The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
Texas opens Big 12 Tournament with 65-59 win over Oklahoma
03.09.2005 | Women's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Tiffany Jackson scored 25 points, including nine down the stretch, to lead Texas to a 65-59 victory over Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals Wednesday night.
The Longhorns (21-7) will play either Kansas State or Nebraska in Thursday's semifinal.
Trailing 44-42 with 14:07 left, Texas (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today; No. 11 AP) put together a 9-2 run to take a 51-46 lead. Oklahoma cut it to 52-50 on Britney Brown's 3-pointer with 5 minutes to go, but Jackson converted a 3-point play in the post and a spinning layup a minute later to push the lead to 59-52.
Jackson's long jumper with 1:24 left gave the second-seeded Longhorns a 61-54 lead.
Leah Rush had 19 points to lead Oklahoma (17-12), which will await word from the NCAA selection committee regarding a tournament spot on Sunday.
Dionnah Jackson added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Sooners. Brown and Lauren Shoush added 10 points apiece.
Heather Schreiber finished with 12 points for the Longhorns, who trailed by as many as six early in the second half. Jamie Carey added 11 points and seven assists.
The teams swapped the lead eight times in the first half, the last coming when Rush knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing to go to give the Sooners a 32-30 lead at the break. Oklahoma carried that momentum into the second half, building a 38-32.
But Carey, who was just 1-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc, knocked down a shot from the top of the key and the Longhorns rattled off seven straight points to retake the lead.
POSTGAME NOTES
• With the win, the Longhorns increase their win streak to eight games ... Texas, ranked No. 10 this week in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 11 by AP, is now 21-7 overall and advances to the Big 12 tourney semifinals to face the winner of Wednesday night's quarterfinal game between No. 3 seed Kansas State and No. 6 seed Nebraska
• Texas advances to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament semifinals for the third year in row (2003-2005) and for the fifth time in the nine years of the tournament ... In the last two years, Texas won the Big 12 tourney title in 2003 and finished second last year (to No. 6 seed Oklahoma), with UT being the No. 1 seed both years
• The other years that Texas advanced to the Big 12 semifinals were in the inaugural year of Big 12 play (1997, lost in semi's) and 2000 (when UT advanced to its first Big 12 tourney championship game and placed second to Iowa State)
• Texas trailed at intermission, 32-30 ... This was just the seventh time in 28 games that the Longhorns had been behind after the first half, and Texas is now 4-3 in games where it trails at the half
• Sophomore Tiffany Jackson (game-high 25 points, game-high seven steals) registered her 25th game in double-figure scoring ... For the 18th time this year, senior guard Jamie Carey (11 points) was in double-figure scoring... Senior forward Heather Schreiber (12 points) was in double-digit scoring for the eighth time in the last 11 contests
• In four games in Big 12 Tournament play, Jackson has turned in an impressive stat line ... In these four games (three last year, vs. OU this year), Jackson has registered 68 points, 27 rebounds and 13 steals, and is shooting 26-for-52 from the floor
• This marked the third meeting of the year between Texas and Oklahoma ... Texas won the two regular season contests (83-71 in OT at Norman on Jan. 26; and 72-36 at Austin on Feb. 26) ... In all-time games in the series, the Longhorns now lead, 19-8
• This was the first game of the year on a neutral court for Texas ... Prior to tonight's game against the Sooners, the Longhorns had played 14 games at home (going 14-1 at the Frank Erwin Center) and 13 games on the road (going 7-6 in away games)
