The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Connecticut
Texas loses to No. 13 Connecticut in Hartford
01.17.2005 | Women's Basketball
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut has its confidence back and a freshman to thank for it.
Charde Houston has been on an offensive tear the last four games and finished with a career-high 25 points as UConn (No. 16 ESPN/USA Today, No. 13 AP) posted a 73-57 win over Texas (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP) on Monday. She was averaging just over 19 points a game in the three games leading up to the game.
Suddenly UConn's struggles earlier this season seem like a distant memory. A blend of power and speed, the 6-foot-1 Houston was nearly unstoppable in the lane against the slumping Longhorns (9-6), who have lost three of their last four.
"She's made the game easy for us now," UConn coach Geno Auriemma. "It's made everybody relax. We're not just relying on launching jump shots."
Houston's offense has opened up opportunities for her teammates. Ann Strother, the Huskies' 3-point specialist, scored a season-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Jessica Moore added 15 for UConn (11-4).
The Huskies had been searching all season for that go-to player since losing former All-American Diana Taurasi and it showed. They lost both home and away and dropped from the Top 10 for the first time in 11 years.
"Even though Charde's been going off, which is awesome, everybody else is contributing," Moore said. "I think everyone's confidence level is just rising up higher and higher."
The Huskies played smothering defense and dominated inside, holding Texas to 34 percent shooting. The Longhorns continue to struggle away from Austin, losing to their fourth ranked opponent on the road.
It was the teams' first regular-season meeting, and the Longhorns had to contend not only with Houston but with the hostile sellout crowd of 16,294 in the Hartford Civic Center.
"We just can't seem to show the kind of consistency on either end of the floor that we need right now to play with a really good team like UConn is," Texas coach Jody Conradt said.
Conradt had recruited Houston, the California girls all-time leading scorer, and knew what was in store.
"We recruited her for obvious reasons," Conradt said.
Houston hit her first six shots of the second half to break the game open. UConn quickly turned a seven-point halftime lead into a rout with 9-of-9 shooting in the first 10 minutes, largely because of Houston's play. She trotted off for a breather with 10:14 to play in the game to a roaring ovation and a 57-40 UConn lead.
"The fans are great here," Houston said. "Just chanting your name and chanting the team's name and being involved with the game from beginning to end."
The picture of confidence on the floor, Houston acknowledged being "scared to death" of the college game before the preseason.
"I read about different freshmen being the leading scorers on their team and I used to just wonder to myself how do they do that and what does it take," she said. "Right now I'm starting to figure it out."
The Huskies led by as many as 20 down the stretch, and their solid defense gave the Longhorns little chance of catching up. Houston had three of UConn's six blocks.
Rebounding was even at 34, but UConn outscored the Longhorns in the paint, 42-20.
Nina Norman led the Longhorns with 13 points and Heather Schreiber had 12. Tiffany Jackson, the Longhorns' scoring leader, had 11 before fouling out late in the game.
The game also marked the return of UConn post player Barbara Turner, who sat out the previous four games with a foot injury. Turner had been averaging a team-high 13.4 points before the injury. She saw limited action and scored just two points in 14 minutes.
The Huskies now head into the meat of the Big East season with a head of steam, winning five of their last six games that includes two victories over ranked opponents.
"From where we were to where we are I think it's been unbelievable progress," Auriemma said. "I don't think we're anywhere near where we want to be but we're certainly a lot closer than where we were three weeks ago."
POSTGAME NOTES
• This game closed out the non-conference schedule for the Longhorns this year; Texas finished 7-4 in non-Big 12 action
• Texas is 7-1 at home and 2-5 on the road this year
• Texas went 0-2 against the Big East Conference this season, with this loss and then the Jan. 2 setback to No. 24 Rutgers (51-47) in Austin
• This was the first time Texas and Connecticut met in regular season play, and was the second game in the series... At the 2003 NCAA Final Four in Atlanta, the Huskies, seeded No. 1 nationally and ranked No. 1, stopped the Longhorns 71-69 in the national semifinals
• Texas sophomore Tiffany Jackson (11 points) registerd double-figure scoring for the 13th time in 15 games (a team high) ... senior Heather Schreiber (12 points) logged double-digit scoring for the ninth time this year, while junior guard Nina Norman had a team-high 13 points, marking the second time in double-figure scoring for her
• In second-chance points, the Longhorns out-scored the Huskies, 11-4
• The Texas bench out-scored the UConn bench, 15-11
• Connecticut dominated in points in the paint, out-scoring Texas 42-20 in that category
• The game was tied five times and had five lead changes
• UConn freshman Charde Houston netted a game-high 25 points, marking her third career high game in points out of the last four contests
COACH AND PLAYER POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
On the game in general and the fact that Texas was out-scored in the paint by a 42-20 margin ...
"We had so many defensive breakdowns today. In the first half, we had a strong chance to stay with UConn. Later in the game, we couldn't show any consistency. I am happy that we fought back and showed some positive signs, especially on the boards where we almost doubled them up in the first half [Texas out-rebounded UConn 22-13 in the first half]. In the second half, we had too many breakdowns. There was no consistency in what we needed to do. We are struggling on the offensive end. Everyone is guarding Tiffany Jackson, which we expected, but we are getting nothing from the perimeter.
Right now, part of our struggling is mental. We are trying so hard in practice and in the games to try and figure it all out. By doing that, it is keeping us from playing loose and confident."
On the play of UConn's Charde Houston (game-high 25 points)...
"This week, I've watched UConn play an impressive game at Notre Dame and then beat a tough Villanova team. I thought, uh oh, 'they are getting themselves righted before we get to Hartford'. Houston, of course, is a very impressive player. I was sorry when I saw that Geno was letting her play more and more."
On the positives to take away from the game...
"I am happy that we fought back, especially on the boards today. Rebounding has been a big issue for us, a big concern, and today we had one of our better efforts on the boards. We can take that away from here. I also liked that some of our younger players showed fight and fire out there. They kept working, and that's important, especially since inconsistency is a big problem for us.
In the locker room after the game, the team started talking about getting back to competing in the Big 12 and facing Baylor on Saturday. They immediately turned to talking about the next game and getting ready for it in practice this week."
On playing No. 3 Baylor in its' next game (Saturday, Jan. 22, on FSN TV, 1 p.m. Central).....
"You know, I realize that it is easy right now for the fans and media to be very critical about our program and where we are. Yes, we know we are capable of playing better and are working on doing that. However, when a team is down, that's the time that we really need people. We need great support to help give us energy and a boost right now. I hope that our fans will turn out in big numbers Saturday at the Erwin Center. We played in front of a sell-out crowd at Baylor two weeks ago, and the crowd really was able to get behind Baylor and energize them. We are looking for our fans to do the same thing this Saturday.'
Sophomore F Tiffany Jackson
On the team's attitude right now...
"We talked after the game about not getting down at all about this (game). We learned from it, and we are taking the positives away, as Coach (Conradt) said. We will not let UConn beat us twice. If we get down on ourselves this week, then we'll be letting UConn beat us a second time when we go against Baylor."
