Texas shakes off technical difficulties at Moody Center in a win over Oklahoma State

When the final buzzer rang Saturday night, the Moody Center scoreboards displayed a five-point win for the home team.

Texas 41, Oklahoma State 36.

But the announced crowd of 6,123 knew it had not just witnessed a low-scoring affair. Due to technical issues, the main shot clocks were turned off and the scoreboards remained stuck on a second-quarter score after halftime. The fans, though, were still able to celebrate a win.

Texas 78, Oklahoma State 69.

Taylor Jones scored 19 points and Texas (16-6, 7-2) used a nine-point win to remain tied atop the Big 12 standings. The victory also avenged one of UT's two conference losses, an 86-82 setback in Stillwater, Okla., earlier this month.

"I think it proves to us that we're not the same team that we were when we played them last time," Jones said. "The numbers don't lie; we are improving. When you keep on winning, you keep gaining confidence and you keep on wanting to continue to win."

After an entertaining opening quarter, the shot clocks began malfunctioning in the second session. Those problems led to several delays, and the final two possessions of the half for Texas ended with the public address announcer using his dulcet tones to count down the clock.

The technical issues at Texas' months-old, $375 million facility weren't solved over an extended break at halftime. After a 45-minute intermission, electronic scoreboards were placed on the scorer's table and the courtside media table. Portable shot clocks that also kept track of the game time were moved onto the baselines.

But while the clocks were broken, Jones' shot was not.

The 6-foot-4 forward made her first nine shots. While working primarily in the paint, she finished with a 9-for-10 shooting performance and became just the 10th player in school history to shoot 90% with at least eight attempts.

"When she gets that deep, I mean, she's good. She's really good," Oklahoma State coach Jacie Hoyt said. "We just don't have anyone with her size out there. Our kids did a great job for the most part; I thought they just did well, but she really took it to us, for sure."

An Oregon State transfer, Jones missed nine games this season with a lower body injury. In the seven games since her return, she has averaged 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds. She has scored 45 points over her last three contests.

"I also am finally feeling comfortable coming back from my injury and feeling comfortable in my offensive game," Jones said. "I was hitting, so they gave me the ball."

Texas never trailed and expanded its lead to 11 points in the final quarter. Oklahoma State, however, clawed to within four points on a basket by Lior Garzon with 4 minutes, 8 seconds remaining.

Texas responded with a 3-pointer by Shaylee Gonzales. On the next two UT possessions, Jones scored and Gonzales cleaned up the only miss of the night by her teammate.

Gonzales finished with 17 points. Rori Harmon (16), Sonya Morris (10) and DeYona Gaston (10) also contributed double-digit totals.

"When you've got five kids in double-figure scoring, you're always going to have a chance," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. "I thought offensively we did some really good stuff. Really good stuff."

Schaefer did not have an official explanation for the technical difficulties. He added that he apologized to the referees and Oklahoma State's coaching staff and described the issues as "embarrassing."

Hoyt said she struggled at times to keep track of both the score and the clock since they were being kept in different locations. Harmon was embarrassed to admit that she constantly looked at the scoreboard in the second half and was baffled by an unchanged score.

Between the two teams, only one shot clock violation was called in the second half. Because of where the clocks were positioned on the baseline, Harmon said there were some blind spots on the court so she would occasionally have to rely on countdowns being yelled by teammates.

"I hope it's fixed for the next game," said Harmon, who turns 20 on Sunday.

Added Gonzales: "It shouldn't happen."

Notes: Garzon led all scorers with her 21 points. ... The Longhorns next travel to West Virginia and Kansas. ... Texas and No. 18 Iowa State, which beat No. 14 Oklahoma on Saturday, are both 7-2 in Big 12 play. ... Texas forward Khadija Faye blocked five shots in 16 minutes of playing time.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas women avenge earlier loss to basketball rival Oklahoma State