The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
9-6, 3-2Big 12
Nebraska
10-6, 2-3Big 12
Women's Basketball wins third straight with 70-62 victory over Nebraska
01.18.2006 | Women's Basketball
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Junior forward Tiffany Jackson netted her third consecutive double-double, collecting 22 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, and Texas fought off a late-game surge by Nebraska, as The University of Texas posted a 70-62 Big 12 women's basketball victory over Nebraska Wednesday night at the Bob Devaney Center. Freshman post Aubry Cook added a career-best 15 points and eight rebounds, as Texas nearly doubled the Huskers in rebounding (40 to 21).
The win gives Texas, now 9-6 overall and 3-2 in conference play, its 100th Big 12 regular season victory as Jody Conradt's Longhorns become the second team in the Big 12 to notch 100-plus wins. The victory also moves Conradt to within one win of tying Dean Smith for No. 2 in all-time collegiate basketball wins (men's or women's). Conradt has 878 all-time wins, while Smith finished with 879 in his career. Tennessee's Pat Summit is first in victories (899).
Texas' all-time regular season record is now 100-49, and UT joins Texas Tech (111 wins prior to tonight's game at No. 17 Oklahoma) with 100-plus conference victories.
Nebraska (10-6 overall, 2-3 in the Big 12) lost its third game in a row. This was UT's eighth consecutive victory over Nebraska, with NU's last win against Texas coming in March of 1999. The Huskers were led by senior guard Kiera Hardy's game-high 26 points, while Kelsy Griffin added 12 points.
The Longhorns led by 16, 64-48, with 7:42 to play before the Huskers made a huge run, cutting the deficit to seven, 66-59, on two free throws by Danielle Page with 3:50 to play. Nebraska would score only three more points - on a final second 3-pointer by Hardy- as the pressure from the Texas defense forced NU to miss six of its final seven shots and have a turnover in the process.
Texas pulled ahead by nine, 68-59, on a Jackson banked jumper with 2:52 to play.
This was UT's third win in a row, and the Longhorns are now 6-3 in their last nine games. It also was Texas' first win in an away game this year. Texas is now 3-4 away from Austin (1-4 in away games, 2-0 at neutral sites).
Leading 37-32 at the half, the Longhorns extended their lead to 11 points with a 6-0 run to start second-half action, as Cook netted all six points on a layup, a putback and two free throws.
Nebraska battled back behind consecutive 3-pointers from Hardy and a Griffin layup, cutting the UT lead to five, 45-40, with 16:31 to play.
Texas then went on its big run, opening up a 16-point lead (64-48) on a Mieloszynska 3-pointer.
UT led at the half behind Jackson and Cook who combined for 20 of the Longhorns' 37 points, with Jackson netting 11 and Cook adding nine. There were five ties and five lead changes in the first 20 minutes. Texas trailed by six (16-10) early on before mounting a 22-12 run in a 10-minute span to take a four-point lead, 32-28 with 3:32 remaining on a steal and fastbreak layup by Jackson. In that 22-12 spurt, Jackson scored all 11 of her points. Nebraska came back to cut the lead to two, 34-32 on a short jumper by Chelsea Aubry with 1:32 to go. Texas then pushed the lead to five (37-32) 13 seconds later as Mieloszynska hit a 3-pointer from the wing to close out the first-half scoring.
Texas shot 55.2 percent in the first half, making 16 of 29 shots, while NU shot 48 percent (11-23) in the half. The difference was in rebounds, as UT held a commanding 19-9 lead and in low-post scoring. Texas had 22 points in the paint, while the Huskers had 10. Nebraska kept it close by making eight of 10 of its free throws. UT was four-for-seven in free throws.
For the game, UT shot 54 percent (30-56) while holding NU to 39 percent shooting (20-52). Texas turned the ball over 14 times while Nebraska had 19 turnovers. In total points in the paint, Texas held a commanding 38-18 edge.
The Longhorns will return home for its next game, hosting Kansas State on Sunday, Jan. 22 in a 1 p.m. televised matchup on FSN (FOX Sports Net) national TV. Prior to its game tonight against Oklahoma State, Kansas State is 12-3, 2-2.
Sunday's game has several ticket promotions. It is "Nike Day", with fans wearing any Nike apparel receiving $2 off one general admission ticket. In addition, the "Ultimate Assist" promotion continues where fans redeeming specially-marked Sprite cans at the Erwin Center south box office one hour prior to tip-off for half-price mezzanine general admission to the game (limit of two general admission tickets per can redeemed). Additionally, UT students have an opportunity to win Nike apparel and a Nike MP3 player on Sunday, as well as winning PowerBar prize packs. Students are asked to just wear their O-Zone shirts, and prizes will be awarded pre-game.)
Tickets may be purchased at TexasBoxOffice.com or in person at the following locations: Bellmont Hall Athletics Ticket Office (Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m-4 p.m. Central); and at any Texas Box Office location, including the Frank Erwin Center (Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and game days prior to tip-off) or at Austin area H-E-B stores.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
Her general statement: How would you describe all that? I told our team when you can play ugly and win, then it proves you are a pretty good team. We hung tough and got good play inside. They focused on Tiffany, and some of our younger post players stepped up. Aubry (Cook) had some easy looks and did a I thought Katrina Robinson did some things for us tonight; we've been waiting for that to happen. Tamra (Cobbins) played well again. She's such a competitor and has waited her turn, and has jumped in there and is continuing to be a big part of what we are going to accomplish. But, as you noticed, when we needed a bucket, we went to number 33 (Jackson).
Give Nebraska all the credit. They battled and battled. We knew what to expect from Hardy, who is a tremendous player, and Griffen has been strong for them as well. The rest of the team complements those two. Their press had us going backwards at the end. But again, it's a road win in the Big 12, and we are continuing to improve.
We now look ahead to Sunday's game at Kansas State in Austin. Our team need the crowd's energy. We need to build a crowd. We have not quit, we've bounced back and we are in the thick of things right now. We hope to see everyone turn out to support us.
