espnW Women's Basketball

AUSTIN, Texas -- Chassidy Fussell scored 20 points and No. 24 Texas rallied after an early scare to beat North Texas 71-62 on Saturday night.

Chelsea Bass added 13 points in her first start of the season for the Longhorns (7-3), who remained undefeated against North Texas with the second-closest final score in the 35-year history of the series.

Laura McCoy scored 14 points as the Mean Green (7-5) fell to 2-2 against BCS conference opponents under first-year coach Karen Aston. Aston returned to Austin for the first time as a head coach after working as an assistant at Texas from 1998-2006. She received a standing ovation before the game.

North Texas held a 34-25 lead at intermission.

The Mean Green rattled off four 3-pointers after the break and led by as many as 11 before Texas went on a 30-9 run to take over the game.