The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
New Mexico
Stingy defense helps Texas defeat New Mexico
12.04.2004 | Women's Basketball
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) -- Texas coach Jody Conradt had been waiting to see some tough defense.
She got her wish Saturday as the No. 7 Longhorns held New Mexico to less than 40 percent shooting from the field for a 73-56 win -- and a boost of confidence for the struggling team.
"We really worked hard," Conradt said. "It's the kind of defense intensity that we've been expecting and we finally got it tonight."
Despite returning four starters, the Longhorns (4-2) have learned some hard lessons on the road, squandering big early leads against Georgia and an unranked UCLA. They also remember being upset by New Mexico when they visited The Pit two seasons ago.
Conradt said her team handled the rowdy New Mexico crowd this time.
Texas was led by senior guard Jamie Carey, who finished with a career-high 28 points, including six 3-pointers. Her first 3 put Texas on the board a minute into the game.
"I asked Jamie to start taking more shots and that's exactly what I had in mind," Conradt said.
Carey, who scored 19 first-half points, was 9-of-14 from the field. Kala Bowers was the only other Longhorn in double figures with 12 points.
Lindsey Arndt had 15 points to lead New Mexico and Fatima Maddox added 12.
New Mexico coach Don Flanagan had expected his team to play better. The Lobos came into the game undefeated and playing strong -- a change from the "green" team that the coach said struggled in Austin last season.
But Texas proved to be quicker, stronger and a little more skilled, Flanagan said.
"We were having some trouble with matchups," he said. "They do a lot of cross screens and if you even think about switching then you're going to get killed."
New Mexico, down 34-26 at halftime, hustled for rebounds and wrestled for loose balls in the second half. The momentum carried them to within seven points with 13:23 to go, but Texas pulled ahead 61-43 behind its defense and seven points from Heather Schreiber.
New Mexico trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half.
In the first half, the Lobos went nearly five minutes before they scored on a jumper by Maddox. They were 35.5 percent from the field and hit only 2-of-10 3-pointers.
Texas went on a 9-0 run midway through the first half to stretch its lead to 16-5. Carey added a layup and a free throw during the run.
Conradt acknowledged after Saturday's game that the Longhorns' schedule was so tough early on that she didn't have the chance to see what her new players could do.
"Our rotation wasn't very deep," she said. "I think I know now who we can count on and that helps us a lot."
POSTGAME NOTES
- Senior Jamie Carey had a career high 28 points and had a season and Texas career best six 3-pointers, going 6-for-8 from three point range. Carey surpassed her former career high of 25 points, set against Washington on Jan. 27, 2000 when she was a freshman at Stanford University.
- Texas wins its first away game of the season and now stands 1-2 on the road.
- Senior Kala Bowers collected a season-high 12 points.
- Texas' top two scorers, Tiffany Jackson and Heather Schreiber, sat out the final 10 minutes of the first half with two fouls each. Schreiber finished with nine points and Jackson was held to single-digit scoring for the first time this season (eight points)
- Texas committed just one turnover in the second half and finished the game with only 10 turnovers which is a season low.
- Texas dominated in points off turnovers, outscoring New Mexico, 22-7 in that category.
- Texas now breaks for the final exam period and has a 12-day lay-off. The Longhorns return to action on Dec. 16 at North Texas. The game begins at 6 p.m.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Jody Conradt
General comments:
We were a really good team today. We came out with great energy and everyone sustained it. I am really happy for the team as a whole and it was great to see the players off the bench really help us. Especially with our two big scorers, Heather (Schreiber) and Tiffany (Jackson), in early foul trouble on the bench. I was worried that we may not be able to stay with this type of team with those two on the bench. But like I said, we got contributions from everyone and we should gain confidence in that.
On the upcoming 12-day layoff:
Well, we definitely need a break. We have had a really hard stretch of games both physically and mentally. We just finished the semester and finals will start and it has really been tough on our team with all these games. We look forward to having the chance to practice again because all the travel and games haven't really allowed that.
Senior Jamie Carey
General Comments:
People found me on the court where they needed to find me. It was total team effort. I was proud for everybody to step up and fight hard on the road and get our first road win.
