The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Kansas State
Women's Basketball rolls over Kansas State, 61-34
02.03.2007 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Behind a stifling defense and three players in double-figure scoring, the Texas women's basketball team posted a 61-34 victory over Kansas State Saturday afternoon in Big 12 action at Bramlage Coliseum.
Texas moves to 16-7 overall and to 5-4 in Big 12 action. The Longhorns were paced by 12 points apiece from senior forward Tiffany Jackson and junior guard Erneisha Bailey. Freshman point guard Carla Cortijo added 10 points. Jackson also had six rebounds and a season-high seven assists. The Longhorns dished out a season-high 24 assists, as they shot 48.2 percent from the floor (27-for-56).
Kansas State entered the game averaging a Big 12-best 8.3 three-pointers per game, but were held scoreless from the arc by the Longhorns. KSU was O-14 from three-point territory.
The 34 points by Kansas State (15-7, 3-6) were the lowest by KSU this year, and were the least amount of points ever scored by a Texas opponent in Big 12 play. The former lowest single game total was 36 which Texas held Oklahoma to in a72-36 UT victory on Feb. 26, 2005.
KSU was limited to 25.5 percent shooting by the Longhorns, as the Wildcats made just 14 of 55 field goal attempts.
Texas, coming off a 67-62 upset win over No. 9 Oklahoma on Wednesday, is now 9-4 in its last 13 games, and evens its away record at 4-4. This was the first of four games in the next five game stretch on the road for the Longhorns.
The prior single game scoring low this year by Kansas State was 48 points in KSU's 48-45 victory over No. 17 Texas A&M on January 6. Kansas State lost for the first time at home in Big 12 play this season. The Wildcats were 3-0 at home in league play prior to tonight's game.
Kansas State had no players reach double-figure scoring, getting eight points apiece from forward Ashley Sweat and guard Claire Coggins. Coggins entered the game as KSU's top scorer with a 14.0 ppg average.
Texas led at intermission, 27-14, on the strength of 42 percent shooting and a tough defense which limited the Wildcats to 23 percent accuracy. KSU made just seven of 31 field goal attempts.
The Wildcats were 0-8 from the 3-point line in the first 20 minutes.
The Longhorns opened up a bigger lead to start the second half, as Bailey hit a jumper and Jackson scored on a layup to open the period and push UT's lead to 31-14 just one minute into play.
Down the stretch, the closest the Wildcats would get was 11 points, 33-22, following a Sweat layup with 14:30 left. Texas immediately countered on another Bailey jumper followed by a three-pointer from Cortijo on the baseline, as UT pushed the lead to 16 (38-22) with 13:29 to go.
Texas connected on 56 percent of its shots in the final half, going 14-for-25 from the field.
The 14 points were the lowest first-half point total of the year for K-State. The former low was 20 points against Nebraska on January 7 in a 70-63 KSU loss.
Texas jumped out to leads of 15-6 (with 9:20 left) and led by 13, 21-8 following a Carla Cortijo baseline jumper with 6:25 to go in the half. The closest Kansas State could get was nine points, 23-14, on a Kari Kincaid layup with 1:06 left.
Texas then closed out the half with layups by Bailey and Hughes for the 13-point edge at the break.
The first-half shooting percentage was the one stat line heavily in favor of the Longhorns in the half. UT held a 23-20 edge in rebounding. Both teams had six turnovers and three steals, and neither team scored from the free throw line in the half. Texas did not attempt a free throw and KSU was 0-4 from the charity stripe.
For the game, the Longhorns out-rebounded Kansas State by a 41-34 margin. Texas went four-for-eight from the foul line and KSU was 6-for-13 in free throws. The Longhorns hit three of six 3-pointers in the game. Both teams finished with seven steals, while KSU had 17 turnovers to UT's 18.
The Longhorns return to action on continue their road swing with a second straight game away from Austin when Texas faces Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. on Wednesday, Feb. 5. The game will tip at 6 p.m. And will be broadcast live on KVET Radio 1300 AM in Central Texas and via the internet at Yahoo!Sports at www.TexasSports.com.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
You can never ever relax when you play Kansas State, and so many of our games recently have come down to the wire. I don't think I relaxed until the very end. I am extremely pleased with our effort today. Our defense really answered the call. To not give up a three (3-pointer) to one of the very best 3-point shooting teams in the country, and to hold Kansas State to 34 points, is testament to our great defensive effort.
We didn't give Kansas State a lot of space to operate in offensively. They did not have very many open looks today. They like to set picks and penetrate and they didn't get too many chances against our defense out there.
I really liked our business-like approach today. We jumped out to an early lead and then just handled ourselves and maintained the lead throughout. We showed good patience most of the game. This team has embraced its identity of working hard on defense. We are not going to go out there and score 80 points, and our identity and success is going to come from our defensive play.
This last week, the Big 12 race has gotten interesting. The race has closed up considerably, and it's not over yet, is it?
