BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With the score tied in Saturday’s Sweet 16 game entering the fourth quarter, Texas assistant Elena Lovato turned to head coach Vic Schaefer and offered a suggestion.
She wanted him to go back to their small-ball lineup that included both point guards, Rori Harmon and Bryanna Preston, on the floor together. They had finished the first quarter combined for a plus-11 in the stat column — the only quarter the top-seeded Longhorns had won to that point against fifth-seeded Tennessee.
It took Schaefer one minute into the fourth quarter to sub in Preston, and the freshman point guard changed the game for Texas.
With 7:46 left and Texas trailing by 2 points, Preston jumped a pass across the top of the key and fought through the Tennessee player on the fast break to tie the score. Tennessee answered with a basket and then Preston tied the score again. Two possessions later, with Texas up by two, she forced another steal and assisted a Madison Booker basket that put Texas ahead by four, a lead the Longhorns would never relinquish.
That sequence was Preston in a nutshell, the freshman guard Schaefer called “lightning in a bottle” the first time he saw her play.
“That’s her everyday in practice and everyday in life. The kid has juice,” Lovato said.
“They…
