The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UT Arlington
Longhorns dominate UT-Arlington
12.21.2004 | Women's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas coach Jody Conradt wanted to use her last stretch of non-conference games to rest her starters and get her reserves some valuable playing time.
She got what she wanted in a 69-24 win over Texas-Arlington on Tuesday night in which the fourth-ranked Longhorns used a stellar defensive effort to hold the Lady Mavs to 11 points in the second half.
The suffocating defense helped the Longhorns extend the nation's longest home winning streak to 40 games.
The score could have been much worse but Conradt sat her starters for much of the game after it quickly turned into a rout. The Longhorns outrebounded Texas-Arlington 59-31, forced 24 turnovers and held the Lady Mavs to 17 percent shooting overall.
"We sputtered around but we had a lot of people on the floor who don't get a lot of playing time," Conradt said. "And we had a point guard crisis so it's hard to be a well-oiled machine."
Guards Nina Norman and Jamie Carey missed the second half entirely. Conradt said Norman banged up a knee in the first and Carey spent the second half in the locker room because of a stomach virus.
Tiffany Jackson scored 12 points to lead Texas (6-2), which plays two more non-conference games before starting Big 12 play Jan. 5 at home against Kansas.
Terra Wallace scored 10 to lead Texas-Arlington (4-5).
Heather Schreiber hit a 3-pointer, Carey hit two more and the Longhorns' bigger lineup dominated in building a 28-4 lead with nearly eight minutes left in the first half.
When Daria Mieloszynska hit a 30-footer as the buzzer sounded, the Longhorns led 39-13 at the break.
Texas-Arlington might have simply been road weary. The Lady Mavs play 12 of their first 13 games away from home because the school frequently lends its home arena for other events such as ballet and concerts, said head coach Donna Capps.
"It's been a long season on the road. It's always that way in December," Capps said. "They're bigger than us and stronger than us. We played intimidated."
The Lady Mavs hit just 5-of-25 shots in the first half and struggled to get the ball close to the basket or find open looks, often running the shot clock down to the final seconds.
The second half was more of the same. Only the mix-and-match lineup Conradt put on the floor kept it from being much worse.
Jackson played 26 minutes in the game and was the only Longhorn on the floor for more than 18.
"I think it's really good to get other players some experience to get them able to play the kind of pace we like," Jackson said.
Texas nearly matched the school record for fewest points allowed in a half -- nine, last accomplished in a win over Texas State last season. Texas turned the Lady Mavs' 24 turnovers into 25 points.
"We've been working a lot on defense," Schreiber said. "We were determined to show coach we've improved."
POSTGAME NOTES
• This was the first of four consecutive home games for the Longhorns - the squad's longest homestand of the season
• The win was the 40th homecourt win in a row for Texas ... That 40-game homecourt win streak is the longest in the nation of any NCAA Division I men's or women's basketball program ... Texas' longest homecourt win streak is 44 games, set from Jan. 2, 1984 through Dec. 14, 1987
• The 11 points scored by UT-Arlington in the second half is the third lowest point total ever by a Texas opponent - in any half; it also is the second lowest point total ever in a second half by a Texas opponent.
• The record is nine points in each half - nine points by Rice in the first half on Feb. 9, 1990; and nine points by Texas State last year on Dec. 3, 2004 in the second period ... The second lowest opponent point total for a half was 10 points which were scored by Lamar (Dec. 16, 1998) in the first half
• UT's Jackson notched double-figure scoring for the seventh time in eight games, while senior Heather Schreiber hit for double-digit scoring for the sixth time and senior Jamie Carey had 10 or more points for the fifth time ... Carey (stomach virus) only played in the first half
• The 24 turnovers by UTA was a season-high in TO's by a UT opponent
• In the first half, the Longhorns opened up a lead of 24 points, 28-4, with 7:39 remaining ... The Horns were 8-17 from the field and 9-10 from the foul line in building that lead, while limiting the Mavericks to 2-15 shooting in the span ... UTA also had 10 turnovers and Texas had five blocks in that opening 12:21 of play
• Texas led at intermission, 39-13 ... The 13 points scored by UTA in the first half ties for the sixth lowest opponent point total in a half in UT history (lowest was nine points twice)
• Texas out-scored UTA 28-3 in points in the paint and dominated in points off turnovers (24-12) and bench points (30 to 4)
• Career and single season highs in points was collected by junior F Daria Mieloszynska (7 points)
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
On the game overall ...
"We saw some positive things tonight. We had great defense and that is what we've been focusing on in practice. Give credit to Texas-Arlington. They have played a really tough schedule. They are a good team, picked to win their conference, and they will bounce back. I'm sure they had a little hangover from their tough game the other night against Florida State, when they lost by two.
But our defense set the tone and set the tone early. I was really happy with our defense. We came out very very strong and set the tone early in this game. I've said that these games leading up to the Big 12 Conference play that I wanted to make sure that we got lots of different people on the floor, and we accomplished that tonight. Heather (Schreiber), Jamie (Carey) and Tiffany (Jackson) set the tone early. I thought Daria (Mieloszynska) did some positive things tonight, especially in the first half.
It's hard to judge much from the second half. I will cut our team some slack, because it is hard to play without your point guards, and we were down to one point guard (Tamra Cobbins) in the second half with Jamie sitting out the half ill and Nina getting her bruised knee hit."
On what to expect when the Longhorns meet Sam Houston (Dec. 28th) in their next game...
"I want us to keep improving.. .we have to. Just take a look at our conference schedule coming up, where we have two tough road games in the first three league games we play. We have to be ready. Right now, it's hard to compare ourselves to anyone. At this point of the year, you have to take advantage of the 40 minutes you have against each opponent, and you don't want to waste any minutes out there. That's what we are focusing on."
Senior F Heather Schreiber
Talking about the work the Longhorns have done in practice from the North Texas game (Dec. 16) to tonight's game ...
"The one thing we knew going into tonight's game is that we didn't want to start off like we did at North Texas, falling behind early. Since that game, we've worked a lot on defense, since we really need to improve there. We watched the North Texas tape this week in practice, and we saw how much improvement we needed to make. We were determined to show Coach (Conradt) and the assistants that we've improved in different areas of defense.
We also knew that UT-Arlington has played some good teams like Villanova and Florida State, and just lost by two points to Florida State. We knew they would be really aggressive on defense and would play hard and not take plays off. And, they played hard on "D" all game long. They are very quick to the ball. But we've improved since North Texas since they (North Texas) tried to do the same to us - play tough "D" and get to the ball quick. We've improved on handling pressure and we showed that tonight."
Sophomore F Tiffany Jackson
On Texas using different lineups and rotating players in and out all game long...
"Anytime you play with players you haven't spend time with on the court it is going to be different, and sometimes tonight that showed. In practice, however, we try and mix up the lineups. Down the road in a few weeks when we play in the Big 12, we are really going to need everyone, because of how tough the league is and especially because of the style of defense we want to play."
