BATON ROUGE, La. — Following Sunday afternoon’s 70-65 win over Texas women’s basketball at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, LSU coach Kim Mulkey had the same question that some UT fans may have had.
“I don’t know why Rori (Harmon) didn’t play in the second half,” Mulkey wondered aloud. “She played the whole first half. I thought we did a good job on her. That’s a fifth-year senior that’s having a great year.”
Texas (18-1, 3-1), ranked second in the Associated Press poll, scored 26 of its 65 points in the fourth quarter. Down by 11 points at the start of the final frame, Texas pulled to within 63-59 only to have No. 12 LSU (16-2, 2-2) get a critical 3-pointer from Mikaylah Williams down the stretch.
“I mean, we played better, didn’t we?” Schaefer answered when asked afterward why Harmon remained on the bench. “I felt like we were getting some things done and playing better, executing better, and Rori wasn’t just playing real well. I just decided to do that and give Bry an opportunity, and I think she took advantage of it.
Harmon entered the game averaging 9.1 points with a 51.1 shooting percentage, but she missed six of the seven shots she took in front of an announced crowd of 13,200. Her three assists were offset by two third-quarter turnovers, and Schaefer expressed his discontent with UT’s overall unwillingness to feed the ball to center Kyla Oldacre, who had 16 points on nine shots.
“Wasn’t Rori’s best day,” Schaefer said. “I was really disappointed offensively with what we were doing — 11 (points in the first quarter), 14 (in the second quarter), 14 (in the third quarter). Unfortunately, when you’re the point guard, you’ve got to wear that a little bit, and I have to wear it with her as the head coach.”
As a team, Texas had 17 turnovers and allowed 19 offensive rebounds. Texas shot better from the field than LSU, but the Longhorns missed seven free throws and eight of their 12 3-point attempts.
Preston finished with four points and three assists, but will Texas think about switching up its starting lineup? That’s unlikely. Harmon is an All-American candidate who was one of 25 players placed on the Wooden Award midseason watch list. She has started 58 straight games since she returned from the knee injury that ended her 2023-24 season.