Horns shut out N. Texas at home
McCarty.
“When I first stepped onto the University of Texas campus, it felt like home,” Littleton said in a phone con- versation from The Bishop’s School in La Jolla. “There’s no place like San Diego, but Texas is close. The coaching staff there is as united as any staff I’ve seen.”
Littleton made a visit to Austin last week and met with Longhorns coach Karen Aston, the UT staff and her future teammates. Guard Ariel Atkins was her host. She also spent time with assistant coach Tina Thompson, a Los Angeles native and USC graduate who played 18 seasons in the WNBA.
Thompson became a cen- tral figure in Littleton’s deci- sion to transfer to Texas. Cooper-Dyke had told Lit- tleton that Thompson would be an excellent coach to follow; Thompson and Cooper-Dyke were WNBA teammates in Houston when the Comets opened the league with four consecutive cham- pionships from 1997-2000.
“Cynthia told me she believed in Karen and Tina on and off the court,” Lit- tleton said.
Texas is the only school Littleton visited after leav- ing USC.
Bishop coach Marlon Wells, who also is Littleton’s legal guardian, said there was one major difference between USC and Texas.
“Before Destiny signed with USC, the conversation was about her staying close to home, putting USC on the map, taking USC where it used to be,” Wells said. “With Karen, the conver- sation was about winning a national championship.”
Texas appears to have the pieces to make a serious run to the Final Four. Littleton becomes the 10th McDon- ald’s All-American to join the active roster. UT’s 2017 recruiting class now features three All-Americans — Littleton, Houston guard Chasity Patterson and Florida forward Rellah Boothe.
The additions of Littleton and Patterson, outstanding perimeter shooters, should benefit a pressing need for Texas.
The Longhorns averaged 4.0 three-point shots made per game last year, last in the Big 12.
Littleton is California’s high school career scoring leader with 4,300 points.
“With Chas and Rellah, no one will be sleeping on this freshman class,” Littleton said.
Bekah Alcozer homered and Celina Felix drove in two runs as the Texas Longhorns softball team shut out North Texas 6-0 Wednesday at McCombs Field.
Erica Wright (5-5) struck out six and picked up her fifth win of the season. She allowed four hits and walked three through six innings.
“I thought it was good to get Erica some work (Wednesday),” Texas coach Connie Clark said. “We were planning to go three deep or so with the rotation, but she was just dealing and getting into a rhythm.”
Brooke Bolinger pitched a perfect seventh inning for Texas (26-20), striking out two. Kaitlyn Washington scored twice for Texas and went 1 for 1.
Alcozer was 1 for 2 with a run, a walk and two RBIs, and Felix was 1 for 3 with two RBIs.
The game was scoreless through two innings before Texas put up two runs in the third. Felix drove in two runs on a two-out triple.
The Longhorns broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning, highlighted by Alcozer’s two-run homer with two outs.
Paige von Sprecken reached base on a fielder’s choice earlier in the inning, which led to Washington’s score on a throwing error.
After Kelli Hanzel’s sacrifice fly scored Tuesday DerMargosian, Alcozer put the game out of reach.
Stacey Underwood (12-11) suffered the loss, allowing two earned runs on four hits in 3 ⅔ innings.
Kelli Schkade had two hits for North Texas (24-24).
Men’s tennis: The No. 9 Texas men’s tennis team was topped by 15th-ranked Oklahoma 4-3 at the Big 12 Championships in Norman on Thursday. Oklahoma won the doubles point with two doubles victories before taking three singles matches to seal the victory.
Christian Sigsgaard, Harrison Scott and Julian Zlobinsky each took singles wins for Texas but Alex Ghilea clinched the win for OU at third singles. Zlobinsky made it 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-1 win before Scott gave Texas the lead with a 7-6 (1), 6-1 win.
Oklahoma took two wins in a row to tie the match before Ghilea defeated George Goldhoff 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2 to close out the match.