{"id":234430,"date":"2026-04-04T03:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/234430\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T03:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:00:08","slug":"texas-womens-basketball-fans-cheer-on-team-in-final-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/234430\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas women’s basketball fans cheer on team in Final Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" article <\/p>\n

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – APRIL 3: Lauren Betts #51 of the UCLA Bruins and Breya Cunningham #25 of the Texas Longhorns compete for the tip-off during the first half of a NCAA Women’s Final Four semifinal game at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 3, 2026 in P <\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas – The UT women’s basketball team faces UCLA at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Tipoff was scheduled for 8:30 p.m., but before the teams took the court, Katie Pratt of FOX 7 Austin spoke with fans at a pub on the Drag.<\/p>\n

Local perspective:<\/p>\n

Excitement is high as Texas women\u2019s sports teams have excelled this season, and the basketball team is no exception.<\/p>\n

Cheers echoed from Austin to Arizona as fans gathered to watch the game.<\/p>\n

“The whole state\u2019s going to be cheering for them,” said Adele Langlois, a fan.<\/p>\n

Fans in Burnt Orange crowded around televisions, eager to catch every moment as the Texas women\u2019s basketball team faced off against UCLA.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – APRIL 3: Texas Longhorns huddle prior to a NCAA Women’s Final Four semifinal game against the UCLA Bruins at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 3, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by C. Morgan Engel\/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) <\/p>\n

“As we get closer and closer, we get a little more crowded and it gets a little bit crazier. Monday night was just incredible here\u2014all the yelling and cheering,” Debra Hallum, co-owner of 1972 Pub, said.<\/p>\n

The Final Four matchup features all No. 1 seeds. Texas has won 12 straight games, dominating opponents by an average of 36 points in the tournament.<\/p>\n

“They have great chemistry. They are playing as a really good team. They\u2019re supporting each other, and there\u2019s no \u2018I\u2019 in team,” Langlois said.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

AUSTIN, TEXAS – MARCH 22: The Texas Longhorns stand for the school song during a second round game of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament held at Moody Center on March 22, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Scott Wachter\/NCAA Photos via Getty I <\/p>\n

\u200bThe Longhorns have already defeated two of the teams in this Final Four earlier in the season: South Carolina and Friday night\u2019s opponent, UCLA, who they beat by double digits previously.<\/p>\n

“They\u2019re playing UCLA. They\u2019ve already beaten them. Do you think they can do it again?” Pratt asked.<\/p>\n

“Absolutely. We have a team that is gelled so well\u2014their personalities, their work ethic. They have just come together, and you see it every time on the court,” Hallum said.<\/p>\n

Why you should care:<\/p>\n

The Longhorns hope to punch their ticket to the national championship game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If they can secure a win on Friday, it would put them on track to bring home the program\u2019s first national championship in 40 years.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin’s Katie Pratt<\/p>\n

Austin<\/a>UT Austin<\/a>College Basketball<\/a>Sports<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article PHOENIX, ARIZONA – APRIL 3: Lauren Betts #51 of the UCLA Bruins and Breya Cunningham #25 of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,163,29183,223,154,394,216,393,2471],"class_list":{"0":"post-234430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-travis-county","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-ut-austin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}