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Texas women’s basketball Elite 8 bound after upsetting Maryland

By Andrew Miller

Celeste Taylor, Texas Women's Basketball Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Celeste Taylor, Texas Women's Basketball Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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It was a big night on March 28 for the Texas women’s basketball program and new head coach Vic Schaefer as they looked to continue their quest to get to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. The six-seed Texas took on two-seeded Maryland on March 28, with the hopes of making it through the Sweet 16.

To get to the Sweet 16, Texas had to down the three-seed UCLA. Texas beat UCLA by a score of 71-62, which was convincing considering it came against the No. 9 ranked team in the country heading into the NCAA Tournament. That was also only the sixth loss of the season for UCLA. Texas had absolutely dominated the Bruins in the first half (specifically in the second quarter en route to a 22-6 edge).

It wasn’t as easy for the Longhorns to get the edge over Maryland on March 28 and for good reason. Maryland was a top 10 team in the country for most of the regular season, and this was only their third loss of the 2020-21 campaign. Maryland came into this game with a record of 26-2.

Meanwhile, Texas came in with a record of 20-9. It took them that aforementioned win over the three-seed UCLA and a win over the 11-seed Radford in their first game of the NCAA Tournament to face Maryland.

This is truly a magical run thus far for the Longhorns to get to where they are now.

https://twitter.com/TexasWBB/status/1376369557955350530

Maryland did get the jump on Texas early, taking a nearly double-digit lead into the locker room at halftime. But it was the Longhorns that came out of the gates in the second half firing. Texas won the third quarter by a nine-point margin. And then they held off Maryland enough to the point of winning the game by a score of 64-61.

https://twitter.com/espnW/status/1376370332127395842

The win for the Longhorns came behind huge efforts from junior forward/center Charli Collier and junior guard Celeste Taylor. That duo for the Longhorns gave them more than 20 boards on the night, and they edge scored at least 15 points themselves.

Taylor went off for 15 points (and played in a team-high 40 minutes in this game), 11 rebounds, four assists, and one steal. And she shot 6-of-16 from the field, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Meanwhile, Collier tallied up a game-high 16 points, 11 rebounds, no assists, one steal, and one block. And she shot 6-of-11 from the field and an efficient 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.

This dynamic duo for the Longhorns truly helped push the team to the Elite 8, and get this huge three-point win over Maryland.

Junior guard Joanne Allen-Taylor and former transfer and senior point guard Kyra Lambert had nice outings on this night too. They combined for 24 points, two rebounds, six assists, two steals, no blocks, and three turnovers.

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Texas got their 21st win of the season by downing Maryland to cap the weekend to reach the Elite 8. Next up for Schaefer and the Longhorns is a meeting with the top-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks on April 2 in San Antonio.