The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
14-5, 2-3
Oklahoma State
16-2, 4-1
Women's Basketball posts 70-63 upset win over No. 14 Oklahoma State
01.23.2008 | Women's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Behind a game-high 19 points from sophomore guard Brittainey Raven and a 20-for-29 effort from the foul line, the Texas women's basketball team upset No. 14 ranked Oklahoma State, 70-63, Wednesday in Big 12 Conference action at the Frank Erwin Center.
The win for Texas moves the Longhorns to 14-5 overall and to 2-3 in the Big 12. The victory was UT's third over a Top 25 team this season, as Texas now stands 3-1 against nationally-ranked opponents to date.
The OSU loss snapped the Cowgirls' eight-game win streak. OSU is now 16-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12, dropping its first league game and falling out of a first-place tie in the Big 12 standings.
Currently, No. 6 Baylor and No. 22 Kansas State are atop the Big 12 standings with 5-0 league records.
The Cowgirls turned the ball over 20 times, but were eight-for-19 from 3-point range. OSU made just seven trips to the free throw line, making five foul shots. Both teams pulled down 36 rebounds.
Raven shot seven-for-11 from the floor and had four free throws. Joining Raven in double-figure scoring for UT were redshirt sophomore point guard Carla Cortijo and junior post Ashley Lindsey, each with 11 points. Lindsey also had three blocks and Cortijo had five assists. Freshman guard Kat Nash added seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Texas held OSU sophomore point guard Andrea Riley, the nation's sixth best scorer and the Big 12 scoring leader in overall and league scoring, to 15 points, eight below her overall scoring average and 15 points below her Big 12 average. Riley had entered the game averaging 22.6 ppg overall and a league-best 29.8 points per outing.
After there were seven lead changes and three ties in the first half, Texas held a 38-26 edge at intermission and never relinquished the lead. OSU did come within two points early in the second half, 41-39, following a 3-pointer from Taylor Hardeman, but the Longhorns rebounded with a 7-0 run, capped by a Raven layup, to push the lead to nine (48-39) with 14:19 remaining.
Late in the half, the Cowgirls made another run, out-scoring UT 9-2 over a six-minute stretch and cut the lead to five, 66-61, on another trey by Hardeman with 43 seconds to go. Texas sealed the game behind Cortijo, who grabbed two defensive rebounds and went four-for-four from the free throw line over the next 17 seconds and led 70-61 with 19 seconds remaining.
With its 38-26 lead at intermission, the Longhorns scored their most points in the first half in five games. There were seven lead changes and three ties in the first half.
Texas trailed by four (15-11) seven minutes into the contest before mounting a 24-5 run over the next 8:25 to lead by 15, 35-20, following a three-pointer from freshman Rachel Rentschler. OSU received all 15 of its first points from Green (eight) and Riley (seven) in the opening minutes of play.
In that 24-5 run, the Longhorns went nine-for-14 from the field and four-for-five from the foul line, paced eight points from Raven and six from Rentschler.
OSU, in contrast, was forced into six turnovers and made just two of nine attempted field goals during UT's big run.
The Cowgirls did cut the lead to nine, 35-26 on a Kristin Hernandez jumper with 1:23 left. Texas then closed out the half with a three-point play (layup and free throw) from Cortijo with 40 seconds to go.
In the half, Texas led in points off turnovers, 16-9, to offset its 39.4 percent shooting. OSU turned the ball over 12 times to UT's eight in the first half.
Hardeman was six-for-eight in 3-pointers, scoring all six treys in the final half. She led the Cowgirls with 18 points, followed by Riley (15) and guard Danielle Green (14 points).
For the game, the Longhorns shot 41.8 percent from the field, making 23 of 55 shots. OSU had entered the game scoring 81.4 ppg. The Cowgirls shot 42.4 percent (25-of-59).
Texas returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 26, when it hosts Big 12 opponent Missouri at 1 p.m. (Central). The game will be televised on ESPNU and will air live on KVET Radio 1300 AM in Central Texas.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Texas is now 3-1 against Top 25 opponents this year ... in 155 all-time games against Top 25-ranked opponents, UT head coach Gail Goestenkors stands 90-65 (a 58.1 winning percentage)
- The win moves Texas to 21-5 all-time against the Cowgirls and ends OSU's two-game win streak in the series
- Texas moves to 8-1 at home this year
- Sophomore Brittainey Raven has notched double-digit scoring in all 19 games to date
- Freshman forward Kat Nash pulled down a game-high and career-high tying 10 rebounds ... This is the fourth time this season that Nash has had 10 boards .. She has led Texas in rebounding 8 times (including two times tied), which is second to Ashley Lindsey's total of 11 times
- The Longhorns' 38 first-half points were the most by the Longhorns in five games
- Texas committed just 10 fouls, its second lowest total of the season (the lowest was nine vs. UT-Pan American on Jan. 4)
- UT ended the game shooting 4.18 percent from the field, which is the best Big 12 game shooting percentage for the Longhorns so far this season
- Texas has out-rebounded 14 of their 19 opponents and has tied two opponents in rebounding, including Oklahoma State
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gail Goestenkors
Opening statement: I'm really proud of the team. I thought we came out with great energy, tremendous focus and a pretty specific game plan that we wanted to execute on the defensve end of the floor., a plan we did execute well. Everyone knew their roles. We really needed the win. The coaching staff has watched us make a lot of improvements, but for the players, they needed to see something tangible for their efforts and improvements, and this win will help with that.
