TAMPA, Fla. — With 1:47 left in a Final Four game against South Carolina on Friday night, Texas women's basketball junior Jordana Codio was sent to the scorer's table to check in and fetch senior Shay Holle.
With fellow starters Rori Harmon and Madison Booker already on the bench and Texas trailing by 17 points, the writing was on the wall. As she walked to the Texas bench, Holle hugged her coach and teammates while fighting back tears.
A fifth-year senior, Holle was exiting her school-record 171st game. There will not be a 172nd.
Texas, doomed by its star player's foul trouble and a second-half slump, saw its season end with a 74-57 loss to South Carolina at Amalie Arena. The loss leaves Texas two wins shy of its first national championship since 1986.
"It's a hard day. You don't want it to end. You want to play on Sunday," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. "But we ran into a good team today, and we didn't play that well."
Madison Booker gets off to a good start but runs into foul trouble
In the fourth meeting between Texas and South Carolina this season, the Longhorns landed the first punches. Boosted by Booker making her first three shots, Texas jumped out to a 12-4 lead. But with UT up by seven points midway through the quarter, Booker ran into foul trouble.
Booker picked up fouls on back-to-back possessions. In addition to South Carolina scoring four points off those fouls, Texas was forced to pull its leading scorer from the game with 3:04 left in the opening frame. By the time that Booker returned ...
