The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AFTER a slow start to the season, Lashann Higgs and the Texas Longhorns Women's Basketball has now extended their winning streak to five games in the Big 12.

Higgs scored a game high 19 points to lead the Longhorns to a 70-53 win on the road over the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Oklahoma.

Higgs led four Longhorns in double figures. She also added five rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes off the bench.

Texas improves to 14-6 overall and 6-2 in the Big 12. Their only losses in conference play thus far were a two-point loss to TCU and a five-point loss to West Virginia.

Head coach Karen Aston said her team, like all of the basketball world, were understandably shaken by the sudden death of Kobe Bryant.

"I'm very proud of our team's start to both halves. We're a team that's much better when we start well and don't put ourselves in a hole. I'm proud of the team for its focus today. I was concerned about the game. Our team was affected, as everyone else is, by the [Kobe Bryant] tragedy.

"I thought we had a hard time focusing in the last few days. I didn't know what to expect today, so I thought they really rallied around each other and helped each other get focused," she said.

"It was a really good defensive performance on our part. We were able to get out in transition, which was great for our team."

Higgs reaches double figures for the 11th time this season. She now ranks 30th all time in Longhorns history with 1,210 points for her career and had played in 127 games.

Texas went ahead for good and dominated early with a 16-0 run in the second-quarter. An early offensive struggle shifted in Texas' favour when they hit the next five field goals.

Texas led 18-15 at the end of the first quarter.

Higgs' three pointer with 41 seconds left in the first period started the aforementioned 16-0 run.

The Sooners would score just eight points in the period and trailed 37-23 at the half.

Higgs had nine in the first half.

Texas led by 18 in the third and then took a 51-35 lead into the fourth quarter. The lead would reach as much as 28 in the fourth.

Texas returns to action on Friday when it hosts the dominant Baylor Bears - ranked No.1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 2 in the Associated Press poll.