The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma State
Women's Basketball drops 77-58 decision to Oklahoma State
02.07.2007 | Women's Basketball
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Behind strong scoring in the paint and four players in double-figure scoring, led by a career-high 21 points from freshman guard Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State posted a 77-58 Big 12 women's basketball victory over Texas Wednesday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Texas, which shot just 29.0 percent in the game, goes to 16-8 overall and evens its record in the Big 12 to 5-5 with the setback. Oklahoma State ended a three-game losing streak with the win, and moved to 16-7 overall and to 4-6 in the league. OSU shot 45 percent from the floor and went 17-for-21 from the foul line.
The victory for OSU also snapped Texas' 13-game win streak in the series, which was the longest current win streak against a Big 12 opponent for the Longhorns. The last Oklahoma State win against Texas had come on Jan. 12, 2000, also in Stillwater, when OSU tripped Texas by a 71-69 score.
The Longhorns were paced by redshirt freshman point guard Carla Cortijo (16 points) and senior forward Tiffany Jackson who picked up her ninth double-double of the year - and the third in the last six games. Jackson had 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
OSU dominated in play inside and in points off turnovers. Although Texas out-rebounded OSU by a 45-43 margin, the Cowgirls dominated in points in the paint by a 36-18 margin. The Longhorns committed 16 turnovers, and OSU had a 26-12 advantage in points off turnovers.
Rounding out the Cowgirls double-figure scorers were Danielle Green (14 points), Taylor Hardeman (13 points) and Rashidat Sadiq (11 points).
Down at intermission by nine, 35-26, the Longhorns opened the second half with a 13-6 run, to cut the Cowgirls lead to two, 41-39, on a Jackson layup with 13:14 to go.
OSU would not fold, however, as the Cowgirls built their lead back to 11 points, 55-44, behind five points each from Sadiq and Green. Two Sadiq free throws with 8:33 remaining gave Oklahoma State the 55-44 edge.
The closest the Longhorns would get down the stretch was seven points (55-48) following four consecutive free throws from Cortijo. Again, the Cowgirls countered with another run, this time going on a 14-1 run, paced by back-to-back 3-pointers from Hardeman and four points from Riley. OSU extended its lead to 20 points, 69-49, on two Maria Cordero free throws with four minutes to go.
The Longhorns trailed at the break, 35-26, and were hurt by 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play and by a scoreless streak of nearly seven minutes midway through the period.
Texas led 14-10 with 13:03 to go before the Cowgirls took over the lead for the rest of the half with a 17-2 run, capped by a layup by guard Danielle Green for a 27-16 lead with 5:00 remaining. The lone Longhorn score in that run was a layup by freshman guard Brittainey Raven. Texas had a string of 6:29 where they went 0-for-12 from the field before Raven scored on her putback layup to make the score 23-16 in favor of OSU with 6:34 left. OSU then scored four points to push the lead back to double-digits.
In the first half, OSU turned the ball over just seven times to UT's 10 turnovers. The Cowgirls also had seven steals to UT's one steal, and out-scored Texas 19-4 in points off turnovers. Texas shot just 32 percent from the field, making 10 of 31 field goal attempts. Both teams had 19 rebounds.
Texas returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 10 when it hosts Big 12 opponent Kansas at 5 p.m. (CT) at the Frank Erwin Center. The game will be televised on FSNSW (FOX Sports Net Southwest).
Tickets to all Texas Basketball home games may be purchased online at TexasBoxOffice.com; by calling 800-982-BEVO or 512-471-3333; in person at any Texas Box Office outlet, including Austin-area H-E-B stores and the UT Athletics Ticket Office in Bellmont Hall (Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. CT); and in person one hour prior to game time at the Frank Erwin Center box office. There are several ticket promotions at the game.
There is a "Fun for Four" promotion, where fans may purchase four general admission tickets for $24 (a day of game only promotion). Fans may also go to TexasSports.com and click on "Bevo's Bargains" for a special $4 general admission coupon. For Texas students, there are O-Zone Giveaways (UT student promotions) at every game for those students who wear their Stampede or O-Zone shirt to women's and men's home basketball games.
OKLAHOMA STATE POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Kurt Budke: We really didn't take too many bad shots tonight. I'm proud of my kids. They came out strong and kept playing. The kids felt bad about the little things we could have done better in the last few games - hit free throws, get a loose ball. Maybe that is starting to sink in. I feel great for our seniors who have not beaten very many, if at all, South Division Big 12 teams in their time here. You have to win games like this to turn the corner. You have to beat Iowa State at Iowa State, beat Texas at home.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Jody Conradt: Give Oklahoma State credit. They play so much better at home and really took it to us tonight. We did not show any maturity out there, and our defensive effort was not anything like it was on Saturday in the win over Kansas State at Kansas State. The guards took it to us tonight. They were more aggressive than we were. One team came ready to play tonight and did all the right things out there, and the other team didn't. Give credit to them. We knew they would be ready to go at home after losing the last few games.
We did not show intensity out there, and that is very disappointing. We could not guard them without our usual intensity. Their guards penetrated all game long. This was nothing like our win at Kansas State - tonight, we took random shots and showed no patience. We fouled way too many times, and found ourselves in a lot of trouble when Earnie Williams saw little action due to foul trouble. She is one of our very best shooters and that really hurt us tonight.
At halftime, however, I told the team that that might be the worst half of basketball we've played all year, but that we still had a chance. We got a little spark to start the second half with some lineup changes and went to the zone, but in crunch time, they answered again and again.
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