The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
Women's Basketball edged by Baylor, 63-59
01.24.2007 | Women's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Baylor senior forward Bernice Mosby netted a game-high 23 points, scoring 17 of those in the final half, and added a game-best 12 boards, to lift No. 13 Baylor over No. 24 Texas, 63-59, Wednesday in Big 12 Conference women's basketball action.
Texas, which shot just 37 percent in the game, was led by junior guard Erneisha Bailey (16 points, seven rebounds) and freshman reserve guard Niqky Hughes (11 points). They were the lone Longhorns in double-figure scoring.
Texas is now 14-6 overall and 3-3 in the conference. Baylor hit 64 percent of its' shots in the final half, going 14 for 22 from the floor, to overcome a 29-25 Texas lead at the break. The Lady Bears move to 17-3 overall and to 4-2 in the Big 12 race.
The score was knotted nine times and there were 11 lead changes as well.
The last tie of the game was 48-48 with 7:51 to go. The difference in the final eight minutes was the play of Mosby, who netted seven points and had three rebounds in the waning minutes. After the 48-48 tie, Texas got to within two points twice (50-48, 55-53), but each time, Baylor countered with a score on its next possession.
In the final 1:50 of play, Baylor held a 59-53 lead before a Hughes fastbreak layup cut the lead to four, 59-55 with 1:37 to go. Neither team scored for the next 1:15, as UT missed the front end of a one-and-one and Baylor missed a shot and had a turnover. Baylor iced the game, however, by hitting four free throws in the final 22 seconds of action. Junior guard Angela Tisdale sank two free throws with 22 seconds left to push the lead to 61-55. After a Texas missed 3-pointer, Bailey pulled down the offensive rebound and hit a short jumper to cut the gap to 61-57 with 13 seconds left.
Baylor turned the ball over on the inbounds play, but the Longhorns missed a jumper and freshman Latara Darrett was fouled on the rebound. She went to the line and made both of her free throws with eight seconds left for a 63-57 edge. The final four-point margin came on a last-second layup by UT's Carla Cortijo.
Three UT players finished with eight points apiece -- senior forward Tiffany Jackson, freshman forward Earnesia Williams and Cortijo. Jackson pulled down seven rebounds.
Darrett finished with 16 points for the Lady Bears to join Mosby in double-figures.
In taking the 29-25 lead into intermission, Texas rallied at the end of the half, shooting seven-for-14 in the final nine minutes after opening the game by hitting three of its first 12 shots. Down 13-11 with 9:39 to go, the Longhorns went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes and enjoyed their biggest lead of the game (eight points), 21-13, on an Ashley Lindsey layup with 6:17 left.
Baylor then chipped into the lead, as Darrett scored eight of Baylor's final 12 points of the half as Baylor closed to within four at the break.
Baylor out-rebounded the Longhorns, 23-15 in the first half. Texas shot 39 percent in the first 20 minutes while BU made 36 percent of its shots.
Baylor finished the game shooting 47 percent from the floor (25-for-53). The Lady Bears also held the edge on the boards, out-rebounding Texas by a 41-30 margin. For the game, Texas had 16 turnovers to Baylor's 22, and the Longhorns held a 23-13 edge in points off turnovers.
Texas was 13-for-17 from the foul line, while BU was 10-for-15, including a nine-for-13 effort in the final half.
Texas returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 27, traveling to Lubbock, Texas to meet Big 12 opponent Texas Tech in a 3 p.m. (Central) game to air on FSNSW (FOX Sports Net Southwest). Texas Tech is 12-8 overall and 3-3 in the league.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Currently in the Big 12 standings, Texas is in a four-way tie for fifth at 3-3 with Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech ... Texas Tech is UT's next opponent on Saturday, Jan. 27 in Lubbock ... Oklahoma (7-0) leads the league and there is a three-way tie for second between Baylor, Nebraska and Texas A&M, all with 4-2 records in the league
- Texas is now 2-4 against the Top 25 this year
- Texas is now 11-3 at home this season
- The 16 points by junior Erneisha Bailey marked the sixth time she was in double-digit scoring this year and the fourth time in the last five games
BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES
Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey
Her general statement: We really had our problems on offense in the first half, down by four at halftime. I challlenged them in the locker room to have a third scorer step up in the second half. I am proud that a lot of individuals who needed to give us something, did. Every time you can play and learn, you do. Every game in the Big 12 is going to be like this, on the road or at home. You know each other so well. It is going to boil down to one or two possessions that decide the games, and it went our way tonight. For us, turnovers at critical times hurt us. Those are areas we have to improve on. I'm not into this Top 25 stuff. As far as I'm concerned, we have 12 good teams in our league.
Road wins are hard to come by. Every time you can sneak a win on the road, it helps you whether they (the opposition) are ranked or not.
Tara (Latara Darrett) has instinct for the game, freshman or no freshman. We are just rolling the ball out there and telling her to play. The more minutes she gets, the better she gets.
The stat sheets don't tell how valuable Rachel (Allison) is to our team. Rachel is really valuable. She guarded Tiffany (Jackson) and made her take hard shots. In the final minute when she grabbed that offensive rebound, she knew exactly what to do -- kicking it back out instead of going back up or taking a shot.
Baylor senior forward Bernice Mosby: During halftime, Coach said I needed to get the ball inside more. Once that happened, all my other teammates opened up to shoot outside. I felt like I needed to take it on my shoulders, and thank God I did that.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
Her general statement: Give Baylor credit -- they played well and made plays. In the first half, it was their perimeter players knocking down 3's. In the second half, (Bernice) Mosby took it to us. First time I've seen her up close and in person. She is impressive. Mosby makes plays. That's what players who are special do. She proved that she was really special in my mind tonight. She was the go-to player when they needed her to be. We had a hard time contending with that.
We did not have a spark, an energy tonight. We had two players -- (junior guard) Erneisha Bailey and (freshman guard) Niqky Hughes -- who gave it their best effort out there and played with energy and focus. We have to have everyone doing that or we will not win. We have to have a special energy and connection on the court with all five players. We are not good enough to play any other way. We cannot have an off-game and win in this conference. It is that simple.
We flew around and made some plays, but to their credit, Baylor kept beating us back. We still had a chance to win the game down to the end. We missed the front end of a one-and-one late in the game, if we had made that, we could have been down by two. As poorly as we executed at times, we still had a chance to win. That is what is the most disappointing thing. It was there and we just did not take advantage. On the other hand, Baylor did. They made plays.
About the Texas offense which struggled after a strong performance in the upset win over Texas A&M Sunday: Offensively we were not patient at all. We took quick shots and did not show resiliency and tried to force things -- that is our M.O. in games when we struggle. We are not a good enough shooting team where we need to take every open shot. Tiffany (Jackson) was not as patient as she needed to be tonight, but that was the ailment of our whole team. Tiffany is a competitor, and she did not play well tonight, but she will bounce back. That doesn't worry me -- she motivates herself every day. But again, Tiffany might not realize how much we depend on her energy every minute of the game. It is typical for a player to get down and frustrated when things are not going well, but she has to stay upbeat, even when she is struggling. She does do that for us, but tonight she struggled in her energy, too. Carla and Tiffany need to be our energizers. Carla starts it all for us, and she needed to be there for us tonight and just wasn't in terms of that energy we need from her.
This league is difficult every night, like we talk about. Now, you have two days before we travel and play the next opponent in Lubbock. We cannot dwell on what's happened. As thin as we are, player-wise, we have to play at the highest level possible in energy and effort, and we will not be successful unless we give the maximum effort every night in our conference. That makes the challenge ahead even greater.
