The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
Nina Norman scores 17 to lead Texas past No. 4 Baylor
01.22.2005 | Women's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- With the losses mounting in a frustrating season, the Texas Longhorns desperately needed a win.
They got a big one Saturday over a key Big 12 rival.
Nina Norman scored 17 points, including eight in a key two-minute stretch late in the second half, to lead Texas (No. 16 ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP) to a 69-55 win over Baylor (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 4 AP) on Saturday.
It was a huge win for the Longhorns (10-6, 3-2), who had lost four of their previous six games in a season that started with them ranked No. 2 and with expectations of reaching the Final Four. One of those losses came against Baylor two weeks earlier.
"You can go from feeling really bad to really good in the swing of just one game," Texas coach Jody Conradt said.
"We showed a lot of confidence and heart out there," senior guard Jamie Carey said. "It's been a tough week. It was great to see that again, to see fight, to see the passion."
Tiffany Jackson added 18 points and eight rebounds for Texas, which closed the game with a 15-2 run.
Sophia Young led Baylor (13-3, 3-2) with 13 points and 12 rebounds. The Lady Bears didn't score a field goal over the final 7:48.
"Texas had a sense of urgency and we didn't match it," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson said.
Texas led 54-53 when Norman simply took over the game over the final four minutes. She started the run with a pair of free throws and then slipped underneath on an inbounds pass to convert an easy layup with just four seconds left on the shot clock.
Then she grabbed a defensive rebound and went the length of the court for a layup that made it 60-55. Norman then forced two Baylor turnovers and the Longhorns steadily pulled away. Annissa Hastings scored the Longhorns' final five points, all of them from the free-throw line.
"This one helped our pride, a lot, and will get us going," Norman said.
Defensively, Texas clamped down on Baylor's tough frontcourt duo of Young and Steffanie Blackmon, harassing them near the basket and rarely giving them easy entry passes.
Those two had combined for 44 points and 21 rebounds when Baylor beat Texas but didn't come close to matching that again. Blackmon had just three points and four boards this time around.
"Once they catch the ball, it's pretty hard to stop them," said Longhorns forward Heather Schreiber, who was often posted up with Young near the basket. "We had to put pressure on their guards to keep them from lobbing the ball over us."
Baylor outrebounded Texas 43-31 but committed 25 turnovers, including five in a row during the Longhorns' final run.
The turnovers were critical early, when Baylor twice held nine-point leads in the first half but couldn't put away a Texas team that missed 15 of its first 17 shots.
"That's when we lost it, guys. It's hard enough to win on the road. You've got that big a lead and you can't extend it? That's hard for me to believe," Mulkey-Robertson said.
The Longhorns fought back from their horrid shooting start to briefly grab a 25-24 lead in the final minute of the first half on Norman's jumper.
Baylor quickly retook the lead when Young snared a tough pass to convert a layup. Baylor then stripped the ball from Kalee Carey and Chameka Scott hit a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner at the buzzer to make it 29-25 at the break.
Baylor couldn't capitalize on the momentum.
Jaime Carey's long 3-pointer put Texas up 35-33 and Jackson scored six straight points as the Longhorns built a seven-point lead. Jackson was just 3-of-13 against Baylor in the previous meeting but was dominant under the basket this time.
"Tiffany came out really strong today," Young said. "She was much more physical than I was."
Jamie Carey hit another 3-pointer and Jackson made two free throws that made it 53-47. Baylor managed to pull within one but missed its last 12 shots.
"When you can do a defensive job on their inside players like we did today, I think you say, 'Hats off to everybody on the floor,'" Conradt said.
POSTGAME NOTES
- The Longhorns are now 8-1 at home this season with today's win
- Texas is now 3-2 in Big 12 regular season action - as is No. 4 Baylor ... With back-to-back Big 12 away games upcoming (at Oklahoma and at Missouri this upcoming week), the Longhorns are 3-0 at home in league play and are 0-2 in away Big 12 games
- With the win against No. 4/No. 5 Baylor, the Longhorns even their record to 2-2 on the year against top 10 ranked opponents; Texas is 3-5 overall against the Top 25
- Longhorn sophomore F Tiffany Jackson (game-high 18 points) registered double-figure scoring for the 14th time in 16 games ... Senior G Jamie Carey (10 points) was in double figures for the 11th time, and junior G Nina Norman, with a season-high 17 points, hit double-digit scoring for the third time this season - all in the last five games .. Those 17 points from Norman were two shy of her career high
- Norman's five steals were a season high and tied her career high of five thefts, set last Jan. 3, 2004 against New Mexico
- Texas has now won 22 consecutive Big 12 HOME contests, dating back to Jan. 30, 2002 (the last conference loss in the Erwin Center) ... The last time Texas had lost at the Erwin Center was on Jan. 30, 2002- a double overtime 80-76 loss to No. 9 Kansas State
- The Longhorns started the game shooting just 5-22 from the floor in the first 12 minutes of action with five turnovers ... In the final stretch of the first half (last 8 minutes), UT went 6-12 (plus 3 TO's) ... Texas took its first and only lead of the first half on a Norman pullup jumper with 54 seconds to go
- After going 5-22 from the floor to start the game, Texas finished the final 28 minutes shooting 18-for-35 from the field
- Texas is the No. 1 ranked team in the Big 12 in free throw percentage; after going 18-for-22 from the charity stripe today, Texas is now 78-99 from the foul line in its first five Big 12 games (.788)
- This was the 67th meeting between Texas and Baylor, with UT leading series action, 51-15 ... The two teams split their home-and-home series this year, as Baylor won in Waco, 63-60
- Baylor entered the game ranked No. 1 nationally in 3-point percentage (44.0) and the Lady Bears went 5-12 from long range (41.7%) against the Longhorns
COACH & PLAYER POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
On UT's play in general...
