The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
Longhorns top Aggies for seventh straight victory
03.02.2005 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Annissa Hastings scored 19 points and Tiffany Jackson added 14 points to lead No. 11 Texas to its seventh straight win, 69-57 over Texas A&M on Wednesday night.
The win keeps alive Texas' hopes of claiming at least a share of its third straight Big 12 title.
A win by No. 13 Texas Tech over seventh-ranked Baylor on Thursday night would put the Longhorns in a three-way tie for the title with those teams. Baylor can win the conference title outright with a victory.
Texas (20-7, 13-3) took an early lead and outscored Texas A&M 9-0 in the first three minutes of second half to open up its biggest lead at 45-27.
Texas A&M (14-13, 4-12) cut the lead to nine points several times, including on a 3-pointer by Charlette Castile with 5:28 remaining, but the Aggies couldn't get any closer.
Heather Schreiber scored 13 points for Texas, which has won at least 20 games for six straight seasons. Jamie Carey added nine.
A'Quonesia Franklin led the Aggies with 12 points and nine assists, and Morenike Atunrase finished with 10 points.
Carey's 3-pointer with 5 seconds left in the first half capped a 7-0 run and helped the Longhorns take a 38-27 lead at the break.
The Aggies went on an 8-2 run, capped by Franklin's layup with 1:46 left in the first half, and got within 31-27. Franklin was fouled on her shot, but failed to convert the three-point play.
Texas A&M held a 5-4 lead two minutes into the game before Texas scored 11 straight points, including consecutive 3-pointers by Schreiber, to take the lead for good.
Texas shot 15-for-25 (60 percent) in the first half. The Aggies shot 39 percent.
POSTGAME NOTES
• Texas moves to 20-7 overall and finishes Big 12 regular season action with a 13-3 mark ... This was the regular season finale for the Longhorns and the Aggies, who are now 14-13 and finish 4-12 in the league
• the win extended Texas' current win streak to a season-best seven games
• Texas now awaits the results of the final game of the Big 12 regular season between Kansas State (23-3, 13-2) and Texas Tech (21-5, 12-3) on Thursday, March 3 (7:30 p.m. CST) at Baylor; that game will determine UT's finish in Big 12 action... A win by Texas Tech will create a three-way tie between Texas, Baylor and Texas Tech; by virtue of the Big 12 tie-breaker system, Texas would then be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming tourney (with Baylor No. 1, Tech No. 3) ... A win by Baylor over Tech gives BU the regular season title with UT finishing second
• the Longhorns are 11-1 in their last 12 games
• Texas ends its regular season with a 7-6 away record overall and a 5-3 away mark in the conference, with all three league losses coming on the road
• tonight's win gives Texas a 20-plus win season for the sixth straight season (dating back to 1999-2000) ... Last year, UT went 30-5
• for the 11th game in a row, the Longhorns out-rebounded their opponent .. Texas is now 15-2 when out-rebounding the opposition this year ... The Longhorns out-rebounded 12 of its 16 Big 12 foes, going 11-1 when out-rebounding the league opponent and 2-2 when out-rebounded
• Texas had three players finish in double-figure scoring ... Sophomore F Tiffany Jackson (xx points) had xx points and was in double-digit scoring for the 24th time - a team high ... Senior F Heather Schreiber (xx points) notched double-figure scoring for the 18th time - for the fifth time in the last seven games, seventh time in the last 10 contests ... Senior F Annissa Hastings came off the bench to score xx points - a season high ... Hastings has been in double-figure scoring five times this year
• this was the second women's basketball game in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown series (new series this year with the Aggies) ... In the Lone Star Showdown points race across all sports that UT and A&M compete in, Texas currently holds an 8.0-3.0 State Farm LSSD points edge with the victory tonight; a school needs 10 points to win the Showdown for the year
• Texas sweeps the home-and-home series with the Aggies, and has won the last seven against TAMU ... Texas also leads the series, 54-13 ... This includes UT's 77-62 win over the Aggies in Austin on Feb. 2
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
The game in general...
"Our team showed we can step up with a player down like Nina (Norman). When she went out with her injury at Oklahoma, our team stepped it up a notch and that carried over today. We knew they would press us and having Nina would have been critical tonight. I'm proud that we did what we did when we had to. Texas A&M is a pesky team that never quits. They were aggressive, and we knew we had to match that agressiveness. Annissa Hastings was huge for us tonight. Right now, we have to go home, get some rest and cheer for the Lady Raiders tomorrow night (vs. Baylor).
I think we did a good job of taking care of basketball. Did you see Heather (Schreiber) out there, handling the ball for us? It was a flashback for her when she used to have to handle the ball a long time ago. She stepped up and handled it very well for us."
On what the Longhorns will do with the week off prior to the start of the Big 12 Tournament ...
" We need recovery time. People played lots of minutes tonight in the absence of Nina, especially someone like Jamie Carey who had to play quite a few more minutes than usual. She'll need an ice bath tonight! We need to get fresh. The (Texas UIL) State Tournament is coming to Austin, to the Erwin Center this weekend, and it'll be an opportunity for our players to see their friends from high school on the court.
It's also a good time to work on academics, and I told them to come to practice tomorrow and bring their books."
Texas Senior F Annissa Hastings
"For the seniors, our time is coming up to end. We don't have many games left - the Big 12 tournament and NCAAs. So, I'm cherishing the time being with my teammates right now; they are like my family, like my sisters. We are working hard in practices and it is showing.
A&M is a very aggressive team. We had to come in and be as aggressive as we could be to match their intensity. (Associate head coach) Karen Aston has been telling me lately, 'hey, that 8-10 footer - that's your favorite shot - let's do something else!' Tonight, I knew I had to be aggressive on offense, especially with Nina out, because she accounts for a lot of our offense.
Everyone knows what type of team we can be if we work hard. We had a rocky start and then, instead of hanging our heads, we kept playing for each other. We want to make another run deep into the NCAAs again."
