The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

MATCHED up against their second nationally ranked team within a week, Lashann Higgs and the Texas Longhorns successfully rebounded from their first loss of the season.

Higgs scored 15 points and dished a team high six assists in the No.8 Longhorns' 87-72 win over the No.12 Florida State Seminoles.

Texas improved to 9-1 while previously unbeaten FSU suffered their first loss of the season at 10-1. The Longhorns now lead the all-time series with the Seminoles 3-0.

Texas overcame an 11-point deficit in the game - its largest deficit of the season as Florida State led 21-10 at the 5:18 mark of the first quarter.

Higgs got out to a quick start personally and set the stage in the first half.

I would say it was more about making the extra effort, paying more attention to details and being in the right position. I was guarding the shooter, Imani Wright, so there were very (few) mistakes that I could make, so I just tried to be as disciplined as possible and just be in the right position and let it come to me."

The Seminoles' run began with a 10-2 lead to open the game, and forced an early Texas timeout before two minutes of play elapsed. The Longhorns responded with a run of their own and eventually tied the game at 23-23 with 1:50 left on a Higgs layup. The longorns led 41-40 at the break.

FSU tied the score after five minutes of play at 54-54, but a Higgs layup put Texas back on top, 56-54, and Texas closed out the third with a 7-2 run for a 63-56 lead heading into the final period.

"I thought that this game was a typical matchup between two competitive teams just in a sense that there were a lot of swings and momentum.

Obviously the first was a swing for them to start the game. Once our team settled in they understood that this was a game that was going to take a 40-minute effort from them and I really thought that we had that. I'm most proud of our rebounding and of our competitive spirit today. Obviously there were a lot of people that made a lot plays but if I could put it in a nutshell, I thought that we were really competitive and that was something that we were looking for out of our team," Longhorns head coach Karen Aston said.

"As we go into conference play, we know that every game is competitive and if we can make sure that we've got that covered, we can then start working on other things. We need to make sure that we remind ourselves what good preparation looks like and what bad preparation looks like and I think that's what these next two weeks really boils down to."

Next, Texas opens Big 12 Conference play at Oklahoma on Thursday, December 28 in Norman, Oklahoma.