In perhaps the final game between Texas and Baylor, the 12th-ranked Longhorns laugh last

WACO − Behind 22 points from freshman point guard Madison Booker and junior forward Aaliyah Moore's 19-point effort, No. 12 Texas turned a close game at Foster Pavilion on Thursday night into a 67-55 win over No. 13 Baylor. With the victory, Texas (20-3, 7-3) remained within reach of first-place Kansas State (20-2, 9-1) in the Big 12 standings with the second-ranked Wildcats set to visit Austin on Sunday.

Here are three observations and a quote from the Longhorns' big win on the road:

In the third quarter, Texas turned a scare into a scoring spurt

Immediately after scoring a basket in the paint to give UT a 36-35 lead with 4:41 left in the third quarter, Moore crumpled to the ground and slammed her hand on the floor in frustration. Moore, who missed much of the 2022-23 season with a knee injury, eventually limped off the court.

Texas did not fold after losing Moore, who was leading the team with her 14 points at the time. The Longhorns actually scored on each of their next four possessions. Booker hit a 3-pointer and made a jumper, and sophomores Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda and Amina Muhammad both contributed their first points of the night.

After that spurt, Texas led 45-38. Baylor (16-4, 5-4) never got closer than five points the rest of the game.

"At the end of the day, (Texas coach Vic Schaefer) tries to put an emphasis on every possession matters," Moore said. "You want to be the team that just wins more possessions than the other and I think we came up there and did that tonight. I'm just really proud of my team."

Moore returned to the floor at the 2:16 mark of the third quarter and played the rest of the game. Moore said afterwards that she injured her ankle. "It was not my knee, guys," she assured those at the postgame press conference.

Two key players return to the court for the Longhorns

Both Booker and senior forward DeYona Gaston were given day-to-day designations on the injury report ahead of Thursday's game. Gaston hadn't played since Jan. 13 as she worked her way back from her second ankle injury of the season. Booker missed this past Saturday's game against Cincinnati with a tweaked hamstring.

Booker started against the Bears, and Gaston was the first player called off the Texas bench. Booker ended up working a 36-minute shift, and the freshman said she wasn't tired after the game. Gaston scored four points and grabbed three rebounds while playing eight minutes, but she did not play in the second half. Schaefer estimated that Gaston was playing at 60%.

"Our trainer probably is the MVP, Cheyanne (Goyen), she's probably the MVP of tonight," Schaefer said.

3. Is this the end for Baylor and Texas?

Since Texas is leaving for the Southeastern Conference next year, Thursday's game was the last scheduled meeting between Baylor and Texas. Texas holds a 61-50 lead in the all-time series.

On paper, it makes both sense and cents for Baylor and Texas to keep playing during the non-conference portions of their future schedules. First off, Foster Pavilion and Moody Center are separated by just 100 miles so transportation won't be an issue for the team or fans. Secondly, the teams are consistently competitive − Baylor last posted a losing record during the 1999-20 season and it's been 11 years since Texas finished a season with a sub-.500 mark − so a matchup between Texas and Baylor would all but guarantee a tough test in non-conference play for both schools.

The games between Baylor and Texas also seem to attract fan interest. Excluding a 2020-2021 season in which attendance was restricted by the pandemic, Baylor has averaged a crowd of 6,651 during UT's last five trips to Waco. The average crowd during that span of time for a Baylor-Texas game in Austin was 7,224. Over the entirety of that five-season sample size, Baylor averaged 5,634 fans at its home games while Texas averaged 4,854.

Do the Longhorns and Bears want to keep playing? In Baylor's postgame press conferences, guard Aijha Blackwell said that "it would be nice to continue the rivalry we've got with Texas." Schaefer, however, was less willing to make a commitment.

"I don't have a problem continuing to play," Schaefer said. "Our issue will be just like everybody's, it's how many of these kinds of games can you really lock in and play in non-conference? We're going to have a SEC-ACC challenge. Connecticut and us have talked about continuing to play. ... If it fits on the schedule, I certainly don't have a problem playing it."

They said it: Texas again dominates in the paint

"Our post play? Shoot. A-Mo, Taylor, it's dawgs down there. ... Coach always says we run through our post players. Today we ran through them. They came up big for us." - Booker

Led by Moore and fellow post player Taylor Jones, who scored 14 points, Texas outscored Baylor in the paint by a 36-16 margin. Texas entered the game averaging 17 more points in the paint than its opponents.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: With SEC move looming, Texas beats Baylor to keep pace in Big 12 race