The Texas Longhorns maintained a steady-ish lead over the LSU Tigers as the two teams battled for a spot in the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament championship game. However, Texas' head coach, Vic Schaefer, wanted better from his team.
"You know when you get in games like this… We just can’t have those mistakes," Schafer said after the third quarter, when Texas maintained a 40-36 lead over LSU.
In the regular season, the Horns defeated the Tigers by a slim margin to defeat LSU and move closer to clinching the conference title. Now, the two teams were fighting for a spot in the highly-coveted conference title game where they would face the No. 1-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks.
"I love this team," Schaefer said. "I love their spirit."
The Texas head coach had a reason to express that sentiment. In the Longhorns' first season in the SEC, the team not only clinched the conference regular season title, but the Horns also secured the No. 1 ranking in the nation as it headed into the postseason.
In the SEC Tournament, Texas defeated the Ole Miss Rebels in the quarterfinals to advance to its second postseason game, where the second-seeded Horns would face the ninth-seeded Tigers.
As the fourth quarter unfolded, Texas neither built a massive lead nor sacrificed their single-digit advantage over LSU, neither living up to nor disappointing the hype that Schaefer gave the Horns.
The winner of the big-time matchup between LSU and Texas would move on to face South Carolina at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 9. The game was set to be broadcast on ESPN.