When we lost the last game at Texas Tech and we all sat down to watch the video, well, it was really tough to watch. We know we're so much better when we play with passion, joy and energy. When the players pick each other up after every play, with a high-five, some emotion, a chest bump, whatever, that really energizes us. We saw that tonight. We wanted to play with energy, emotion and passion.
I really liked what we got from our bench tonight and also from our crowd. The crowd was behind us all game long, and I want to thank them. Their energy means a lot. I was happy to see the efforts off the bench from Earnie (Williams), who was able to give us some valuable minutes tonight despite her knee swelling. I call Earnie one of our best warriors, and tonight she scored some big points for us, got some steals and rebounds when we needed them. I also applaud Rachel Rentschler and Aubry Cook for their work off the bench. They gave us great minutes in the post. The three of them accounted for 17 bench points, and that's what we need.
The plan offensively tonight: Our goal was to get in the key, whether with pass or penetration. I was proud of our players. They continued to get in the lane all night long. It was part of our game plan to put pressure on their defense.
On what the team will take from this victory as it gets ready to face Missouri on Saturday: I told the team that this is not the end, it's the beginning. We need to build from this. I feel like we've learned something about ourselves after every game, and this was a huge win for us. We want to put everything together and show that we can play with anyone on the country.
We know how well we can play and now we have to be consistent with it. We have spurts where we play well and then we have spurts where we turn the ball over and lose focus. The challenge for us now is to put good back-to-back games together.
SOPHOMORE GUARD Brittainey Raven
On her play tonight (as leading scorer and also in guarding Andrea Riley most of the game): It was really team defense that helped us out. I think tonight, it was all about staying in position and moving our feet. I talked to (assistant) Coach (LaKale) Malone about my defensive positioning, and she says I need to stay low and keep my hands up. It was tough to stay low against Riley, but my teammates helped me out. There were a lot of times I wanted to stand up, but I knew that she was a big part of their offense and I just kept digging deep. And, our practice guys did a great job preparing us for guarding her tonight. We have one practice player who is about 5-5 and he is quick and it helped us play "D" against him this week.
As far as on offense, I think I took better shots tonight. I tried to read our offense and make smart plays. My teammates did a good job of talking to me, letting me know where they were and when I should pass or take it in.
REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE GUARD CARLA CORTIJO
On defending Andrea Riley: Our team did a good job communicating with each other. We respect Andrea a lot -- she is a great player, and Brittainey did a great job defending her. As did E-Bay (Erneisha Bailey). Overall, everybody did a really good job and we played together. We kept telling each other, you have to keep playing even in tough, physical games.
On responding to Oklahoma State's second half run: I was just playing my game and doing what the coaches were telling me to do, running the plays that they called. We had to adjust when Oklahoma State came back at us. When they came back, we stayed positive and kept executing. We needed to keep doing what we were doing in the first half.
REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE FORWARD Earnesia Williams
On playing limited minutes tonight: I didn't play that much, and I didn't think I could come back out after the second time I went into the game. It felt really good getting some minutes. I've been rehabbing my knee, spending a lot of time in the pool, and doing a lot of work to get back on the court and help the team.
OKLAHOMA STATE POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH KURT BUDKE
On the team's few trips to the free throw line tonight: Our team has made a living getting to the free throw line and we did not get many opportunities there tonight. We've done a nice job getting to the line so we need to give Gail (Goestenkors) credit and her staff credit for being able to play pressure defense and not foul. That's hard to do. It is quite a discrepancy (the free throw shooting between Texas and OSU), so congrats to her staff.
On playing on the road: Texas was more aggressive out there. You have to adjust to different things on the road. There are a lot of variables that play on the road and we talk to our team all the time about the adversity that will jump up ahead of you. This will be a great learning experience for us as we advance through the Big 12 as what can happen on the road.
We say it every day on why we have to be perfect. We have a team that plays hard together. They bind to game plans and when one phase breaks down, it's going to be a struggle to win. Texas hustled and did a great job.
The one thing we can take out of this is all the adversity we faced to tonight, and still (we) get back into the game and gave ourselves a chance to win. It's not the end of the season. No one was going to go undefeated in the league. This was a tough place to play against a great coach. We have to look towards Saturday's game, and we can't go south from here.
SOPHOMORE GUARD ANDREA RILEY
On her play: I'm surprised I made six shots. Sometimes you are going to go through a time when you're going to be lighting up in the first half. When you miss shots, you can't get down, you have to keep the intensity up. Texas is a great team. They played great defense and we couldn't get our offense back on track.
Our intensity on the defensive side was not up to our potential and I feel they took advantage of that a little bit. We dug ourselves into a hole and we ended up having to play catch up.
