WACO — Behind 22 points from point guard Madison Booker and 19 from forward Aaliyah Moore, No. 12 Texas turned a close game into a 67-55 win over No. 13 Baylor at Foster Pavilion on Thursday night. 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 visiting 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 minutes, 41 seconds 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, however, did not fold after losing Moore, the Longhorns' leading scorer at the time. The Longhorns scored on each of their next four possessions. Booker hit a 3-pointer and made a jumper, and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda and Amina Muhammad 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 at the 2:16 mark of the third quarter and played the rest of the game. She said afterward that she injured her ankle.

"It was not my knee, guys," she assured those at the postgame press conference.

Two key players return for the Longhorns

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

Booker started Thursday and Gaston was the first player off the 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 will leave for the Southeastern Conference this summer, Thursday's game was the last scheduled meeting between the two teams. 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 nonconference portions of their schedules. First, Foster Pavilion and Moody Center are separated by just 100 miles, so transportation won't be an issue for the team or fans. Second, 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 would all but guarantee a tough test in nonconference play for both schools.

The games between Baylor and Texas also seem to attract fan interest. Excluding the 2020-21 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 for their games in Austin was 7,224. In that five-season sample size, Baylor averaged 5,634 fans at its home games while Texas averaged 4,854.

But do the Longhorns and Bears want to keep playing? Baylor 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," he 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 nonconference? We're going to have an 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." — Madison 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