Texas women fall into early hole, bounced from NCAA Tournament just short of Final Four
PORTLAND, Ore. — After picking up her fifth foul with 2:18 left in Sunday's Elite Eight, Shaylee Gonzales made her way to the Texas bench where she was greeted by her head coach Vic Schaefer, who shook the senior guard's hand and gave her a hug.
Truth be told, this farewell was a moment that Schaefer and Gonzales had hoped to share next week in Cleveland. Instead, it took place in the final minutes of a 76-66 loss to North Carolina State, eliminating the top-seeded Longhorns from the NCAA Tournament and sending the third-seeded Wolfpack to the Final Four.
Texas (33-5), which has made it to the Elite Eight in three of the last four years, was trying to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2003.
"I don't want to take away that we got to the Elite Eight, but we had goals beyond that, and I saw us doing it. It's tough," junior forward Aaliyah Moore said.
In his postgame press conference, Schaefer was able to rattle off a number of favorable game stats. The Longhorns outscored the Wolfpack in the paint by 20 points. Texas outrebounded North Carolina State. And Texas had a slight edge on the scoreboard in the second half.
But the stats that mattered the most belonged to North Carolina State guard Aziaha James.
Texas fell into a first-half hole that it couldn't dig itself out of because it had no answer for James. By the time the Longhorns called a timeout at the 3:14 mark of the second quarter, it was a 39-22 game and James had scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including all five 3-pointers she had attempted. It didn't matter if James was being defended by Gonzales or Shay Holle. She had scored 21 points in the first half, and the Wolfpack took a 43-31 edge into the break.
"Obviously, she was making shots," said Holle, a member of the Big 12's all-defensive team. "She's really good off the bounce. It's not like you can give her one thing. She could find a way to score the other way. I think it maybe took me too long to adjust. We did a better job with her in the second half just as a team. First half, she's a really good, talented player."
Texas struggles to find its offense
Meanwhile, Texas entered halftime shooting just 34%. The Longhorns didn't make their first 3-pointer until reserve guard Gisella Maul sank one with nine seconds left in the second quarter, and the Longhorns, who rank 27th nationally in turnovers forced, were outscored by a 16-0 margin on fast-break points.
Down by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, Texas attempted to rally and a DeYona Gaston basket pulled the Longhorns to within six points with 66 seconds left in the frame. But North Carolina State responded with another 3-pointer — made by, surprise, James — and UT never got any closer than seven points.
Texas was led by freshman guard Madison Booker, who scored 17 points but made just eight of her 21 shots. As a team, UT was successful on 39.7% of its attempts, its third-worst shooting percentage of the season.
Wolfpack's James was too much for Texas
James finished with 27 points and made seven of her nine attempted 3-pointers. After scoring 25 second-half points in Friday's Sweet 16 win over No. 2 Stanford, she was named the most outstanding player of the Portland 4 regional.
Before Sunday, the single-game high for an opposing player against Texas this season was also 27 points. Texas Tech's Jasmine Shavers did that in Austin last month.
"She's a really good player and today she was outstanding," Schaefer said. "You've got to pat her on the back. We talk about it all the time; sometimes you've just got to pat them on the butt and tell them, 'I'll see you the next time down.' That's what we had to do with her because she made some really tough shots."
As Texas heads into the offseason, there are reasons for the Longhorns to be both disappointed and optimistic. Gonzales and Khadija Faye are the only seniors, so Texas is set to retain the bulk of its team for the 2024-25 season. The Longhorns signed two top-10 recruits in the 2024 recruiting cycle and point guard Rori Harmon will be a year removed from her season-ending knee injury this coming December. Harmon's impending return will allow Booker, who earned second-team All-American honors this season and was named the Big 12's co-player of the year, to shift from running the offense back to her natural position on the wing.
"We'll be back. I can say that with great confidence," Schaefer said. "If we lose Shaylee and Hadi, the class that we have coming in, Rori back healthy, and everybody else a year older and a year wiser, I'll be sitting here next March 31."
Meanwhile, North Carolina State (31-6) advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 1998. The Wolfpack will meet undefeated South Carolina (36-0) in the national semifinals in Cleveland on Friday. In addition to James' 27 points, North Carolina State got 16 points from center River Baldwin. James was joined on the Portland 4 region's all-tournament by teammate Saniya Rivers, Holle and Moore.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas women fall to North Carolina State in March Madness
