Texas fights off Texas A&M; in Verizon battle of 3 vs. 4

Texas coach Karen Aston, far right, embraces Texas A&M's Jordan Jones (24) as Texas's Brady Sanders (32) watches after an NCAA college basketball game in North Little Rock, Ark., Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014. Texas defeated Texas A&M 67-65. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Texas coach Karen Aston, far right, embraces Texas A&M's Jordan Jones (24) as Texas's Brady Sanders (32) watches after an NCAA college basketball game in North Little Rock, Ark., Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014. Texas defeated Texas A&M 67-65. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Texas didn't give in to Texas A&M's pressure in the second half Sunday afternoon in their top-five women's basketball matchup at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

Empress Davenport's driving layup with four seconds remaining gave No. 3 Texas a 67-65 victory over No. 4 Texas A&M in front of an announced crowd of 2,544 in the opening game of the first SEC-Big 12 Challenge.

"Our team was really resilient," said Texas Coach Karen Aston, a 1982 graduate of Bryant High School who played at UALR and coached high school basketball at Fort Smith Northside and Vilonia. "Things weren't going great offensively for us, but we found a way to win the basketball game.

"We showed a lot of character today."

Jordan Jones led Texas A&M with 21 points and had a chance to tie the game, but her jumper didn't fall as time expired.

Aggies Coach Gary Blair called Sunday's game a possible NCAA Tournament preview.

"You just saw a hell of basketball game in December," said Blair, who coached Arkansas' women's team from 1993 to 2003 before leaving for Texas A&M, where he won a national championship in 2011. "This was a ballgame that was good enough to be an NCAA Elite Eight game."

The Longhorns (10-0), who trailed 47-36 with 15:14 left in the second half, has now beaten three top-10 teams, also winning at Stanford (87-81 in overtime) Nov. 20 and against Tennessee (72-59) Nov. 30 in Austin.

Aston said it all comes down to preparation.

"It's something we've learned along the way," said Aston, who is in her third season as the Longhorns' coach. "[Even] if it's not a top-10 opponent they seem to be preparing the same, which is the sign of a consistent team."

Nneka Enemkpali led Texas with 21 points and 13 rebounds and Kelsey Lang scored 8 of her 12 points in the first half and had 7 rebounds as the Longhorns outrebounded the Aggies 40-33.

Courtney Williams had 19 points for Texas A&M (11-1), the Longhorns' former Big 12 rival before the Aggies moved to the SEC.

Texas A&M led 59-55 with 7:08 left, but the Aggies didn't score a field goal for the next 4:58, which allowed Texas to take a 62-61 lead.

Williams' layup with 2:08 remaining ended the Aggies' field-goal drought and cut the lead to 65-63, and after Krystle Henderson was called for an offensive foul with 59.2 seconds left, Achiri Ade's jumper tied the game at 65-65 with 31 seconds left.

Henderson and Jones were tied up at midcourt and Jones thought she had stolen the ball, but officials ruled the play a jump ball and the possession went to Texas, setting up Davenport's game-winner.

Sports on 12/22/2014

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