Content about Ames
Junior Kim Bruins stepped up to the plate. In front of her was the Iowa State defense and three of her teammates on base. On a perfect 2-2 pitch, the Longhorn’s starting pitcher knocked the ball out of the park in the first grand slam of her career.
“I have never hit a grand slam before in my life, so today was definitely my best overall game,” Bruins said.
While they are away from paradise and back on the mainland, the Longhorns are back traveling as they head north to Iowa for their second conference series of the season.
Texas (23-2) faces the Iowa State Cyclones (9-15) in a three game series in Ames. The Longhorns are 164-93 historically in all of their conference play. Against the Cyclones, they have an overall record of 33-1 with a current 13-game win streak.
The sandy beaches and cool blue water did nothing to distract the Longhorns from doing their job.
The No. 6 Longhorns took a break from conference play and flew to Hawaii to participate in the Spring Fling Tournament hosted by the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Texas went 4-1 during spring break, bringing their record to 23-2 for the season and 3-0 in Big 12 play.
Even though the Longhorns did not escape the tournament unscathed, their lone loss to the No. 2 California Golden Bears does little to blemish their otherwise stellar record.
We've all heard it before: too many turnovers and poor defensive play lead to another Longhorn loss.
That was the case once again Saturday afternoon as Texas (13-9, 3-7 Big 12) turned the ball over 23 times and gave up 44 second-half points en route to a 71-56 loss to the Iowa State Cyclones (13-8, 4-6 Big 12) in Ames, Iowa.
Coming off another 20-plus point performance where she connected on a career-high five 3-pointers, sophomore guard Chassidy Fussell knows that it takes more than just a hot shooting night to win games in the Big 12.
“You can play offense all you want,” Fussell said. “But if you don’t get stops you aren’t going to win the game.”
While most students packed up and headed home for the holiday break, the Longhorns played seven games.
Texas went undefeated at home, beating Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Rice and Temple. Still, the Longhorns were winless on the road with an ugly loss in North Carolina, and defeats to Iowa State and Missouri. But a 4-3 record isn’t the worst way to spend the holidays.
With six freshman and just two seniors, Texas played like a young team: defensive lapses, stagnant offense, bad turnovers. The Longhorns, though, also dazzled at times.
Believe it or not, this Saturday will mark just the third time that Texas has traveled to Ames, Iowa this century.
When the Big 12 actually had 12 teams, north and south division schools played home-and-home games sets against one another every other two years.
No matter what the Longhorns do, the team’s successes seem to be forever overshadowed by last year’s team that came into the NCAA Tournament ranked second and lost in the national championship game.
But even last year’s Longhorns did not enter the tournament carrying a 15-game winning streak. Nor did they defeat the Iowa State Cyclones on the road.
Texas swept Texas A&M 26-24, 25-19, 25-22 at home Wednesday, and then traveled to Ames, Iowa, to beat Iowa State 22-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-19 on Saturday to end the 2010 regular season.
