Sanders’ 15 points lead rout for Horns

Texas rolls despite 24 turnovers and near-record 33 fouls.

Brady Sanders hadn’t had this much fun on a basketball court since she scored 2,051 points at Joshua and Godley high schools.

After she missed her freshman season at Texas because of surgery to repair a herniated disk in her neck, no one knew whether the 5foot-11-inch guard would have much of an impact this year.

Sanders had her best game of the young season Tuesday night, scoring a team-high 15 points in a 77-49 victory over Louisiana-Monroe at the Erwin Center.

Sanders and senior center

Cokie Reed played well in an otherwise dismal performance by the Longhorns. Reed scored 14 points and hauled in a season-high nine rebounds, but Texas committed 24 turnovers and 33 fouls, the secondhighest total in UT basketball history.

Texas (6-1) has played the past two games without junior guards Chassidy Fussell and Chelsea Bass, and their absence has been felt. UT officials said both have “mild head injuries,’’ but they have already missed more than a week of practice and games.

Sanders was critical of her performance but added that she felt good just to play.

“First of all, I’m glad we got the W,” she said. “The first thing I noticed (on the stat sheet) was that I had five turnovers. My shot felt good, though.”

Sanders missed most of summer training because of a rib procedure that was not related to her neck injury.

Guard Nadia Taylor scored the first field goal of her college basketball career on a breakaway layup with 11 minutes left in the second half. After playing four seasons with the UT softball team, Taylor played nine minutes on Tuesday.

Texas played as if it had a UCLA hangover in the first half, dodging a minefield of fouls (17) and turnovers (13) to take 35-21 lead at the break.