There are now only three unbeaten teams left in Division I women’s basketball as No. 2 Texas was upset Sunday 70-65 at No. 12 LSU.
It was the Tigers’ first victory against an Associated Press top-2 team since 2008, when LSU beat North Carolina in the NCAA Elite Eight, according to ESPN Research. LSU had lost 17 consecutive games to top-2 teams since then.
The remaining undefeated teams are No. 1 UConn, No. 7 Vanderbilt and No. 17 Texas Tech, all of which won this weekend. Vanderbilt is the only Division I school whose women’s and men’s teams are both unbeaten.
After starting 14-0, LSU lost its first two SEC games on Jan. 1 and 4 to Kentucky and Vanderbilt. But the Tigers bounced back with wins Thursday at Georgia and Sunday at home. Guard Mikaylah Williams led LSU with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists. Four other LSU players scored 10 points each.
“We knew in those last games that we lost that we beat ourselves,” Williams told ESPN. “We wanted to take care of the ball, be disciplined, box out, rebound. That’s what we did. Down the stretch, we stayed together.”
The Tigers outrebounded the Longhorns 44-35. Center Kyla Oldacre had 16 points and 16 rebounds for Texas, and forward Madison Booker had 24 and 7. But Booker also had six of Texas’ season-high 17 turnovers. Texas starting point guard Rori Harmon struggled, going 1-of-7 from the field and finishing with a season-low two points. Longhorns coach Vic Schaefer kept Harmon on the bench during the fourth quarter.
“We played better, didn’t we?” Schaefer said of that decision after the Longhorns scored 26 points in the final quarter, compared to 11, 14 and 14 in the first three. “Rori just wasn’t playing really well. It wasn’t Rori’s best day. And I was really disappointed offensively with what we were doing. Unfortunately, when you’re the point guard, you’ve got to wear that a little bit.
“They played much harder than we did, and they were way tougher than we were. By far our worst game of the year, and we’ll give them credit for that. I thought we had some really selfish play.”
The week doesn’t get easier for Texas, which travels to No. 3 South Carolina on Thursday (ESPN2, 7 p.m. ET). LSU plays again next Sunday, traveling to No. 5 Oklahoma.
LSU and Texas will meet again this season, Feb. 5 in Austin, Texas (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET).
