Reinserting itself into the Big 12 championship picture, No. 12 Texas never trailed in a 61-54 win over No. 2 Kansas State at Moody Center on Sunday. The victory was the Longhorns' first over a team ranked first or second in the Associated Press poll since a 69-64 takedown of No. 1 Stanford on Dec. 22, 2019.

Here are three observations and a quote from the end of a big week for Texas:

Despite struggles, Madison Booker still shines

On paper, Madison Booker led the Longhorns in the important counting stats. The freshman point guard scored 20 points for the seventh time this season — with five of those performances coming against a ranked opponent — and she supplemented those points with six assists.

Booker, however, turned over the basketball seven times. In the first half, she went 2-for-8 from the field and was benched at one point for reserve Gisella Maul.

Booker conceded that she wasn't herself in the first half but said, "I had to forget about what happened first half and come back and lead my team."

In the second half, Booker steadied herself and scored 13 points. She played all 20 minutes.

"She's a heck of a player for a lot of reasons, but most freshmen that struggle in the first half don't always have the mental maturity to recover from that and especially with all the things that they're asking her to do differently than what they thought she might be doing," Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. "So I'm really impressed with her game, really impressed with the tough shots that she hit. She's kind of got an old-school game to her."

Booker is now averaging 15.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Last Tuesday, her name was one of 20 on the late-season watch list for the Wooden Award.

Texas takes advantage of Lee's absence in the paint

The absence of All-American center Ayoka Lee was glaringly obvious at the beginning of the second half. Texas led 29-19 at the halftime break but extended its margin to 15 points in the third quarter's first two minutes. Taylor Jones, a 6-foot-4 center, scored six points during that span, and 6-1 forward Aaliyah Moore made a layup.

Kansas State never got closer than five points the rest of the game.

Before fouling out in the final minute, Jones had 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. As Kansas State attempted to rally in the fourth quarter, Jones put together perhaps the biggest sequence when she scored off an offensive rebound with 1:19 left to give UT a 56-47 lead and then raced down the court to force a Kansas State turnover near its basket a few seconds later.

The Wildcats actually outscored Texas by a 30-26 margin in the paint, but UT had a 21-12 edge on second-chance points.

Moore contributed 10 points, and her 15 rebounds tied a career high. Senior forward DeYona Gaston knocked down all four of her shots.

"Lee is a great player, an All-American for a reason. It's hard to stop her — let me tell you that," Moore said. "Our game plan honestly with them not having her was to go inside. She's a big part of their team. And so we just tried to make sure that we utilize what we had, and I think we did a pretty decent job."

Lee, who is set to return later this month after having ankle surgery Jan. 19, had 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in last month's 61-58 win over UT in Manhattan, Kan. Jones scored two points in that game.

What does this mean for the Big 12 championship chase?

After Sunday's result at Moody Center, Oklahoma has seized control of the Big 12 standings. With a 9-1 mark, Oklahoma is the only team in the Big 12 with one conference loss. Due in part to some bad nonconference losses, the Sooners were not among the four Big 12 teams ranked by The Associated Press last week.

But if Oklahoma looks in its rearview mirror, its opponents might be closer than they seem. Kansas State has a 9-2 conference mark after its second loss of the week, while West Virginia is 8-2 and Texas is 8-3. Iowa State has won seven of its 11 conference games. Baylor is 6-4 after beating Houston on Sunday.

Each Big 12 team will play 18 conference games in the regular season. Texas and Oklahoma split last year's championship.

They said it: Pats on the back are nice, but Texas has games left to play

"I'm really proud. We've made a lot of strides, but we're not done yet. After Baylor, cool, pat on the back, next one. After this one, pat on the back. So many more games ahead, and we have a lot more goals, so really proud of them but big road ahead." — Moore

Sunday's win capped a big week for Texas (21-3). In addition to beating No. 2 Kansas State (20-3) on Sunday, UT recorded a 12-point win at No. 13 Baylor on Thursday.

Texas will not play again until a trip to TCU on Saturday. The Longhorns have seven games left on their schedule.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas women beat ranked basketball team for second time in a week