The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

LASHANN Higgs has established an important role in the rotation for the Texas Longhorns women’s basketball programme and it has helped the team’s current win streak, highlighted by an upset over an interstate rival and second ranked team in the country.

Higgs finished with a season high 16 points in the No.11 Longhorns 85-79 win over the No.2 Baylor Bears Monday night on the road at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. The Longhorns improved to 19-4, still undefeated at 13-0 in the Big 12. Texas also broke Baylor’s 21 game win streak in the Big 12 and fell to 23-2.

Higgs shot 6-12 from the field in 25 minutes of play. It was also her season high in field goal attempts, free throws made and free throws attempted.

It was a rare win, not only because it was the first home loss for Baylor in nearly three years, but it snapped Texas’ 14-game losing streak against the Bears. The Longhorns now boast the second-best active win streak in the NCAA with 17 and hold a perfect 13-0 record in Big 12 Conference play for the first time in programme history.

“This was a really good basketball game,” said Aston. “You saw tonight how good the Big 12 was. I’m really proud of our players. I thought they were tough tonight.”

As a team, Texas shot 51.6 per cent (33-64) from the field while holding Baylor to a 43.9 shooting percentage (29-66). The Longhorns outrebounded the Lady Bears 38-37 and swiped six steals to BU’s two.

Next on the schedule, Texas will return home to host Kansas on Saturday, February 11 at home in the Erwin Center.

In 23 games this season, with one start, Higgs is averaging 7.9 points per game while grabbing 2.9 rebounds, dishing 1.4 assists with one steal in just over 16 minutes per game. She is also shooting 52 per cent from the field but continues to struggle both at the line at 50 per cent and from three- point range at 25 per cent.

After a slow start to the season, Higgs has picked up her scoring load considerably in January and has reached double figures in five of her last eight games.

Higgs doesn’t shy away from big-game pressure. In last year’s NCAA Tournament, she averaged 10.2 points in UT’s four games, including a team-high 19 points in a season-ending 86-65 loss to eventual champion UConn.

She ranks second on the team in field goal percentage and third in steals.

Both Higgs and her head coach discussed the resilience of the sophomore guard and Harbour Island native with the Austin American-Statesman and Hookem.com. “There have been some dark moments when she’s really gotten down on herself, and I’ve had question marks on whether she was going to overcome some mental setbacks,” Aston said. “Most of it is when she beats herself up over when she makes a mistake. Her (recent) growth has come from here persistence and her willingness to not quit on herself or her team.”

Higgs said she agrees with Aston’s assessment “to some extent.”

“Sometimes as a player, you get caught up in the thought that you have to do everything perfectly,” she said. “I’m now realising when you do that it tends to lead to more mistakes. … So when you become comfortable with your mistakes and learn from them, that’s when you grow as a player. I’m playing with more confidence. I’m paying more attention to details, working hard in practice to play my game.”

Texas started the season at 2-4 but those losses all came against elite level ranked teams - UConn, Stanford, South Carolina and Mississippi State.

According to a vote of the league’s head coaches, the Longhorns are predicted to finish second behind Baylor in the Big 12 and also finished with a single first place vote.

The Longhorns are coming off a 31-5 record and an NCAA Elite Eight appearance in 2015-16.

Texas went 15-3 to finish second in the league and tied the school record for most Big 12 victories with 15. The Longhorns have appeared in back-to-back Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship games.

Higgs finished the final game of their season with a career high 19 points in the Longhorns’ 86-65 loss to the eventual champion UConn Huskies in the Bridgeport Regional Semi-final in April. It was the second consecutive season the Huskies ended the year for the Longhorns after they routed them by 50 in the 2015 Sweet 16.

Higgs appeared in 34 games and finished the year averaging 7.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game in 13.2 minutes.