Harmon opens, Matharu closes Texas upset of defending champion Stanford

Aliyah Matharu went 4-of-4 from beyond the arc on a 17-4 Texas run that lasted five minutes and 14 seconds in the fourth quarter, gave the Longhorns an eight point lead with 1:39 remaining and allowed the team to defeat the No. 3 Stanford Cardinal 61-56 Sunday afternoon in Stanford, Calif.

Texas was 4-of-7 from distance overall (57.1 percent). Stanford was 4-of-27 (14.8 percent).

The Cardinal were celebrating their national championship from 2021. The Longhorns entered the game as the No. 25 team in the nation after losing Charli Collier to the first pick in the WNBA Draft. They looked much better than No. 25 and must be thrilled that they brought in Matharu via transfer from Mississippi State where she played for current Texas coach Vic Schaefer in 2019-20.

No. 10 Hoop Gurlz recruit Rori Harmon added 21 points in the upset win and was just as impressive as Matharu, though she did her damage from mid-range as opposed to beyond the arc.

Harmon, who let fellow freshman Kyndall Hunter do most of the scoring in Texas’ opener, doubled her point total from the first game of the season in the first half with 14. She played with tremendous confidence and hit a foot-on-the arc two to cap a 7-0 Longhorn run and tie the game at 23 with 1:08 to go before the break.

No. 6 Hoop Gurlz recruit Aaliyah Moore (nine points, five rebounds) later made a layup for Texas off an offensive rebound that tied it at 25, which was the score at halftime.

Stanford was sloppy with five turnovers in the first 4:38 of the contest and fell apart late after leading by as much as six in the third. Lexie Hull led the Cardinal with 16 points, 11 rebounds and two steals while Haley Jones had 15 points, five boards and five assists. Jones was 11-of-13 from the free throw line but made just two field goals on six attempts. Nobody else on Stanford scored in double figures. Though she had three blocks, Cameron Brink was held to seven points.

Ashten Prechtel made a three with 16 seconds left that cut Texas’ lead to three, but the Longhorns were perfect from the free throw line after that to seal the win. Harmon went 2-of-2 with 15 seconds remaining and Matharu went 2-of-2 with three seconds remaining.