The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tennessee
Women's Basketball falls at No. 1 Tennessee, 92-67
11.18.2007 | Women's Basketball
The Tennessee win came on the same day that the Lady Vols celebrated their 2006-07 national championship by hoisting a banner honoring their seventh title to the rafters of Thompson-Boling Arena.The Lady Vols (3-0) played like national championship contenders, dominating inside, grabbing steals and forcing turnovers. They finished with 42 points in the paint, 40 points off turnovers and 18 steals.
The Lady Vols went on an 11-2 run that ended when Sidney Smallbone drove down the court to shoot a quick layup that spun on the rim before going in.
The basket put Tennessee up 41-18 for its largest first-half lead with 5:02 to go, and the Lady Vols entered halftime with a 51-31 lead.
The Longhorns (2-1) got within 15 points twice before halftime on a free throw by Kathleen Nash and again on a basket by Brittainey Raven with about 2 minutes to play, but it was as close as they would get.
Texas never led and committed 30 turnovers.
Raven finished with 18 points, Nash had 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Carla Cortijo added 12 points.
The Lady Vols gradually built their lead after the half to 31 points on a Smallbone 3-pointer and again when Alexis Hornbuckle drove the court and made an underhanded shot beneath the basket.
Hornbuckle ended with 13 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Alexis Fuller had one of her strongest games as a Lady Vol, going 7-for-8 from the floor, 2-for-2 at the line and making both of her 3-point attempts. She finished with 18 points and four rebounds.
Angie Bjorklund scored 16 points before fouling out.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Texas won the battle on the boards, outrebounding the Lady Vols by a 36-34 margin ... Texas has out-rebounded all three of its opponents.
- Longhorn sophomore guard Brittainey Raven has reached double-figure scoring in all three games .... She finished with 18 against Tennessee after a career-high 22 versus Missouri State and 12 versus Lamar ... this marked the 13th time Raven has hit double-figures as a Longhorn.
- For the second game in a row, Longhorn freshman guard Kathleen Nash came off the bench to log double-digit points ... Nash had 17 against the Lady Vols after recording a double-double (19 points/10 rebounds, both career bests), on Thursday against Lamar (Nov. 15).
- The six 3-pointers made by the Longhorns were a season-high ... Prior best was four made treys against Lamar (Nov. 15).
- Tennessee was the first of six teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 that Texas will face during regular season action ... in all-time games against Top 25 opponents, the Longhorns are 144-166 (.465) ... Head coach Gail Goestenkors is now 87-65 against Top 25 opponents (.572 winning percentage).
- Tennessee dominated the stat category points off turnovers, scoring 40 points off turnovers to the Longhorns 21 points off TO's.
- The 21 points by Tennessee junior All-American Candace Parker were the most by a UT opposing player this season.
- Today's contest was the 29th meeting in the Texas-Tennessee series, which Tennessee now leads, 18-11 ... Tennessee has won the last three contests, and in the last 11 meetings, the Lady Vols leads the series, 7-4 ... In games played in Knoxville, the Lady Vols lead the series, 8-5 ... UT first-year head coach Gail Goestenkors is now 5-5 all-time against the Lady Vols.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gail Goestenkors
Opening statement: Give credit to Tennessee. I thought they played a terrific all-around game. I know they've been looking for contributions from other players besides Candace (Parker) and (Shannon) Bobbitt and I thought they got that today. They shared the ball really well, pushed the ball in transition and, obviously, caused a lot of problems for us with their defense. Nobody is going to overcome 30 turnovers. We just have to give them a lot of credit. This is a learning and growing experience for our team. I know that we will get better. I thought that we competed better in the second half. We're still young and relatively inexperienced and we are going to learn, grow and get better.
On her offensive strategy: We're up-tempo.We don't have those big, strong bodies on the low block to pound it in, so we need to run. That's going to be our style. I could try to do something totally different, like Chattanooga, for instance, where they really spread the floor out and slowed it down, but that's not really our style. We don't have the three-point shooters like some other teams do, so we really rely on our athleticism. That has been good for us and will be good for us, but we need to learn when to push and to be able to push with poise. We didn't have a lot of poise. We need to find that balance between pushing the ball and having the poise to execute from court-to-court.
On Tennessee: They are so athletic. We knew exactly what to expect with pressure, man-to-man defense, up and in passing lanes. With Candace in there, I think that it can be easy to just watch her sometimes, but I thought that everyone was very much involved in their transition today. They just played a great game.
On the crowd at Thompson-Boling: I love playing in front of this crowd. It is a great environment for women's basketball. We talked about it before the game, with the freshmen in particular. I asked if they were nervous and they felt like they were excited. I thought we saw some nerves. I thought Kathleen (Nash), in particular, played an exceptional game. She did not play like a freshman. She was one of the most poised players we had out there. We haven't had to deal with that kind of pressure this year yet. You don't see that kind of pressure very often, so, like I said, we'll learn from it.
On moving From Duke to Texas: It's a growing process. I wanted a new challenge and this is a great opportunity for me. We didn't start off beating Tennessee at Duke. It took us a couple of tries. We became more comfortable every time we played them. I think these players, as well, will become more comfortable as the season goes on.
On the difference in Shannon Bobbitt from last year to this year: She definitely looks more aggressive and is looking to score more. Last year, she was looking to run the offense. This year, it is more natural for her because she knows all the sets and feels more comfortable. That has made her more aggressive on the offensive end.
SOPHOMORE GUARD Brittainey Raven
On the difference in today's game: Tennessee did a great job with their defensive pressure and rebounds. We need to take care of the ball a lot better than we did today. Tennessee scored 40 points off our turnovers. We need to keep teams off the opposite side of the floor where they got easy lay-ups.
On turnovers: We just need to slow down and have more poise under pressure. Today we didn't really have poise, but we'll get better as the season goes on.
On what Texas will take from this game: We learned a lot from this game. We can look at this for ways to get better for the rest of the year.
FRESHMAN GUARD Kathleen Nash
On turnovers: I was a little nervous at the beginning. My teammates and coaches did a good job of settling me down. The turnovers were most likely because Tennessee did a good job of pressuring us and we're not used to seeing that kind of pressure. We need to get better at taking care of the ball under pressure.
