenty-one days after that letdown in Lubbock, Texas has come full circle. Guard Shaylee Gonzales scored 25 points to lead the Longhorns to an 80-71 win over Texas Tech at Moody Center. With the win, Texas (19-6, 10-2 Big 12) maintained its one-game lead over second-place Oklahoma (19-4, 9-3).

"Hard to win in this league," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. "Texas Tech made it real hard."

In the nine-point victory, Texas also got 15 points and 10 assists from sophomore Rori Harmon. The assists were nothing new for the point guard. She entered the game No. 5 nationally with her average of 7.2 assists per game.

Harmon was contributing 11.4 points per game, but she found a different way to score in the second quarter. She countered a 12-point session from Texas Tech guard Bre'Amber Scott by making three shots within a 76-second span. Those eight points lifted Texas into halftime with a 38-27 lead.

Two of Harmon's shots were 3-pointers. She entered the game with a 4-for-28 showing on 3-point attempts this season. She had hit just one deep shot over the previous 13 games.

Harmon was successful on three of her five 3-pointers on Wednesday. Acknowledging that "she's been in a little bit of a funk," Schaefer mentioned that Harmon had spent the past three days in the gym and made 100 shots during each workout. Harmon added that she was working with Texas assistants Blair Schaefer, who's No. 5 all-time in the Mississippi State record books for career 3-pointers, and Elena Lovato.

"I'm feeling very confident now that I'm just taking more time to focus on those specifics," Harmon said.

Texas expanded its lead to as many as 22 points in the second half. But as foul troubles mounted — Harmon and fellow starters DeYona Gaston and Khadija Faye all fouled out in the final frame — Texas Tech pulled to within 71-61 with 1:52 to go, but the Longhorns were able to keep their guests at arm's length.

Texas scored 80 points for the ninth time this season despite the absence of senior guard Sonya Morris, who was ruled out with a lower body injury. She had participated in a media availability on Monday, but was using crutches two days later. Schaefer said she was dealing with a nagging injury and had spent a night in the hospital this week. Schaefer said the injury wasn't major and predicted that "she'll be living with our trainer in the next few days."

Junior Shay Holle replaced Morris, who had started each of UT's first 24 games. Holle never left the floor on Wednesday and logged a career-high 40 minutes. She grabbed five rebounds, distributed three assists and added three steals and a block to her stat sheet.

"Shay stepped up big-time playing 40 minutes like she did," Harmon said. "Everybody else is stepping up very well when they're needed. Like Coach always said, always be ready because you don't know what's going to happen."

When asked about the differences between the two Texas and Texas Tech games, both Harmon and Gaston assessed that the team played better ball-screen defense but had room to improve. Gaston, who chipped in 16 points, opined that "if we do better on that, we can win a lot more games."

Texas Tech coach Krista Gerlich said she felt Texas was more aggressive on both offense and defense this time around. "I thought they started playing more aggressively after the last time we played," she said.

Notes: Former Texas track and field standout Tyra Gittens sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" before the game as part of a Black History Month celebration. ... Scott led Texas Tech (16-8, 4-7) with 26 points. ... Between the two teams, 52 fouls were called and five players were disqualified. ... Faye, a Texas Tech transfer, scored seven points while former Texas guard Ashley Chevalier made a brief appearance for Texas Tech near the end of the game.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas ousts rival Texas Tech, extends winning streak in basketball