Madison Booker came to Texas basketball's rescue, just as she'll have to again | Bohls

Madison Booker was awful on Sunday. Downright awful.

Treated the ball like a hot potato. Settled for long bombs from the perimeter. Had her head in a cloud.

And then the second half started.

And she became Madison Booker again. The authentic Madison Booker. The one who finished with a game-high 20 points — her seventh 20-point game of the season and third in the past three games — to go with three rebounds, six assists and a steal.

Yeah, that Madison Booker.

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The one who if she isn’t a freshman All-American women’s basketball player for Texas come March, an investigation should immediately be launched. The one who fueled one of the Longhorns’ biggest wins of the season, a wire-to-wire 61-54 upset of No. 2 Kansas State at Moody Center.

Defense remains a Texas calling card

We presume it’s a foregone conclusion that the rookie from Ridgeland, Miss., will be a unanimous All-Big 12 selection. If not, we also presume any league coaches who don’t vote for Texas' physical, versatile 6-foot-1 point guard — or shooting guard, small forward or whatever position you ask her to play — should have his or her head examined.

Her game Sunday marked a big development for the Longhorns (21-3), who proved their worth but also showed themselves that they don't have to rely completely on Booker to hold their own. At least for a half.

That underlying aspect of its third consecutive win and fifth in six games should stoke Texas’ confidence because it doesn’t always know where its next points are coming from. After all, the rest of the Longhorns’ backcourt was a no-show offensively. Guards Shaylee Gonzales and Shay Holle were a collective 1-for-10 for three points, although they helped limit Kansas State defensively to its fewest points of the season and 20 points below its average.

Holle, in particular, had a team-high six assists without a turnover for the second straight game and had to cope with guarding Wildcats star guard Serena Sundell.

“Sundell’s a monster,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer praised.

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That little offensive production from Gonzales and Holle, however, puts so much pressure on Texas’ other three starters, especially Booker. But Aaliyah Moore came through with her second double-double of the season with 10 points and a career-high-tying 15 rebounds, and Taylor Jones posted 13 points and eight rebounds. And while the defense is as unforgiving as a tax collector, Texas had some mental lapses that allowed Kansas State to make the Longhorns nervous down the stretch. And UT can at times be hard-pressed to avoid scoring lulls.

Madison Booker was a big player in a big game

With point guard Rori Harmon sidelined for the season, Booker remains the only Longhorn capable of consistently creating her own shot.

Only Booker could have as bad an opening half and still flip the script entirely and help stabilize her team — and herself — to lead No. 12 Texas to a pivotal Big 12 win, as she did on Sunday afternoon.

Oh, it was pivotal all right.

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Without it — and Booker’s majestic if uneven performance — the Longhorns would almost certainly have fallen entirely out of the conference race because they would have been three games behind the Wildcats in the chase.

But with her and a Texas-like defensive clamp on Kansas State, Schaefer’s crew now sits in fourth place in this Big 12 logjam with an 8-3 record, a single game behind a suddenly vulnerable Kansas State (9-2) with consecutive losses. Oklahoma (9-1) sits alone at the top with West Virginia (8-2) in third.

Kansas State figures to get back its lethal 6-foot-6 center Ayoka Lee in the next couple of weeks after her ankle surgery, but Texas has the advantage of a friendlier schedule. The Wildcats have yet to play Iowa State or West Virginia while just two of the Longhorns’ last seven opponents have winning records.

“I want ’em to be great,” Schaefer said of his Texas team. “We’ve got to keep getting better. Our ceiling … we’re a way from that. A long way from that.”

Booker’s a critical part of that.

Asked to evaluate her, Wildcats coach Jeff Mittie deadpanned, “I liked her a lot better in the first half than the second half.”

“Most freshmen that struggle in the first half don’t always have the mental maturity to recover from that, and especially with all the things they’ve asked her to do differently than what they thought she might be doing," Mittie said. "So I'm really impressed with her game, really impressed with the tough shots that she hit. She's kind of got an old-school game to her. Her midrange jumper is so good.”

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Vic Schaefer: 'This team, they have a chance'

In the final 20 minutes, Schaefer switched Gonzales from shooting guard to the point and shifted Booker to small forward. The move paid off big time. The freshman wizard found her spots on the floor on the baseline and the left wing and lit up Kansas State for 13 points to stave off a terrific Wildcats team.

“Madison was settling early,” Schaefer said. “They were going to give her all the 3s she wanted, but she can get her own shot.”

The two different halves might persuade Schaefer to draw up even more plays for his talented freshman.

But was the player wearing No. 35 an impostor in the opening half?

“In the first half, that wasn’t me,” Booker said with a smirk. “I had to lock in and come back and lead my team. I think Madison Booker came out in the second half.”

Indeed, she did.

And Texas will need more of the same from her as well as its constant intensity to extend the momentum from back-to-back wins over top 15 teams Baylor and Kansas State.

“This team, they have a chance,” Schaefer said. “They can be pretty good down the stretch.”

Especially so long as Booker plays like the real Booker for two halves.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas women's basketball learning to lean on freshman Madison Booker