"I really like that we didn't quit and kept playing defense all game long. Our defense was up to the task today. We played through a really rough first half spell (of poor shooting). When you can do a defensive job on their inside players like we did today, you have to say, 'hats off to everyone on the floor'. Everyone applied enough pressure on the ball so Baylor couldn't get the ball inside and get good looks.
I heard people say over and over that Oklahoma had shut Baylor down inside by jamming up the paint. That's not true. Look at Baylor's shooting percentage from 3-point range - they are one of the best teams in the country at making 3's. In my opinion, you don't stop post players by just playing tough inside. You also need to get your hands on the ball on the perimeter and our guards did a great job with that today.
On what she has said to the team during this stretch of going 1-3 prior to today's win ...
"First, I was really glad that we started classes. It's really hard to be out of your routine and have nothing to do but basketball during our long break, as silly as that might sound, and sit around and sit around and think about what didn't go right. I felt like there was a different attitude in the locker room after our game at UConn on Monday. We fought through and played hard in the second half, even when the game was out of reach. There was a totally different feel in the locker room after that game and I was encouraged by that.
Today was our most complete game. We tried to simplify things as we've been struggling. I talked to the team and said this week, 'it's basketball, and it's not a hard game'. I didn't want to say it was a must win - because then if you cannot win it, it's not very easy to come back from that. What we said was, OK, we have two conference losses, and are in the same situation as we were last year - losing at Baylor and at Texas Tech. We still have a chance to win this (conference). Will we go undefeated the rest of the conference? If so, we'll have to play our head off because this is as tough a conference as you will find. What we are saying right now, is, let's be better than we are. Let's improve. That is what I will say in practice tomorrow and in practice on Monday. Last year, we didn't get better. We tried to hang on down the stretch, and it doesn't work. We want to try and get every win we can and see where we are when it is playoff time."
On the play of UT's bench ...
"The bench was terrific. The bench helped us win the game. Kalee Carey and Katrina Robinson were in the mix when they went in there, and that's all they need to do. Coco Reed looked like the Coco Reed we all know and love. It's been frustrating for her with her knee swelling up regularly. She needs to be good and in the rotation for us to win. You know Annissa (Hastings) will be in the game defensively, but at the end, she really stepped up for us at the foul line again and again."
On the play of junior guard Nina Norman (season-high 17 points, including 13 in the second half)...
"The game's tempo started early with us pushing the ball more. Nina committed us early on to that tempo today. She is at her very best in that type of situation. Nina played very well in the second half, just like she did in the second half of the Connecticut game. I pulled her aside after that game and told her that we needed that type of play and effort from her every minute. She has the ability to blow by someone and pull up and hit the mid-range jumper. She may be the very best at doing that of all the players I've had."
Senior G Jamie Carey
On the game being a confidence booster...
"This was a huge game for our team. We showed a lot of heart out there. It's been a tough, tough week on a lot of us. To come out and see the hop in our step and the look in our eyes at shootaround today was great. That was something which has been missing. It was great to see the passion again. That said, one win doesn't make a season. We have OU coming up in just a few days and need to get ready for them."
We always talk about dividing the game up into four-minute segments. We always talk about four-minute games. The last four minutes today was critical. During a free throw at that time, Coach (Conradt) pulled me over and said to pay attention to every possession. We've talked about how we need to tighten up our game management. And, when we needed them today, we had a lot of steals, especially in the last four minutes, and they couldn't get into their offensive routine."
Junior G Nina Norman (season-high 17 points)
On her play...
"I tried a lot of penetration to open up Heather and Jamie on the perimeter. I tried to get them open with my moves. I missed a lot of layups but my teammates had my back and got the rebounds. After the Connecticut game, Coach told me to start penetrating more. That's what I did in the second half against UConn. We fought 'til the end, even though the game was out of reach. We fought really hard and wanted to carry that over to today's game. We are happy about this game - it got us going."
Senior F Heather Schreiber
On what the Longhorns did better or differently than in the past few games and in the first meeting with Baylor two weeks ago ...
"Defensively we played a lot better. We tried to keep them from catching the ball inside. Once they catch the ball there, it is hard to stop them. We had to stay in front of them [post players] and trust the guards that they would put enough pressure on them.
It was frustrating to have as good shots as we did to start the game and miss almost all of them. But, when we did, today everyone made an effort to get rebounds and would play harder on defense. Eventually, we knew we couldn't shoot that bad all game long, and eventually we started to make those shots."
Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson
Her general comments...
"We lost. We got beat. It was a physical game and we didn't match it. Texas had a sense of urgency and we didn't. This was the second-most turnovers we had all year. Credit the Texas defense. We'll regroup.
I don't know if Texas did anything differently today. Our perimeter play was pretty bad. Early on, we had a nine-point lead and then lots and lots of turnovers. I thought some people struggled for us. That's the nature of athletics. Regroup and head onto the next one.
Nina (Norman) goes where ever she wants. She got big shot after big shot. I don't think she gets enough credit.
I thought our decision-making from the perimeter when heavily guarded was not very good. It doesn't matter what kind of defense you see in the post. If you cannot make perimeter to post passes, you are in trouble. The decision-making with the ball in our hands was not good today.
We wasted an opportunity. Transition defense is where they got a lot of their points. It's a game of runs. We made critical mistakes in transition defense and we'd turn in over. This was a hard-fought game and they made the plays to win it."
