Texas still marching on to SEC Tournament championship after beating LSU

The Longhorn Pep Band surrounded a triumphant Madison Booker, minutes after the Longhorns took down third-seeded LSU to advance to the final round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament and more than a thousand miles from Austin, chanting her name over and over.

“We love you,” called the band members to the sophomore forward. Booker grinned among a sea of trumpets and trombones, dished out some high fives and told them, “I love y’all too!”

Booker had plenty to smile about, after putting up a team-high 25 points and helping send her team to the final round of the SEC Tournament in their first year in the conference with a 56-49 win.

 

“It was more of a thankful moment for me,” Booker said. “To show to them, and to let them know, ‘I see y’all, I hear y’all,’ and I want to thank them too.”

Texas faced a depleted LSU team, which entered the tournament without top-scoring junior guard Flau’jae Johnson due to a lower leg injury. Senior forward Aneesah Morrow joined her on the bench in the beginning of the third quarter after scoring 10 points, and did not return after reaggravating a sprained foot.

Just last night, the Tigers scored 101 points against Florida.

But Texas stalled them. The team found an answer for every LSU play thrown at them and competed hard all game, especially senior forward Taylor Jones and junior center Kyla Oldacre.

Oldacre and LSU senior guard Last-Tear Poa got into a scuffle and exchanged some heated words after Poa got physical in the third quarter. Each player received a technical foul, a continuation of what head coach Vic Schaefer calls unfair officiating that Jones and Oldacre have been dealing with all season.

It didn’t matter. The Longhorns’ strong defense and iron toughness held the Tigers to under fifty points Saturday night, putting on a show for the patch of Texas supporters clad in burnt orange positioned behind the Longhorn bench.

Those fans, as well as the team, will be in enemy territory tomorrow, surrounded by South Carolina supporters comfortable in their home state and eager to see another Longhorn loss just an hour and a half away from the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia. But since that loss against the Gamecocks on Jan. 12, Texas has done nothing but win.

“We’re way different than we were back that first time we played in Columbia,” Schaefer said. “So it’s a great opportunity. It’s how I look at it. We need to embrace it … look, you come to Texas to play the best, and so tomorrow, we’re going to play one of the best teams in the country.”