The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
No. 23 Women's Basketball nips Missouri in overtime, 79-77
01.10.2007 | Women's Basketball
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Earnesia Williams made two free throws with 5 seconds left in overtime to give No. 23 Texas a 79-77 win over Missouri on Wednesday night.
Williams forced the extra period when she grabbed her own rebound off a missed jumper with 3 seconds remaining in regulation and hit a jump shot to tie it at 71.
Williams finished with 10 points and Tiffany Jackson scored 22 for the Longhorns (12-4, 1-1 Big 12). Texas also got 15 points from Carla Cortijo, 12 from Brittainey Raven and 11 from Erneisha Bailey.
EeTisha Riddle had 31 points and 13 rebounds for Missouri (13-3, 1-2). Tiffany Brooks added 22 points and Alyssa Hollins scored 11 for the Tigers.
Missouri led 43-38 at halftime.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
Her general statement: I don't think I've ever been prouder of a Texas team. We've had some great wins in our history, but this team refused to lose tonight after a tough last few days, playing hard against Purdue and coming up with that big win, but losing Erika (Arriaran) in the process which forced us to come out with a different lineup tonight. We stayed together and were a pretty good ball team tonight.
This is a very very good Missouri team. (Tiffany) Brooks and EeTisha Riddle got their points, but our defense late in the second half and in the overtime limited Missouri's second-chance opportunities.
It was pretty easy for us early on. We scored on nearly every possession early, then we relaxed and had to fight back. It was a shooter's game in the first game, but definitely a defensive game in the second half.
We had a lot of second changes and second opportunities, and we had different people step up and do different things for us.
I want to tell the fans back home that this was just as good a team effort as our win was over Purdue on Sunday.
Talking about playing a different lineup with Arriaran's absence and the Longhorns in foul trouble early on: We are going to have to play everybody from here on in. We got good play from a lot of people, particularly with the foul trouble we had with E-Bay (Erneisha Bailey), Tiffany (Jackson) and Earnesia (Williams). Carla Coritjo did not come out of the game and she did an excellent job running the team, keeping us organized and collected and scoring big points. She did a yeoman's job out there tonight, playing all 45 minutes. E-Bay with foul problems came back and made some great plays in the final minutes of regulation and in overtime. And Earnie Williams also was in early foul trouble, but came through for us in the later minutes and made a great defensive steal in overtime before making those two free throws to win it.
Niqky Hughes gave us some good minutes, and we could talk about Tiffany Jackson every game and all night long. If there is a better all-around player in the country, I want to know who is. We are going to have to play this way every game. Missouri is a very very good team, and anytime you can get a road win in this league that is huge.
