BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The two centers, tired from battling it out in the paint all evening, were not sprinting up the floor with any sort of lightning speed, but it was certainly a race to the basket. In purple was 6-foot-7 Sedona Prince for TCU and in white was 6-foot-6 Kyla Oldacre for Texas, neck-and-neck, charging toward the rim.
Oldacre, the junior Longhorns’ center, had just intercepted Hailey Van Lith early in the fourth quarter, knocking an inbounds pass out of the air with her outstretched left hand and — instead of passing to a speedy and more agile guard — took off for the opposite basket. Prince chased after her. The two posts lumbered into the paint together, and Oldacre broke out a eurostep of sorts as Prince tumbled toward the floor.
The shot fell and the whistle blew. Prince had been called for her fourth foul of the game as she laid against photographers on the baseline, and Oldacre had sent the Texas bench into an absolute frenzy. After a few friendly bounces off the rim, Oldacre’s ensuing free throw fell, giving Texas a comfortable 11-point advantage.
“That was, in my opinion, the play of the year,” said veteran Texas center Taylor Jones, who saw the sequence from the bench. “That was amazing… It was beautiful. Just, chef’s kiss.”
Said Oldacre: “I saw it as an opportunity and just went on with it, got the ball and made sure I made my layup and I didn’t miss my free throw.”
It would be one of many times that Oldacre got the best of Prince, the All-Big 12 First Team selection and 24-year-old double-double machine.
Moments later, with 6:32 to play in the Elite Eight matchup between the Longhorns and Horned Frogs, Oldacre got Prince again. In a battle for a rebound, Oldacre came down with the offensive board as Prince fouled her. It was her fifth, and she was forced to watch the last minutes of her final collegiate game in a long career from TCU’s bench.
Texas — for the fourth time ever and the first since 2003 — is going to the Final Four after defeating TCU 58-47 on Monday night in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena in front of an announced crowd of 12,175 fans.
And while SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker led with 18 points and Rori Harmon chipped in 13, the way Oldacre played — particularly against Prince — was a crucial reason why the Longhorns won. When the buzzer sounded, she screamed and twirled a Powerade-branded towel high above her head as her teammates jumped and celebrated.
When she went to trim a piece off the net to celebrate Texas’ regional title, Oldacre didn’t need to climb to the top. She stood two steps below the platform with a wide grin on her face as she flashed the nylon to photographers crowded around.
“She was sensational tonight,” Texas guard Bryanna Preston said. “You could tell that Kyla wanted it and nothing was going to stop her.”
Added Booker: “Kyla dominated the paint.”
Oldacre played 16 minutes off the bench for Texas, finishing with nine points, five rebounds, two steals and a block. Three of Prince’s fouls were drawn by Oldacre, and the product of Mason, Ohio’s defense was a big piece of the Longhorns’ strategy to stifle the super senior.
“I think she came in and just answered the bell,” Jones said of Oldacre. “I think that defense was exactly what we needed, and everything that she did was just perfect today. She showed how tough she is and how resilient she is, and I’m just so proud of her… The team did a great job tonight, but Kyla was really, really tough.”
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Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images
In 29 minutes, Prince — who was third nationally in win shares this season with 7.3 — finished with just four points, marking her second-lowest scoring performance of the season. It was the third time this year that she had fouled out, and the seventh time she finished with one block or less.
Simply put, Texas was able to bottle Prince up in a way that few teams have this season. Oldacre was a key cog in the Longhorns’ plan.
“She really neutralized Sedona to an extent,” said Texas coach Vic Schaefer, who became the fifth coach to take two different programs to the Final Four. “So, special effort, kid playing her heart out.”
Oldacre came to Texas via the transfer portal last offseason from Miami. As a freshman, she played sparingly on a Miami team that went on a magical run to the Elite Eight as a No. 9 seed. As a sophomore, she started 21 games for the Canes, but didn’t really make a significant impact as she averaged 5.0 points and 4.4 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game
When she came to Texas, she had a conversation with Jones, who is now in her sixth season of college basketball after dealing with some injuries earlier in her career. The two talked about what Oldacre wanted out of her experience at Texas.
“She wanted to grow and be challenged,” Jones told SB Nation. “ Me and her going head-to-head every day in practice with how different our playing styles are — I think that’s helped us on the defensive end and offensive end, learning how to score on different matchups. It just sort of prepared us for games like today, and I’m really proud of just both of us being able to go out there and just be able to put on a clinic on the defensive end. We knew our assignment, we came out and we executed.”
Indeed, Jones had seven points, six rebounds and four blocks in 24 minutes. Together, they made operating in the paint a nightmare for Prince, who had been averaging 17.2 points per game this season.
“All credit to the Texas bigs,” Prince said. “They scouted me very well.”
Indeed. And Oldacre and Jones executed that scout to near-perfection.
Late in the fourth quarter, a few plays after Prince fouled out, Oldacre scored on a layup that gave Texas its largest lead of the game at 14 points. Oldacre scored seven of her nine points in the crucial final frame to help the Longhorns seal the win.
Oldacre and Jones will again need to lock-in on their scout on Friday when Texas faces South Carolina for the fourth time this season. Texas has won just one of the three previous matchups, on Feb. 9 in Austin. That was one of Oldacre’s better games this season, as she finished with 13 points, six rebounds, two steals and a block in 21 minutes against the mighty Gamecocks. She had just two points and two boards in 17 minutes in South Carolina’s SEC title game victory over the Longhorns earlier in March.
Teams coached by Schaefer are 15-4 all-time against teams coached by Staley. Beating South Carolina for a second time in a single season, and dethroning the reigning national champs on a stage where they thrive, will be no easy task.
But with Oldacre playing well, Texas just might have a chance.
