Gaston’s double-double helps No. 25 Texas women beat Baylor

WACO, Texas (AP) — DeYona Gaston grabbed 11 rebounds and was one of four Texas players to score 13 points to help the 25th-ranked Longhorns beat Baylor 68-55 Sunday.

Shaylee Gonzales, Rori Harmon and Sonya Morris all scored 13 as well for Texas. Taylor Jones added 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

Texas (14-6, 5-2 Big 12), which beat then-No. 23 Kansas and then-No. 15 Iowa State last week to cap a stretch of 10 wins in 11 games, bounced back from a 68-64 loss at Texas Tech on Wednesday. The Longhorns moved into a second-place tie with Iowa State — a game behind Oklahoma — in the conference standings.

Harmon, who also had six rebounds and six assists, lost the ball and fell to the ground as she drove into the lane with 3:35 to play. The 5-foot-6 guard — who last season became the first freshman in program history to be earn All-America honors (honorable mention) — remained down for a couple minutes before gingerly walking off the court with an apparent knee injury. She did not return.

The Longhorns led 24-22 at intermission despite shooting 28% (9 of 23) from the field and going 0 for 8 from 3-point range. Texas scored 28 third-quarter points and shot 19 of 34 (55.9%) from the field over the final 20 minutes.

Sarah Andrews hit four 3-pointers and led Baylor (13-6, 4-3) with 19 points. Ja’Mee Asberry scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half.

Andrews scored eight points in a 10-4 spurt that cut Baylor’s deficit to five points midway through the third quarter, but the Bears missed four consecutive shots over the next three minutes. Gaston hit a jumper to cap a 10-1 run, giving the Longhorns a 49-35 lead with 1:44 left in the quarter.

Asberry hit a 3 with 9:25 to play and made another less than two minutes later to pull Baylor to 56-52, but Khadija Faye and Gaston scored before Morris made a pair of baskets and Gonzales and Holle followed with baskets to give the Longhorns a 13-point lead with a minute remaining.

The Bears went 0 for 8 from the field and committed four turnovers after Asberry’s 3-pointer with 7:35 left.

Baylor lost back-to-back games last week — 70-65 to Oklahoma State at home and 74-65 at West Virginia — and fell out of The Associated Press Top-25 Poll for the first time since 2004. The Bears beat Kansas State by 21 points on Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Texas returns home to play No. 15 Oklahoma on Wednesday

Baylor plays at Texas Tech next Saturday

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25