The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
9-0
Tennessee
7-2
No. 6/5 Women's Basketball downs No. 7/10 Tennessee, 73-59
12.14.2008 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2008
Box Score 
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas was already off to its best start in 20 years and shooting up the rankings under second-year coach Gail Goestenkors.
Still, there's no measuring stick quite like the Tennessee Lady Vols, the defending national champs and winners of eight titles overall.
The No. 6 Longhorns measured up in every way Sunday, thumping No. 7 Tennessee 73-59 behind 21 points from Brittainey Raven and a dominant effort on defense and rebounding.
"We knew we could win," said Kat Nash, who scored 12 points and hit a big 3-pointer in a 10-1 Texas run in the second half. "We knew if we played our hardest, we would win."
Texas is 9-0 for the first time since the 1987-88 season.
"We are growing," Goestenkors said. "We are going to be a national power and a team to always be reckoned with."
Tennessee (7-2) lost five key players, including national player of the year Candace Parker, from last year's national title team that pounded Texas 92-67 last season. The loss left Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt 10 wins shy of career No. 1,000.
"Night and day," Summitt said in comparing this Texas team to last season.
A quick look at the stat sheet showed just how far the Longhorns have come.
Texas held Tennessee to 33 percent shooting, forced 18 turnovers and dominated the rebounding 52-41, including 19 offensive boards that led to 17 second-chance points.
"We missed so many, easy, easy shots in the paint," Summitt said. "You've got to give Texas an awful lot of credit. They were tough."
The young Lady Vols hurt themselves with fouls and 11 of 24 free throw shooting. Freshman Glory Johnson, Tennessee's leading scorer this season, played less than three minutes of the first half because of foul trouble and was 7-of-14 from the line with several key misses in the second.
Johnson picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and went to the bench for the next 13. She was back in the game only 44 seconds before she picked up her third and went right back to her seat.
"I just had to play smarter," Johnson said. "I just wasn't as physical, wasn't as aggressive."
Texas started fast, hitting four of its first five shots, then went cold, going 5-of-26 for the rest of the half. The Lady Vols, even with Johnson spending most of the half on the bench and Angie Bjorkland picking up three fouls in the half, rallied from eight points down to make it 31-31 at halftime.
Johnson gave Tennessee it's only lead the first time she touched the ball in the second and had eight of the Lady Vols' first 10 points of the half. The game was tied 41-all when Texas cobbled together the big run that changed the game.
Raven started it with a baseline layup off a nifty no-look pass from Carla Cortijo before Raven and Nash hit consecutive 3-pointers to put Texas up 51-42.
"That's what we're known for, driving in and kicking it out to our shooters," Raven said. "Once we got that going in the second half, we hit those threes,"
Another 3-pointer by Nash made it 57-46. Tennessee got back within six before Johnson and Vicki Baugh missed four straight free throws that could have pulled the Lady Vols back into the game.
After the misses, Texas steadily built its lead to put the game away. Raven made a pair of free throws and Cortijo drove for a layup to push the lead back to 11.
Cortijo, who played only six minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, finished with 11 points and five assists and Ashley Lindsey had 11 points, eight rebounds and six blocks.
"This was a big win for us," Raven said. "We've been waiting for a big game like this."
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas improved to 17-3 (.850) at home under Gail Goestenkors.
- Texas improved to 9-0 on the season for the fourth time in school history and the first time since the 1987-88 season.
- Texas improved to 78-54 at home against Top 25 opponents.
- The halftime tie at 31-31 marked the first game this season that Texas has not held the lead midway through a game.
- The Longhorns held their biggest lead of the game, 68-55, at the 1:48-minute mark in the second half after a basket from Ashley Lindsey.
- Texas allowed Tennessee zero field goals from 16:50-10:46 in the second half, a span of six minutes and four seconds...Tennessee also went without a field goal during a four-minute span in the first half, from 13:23-9:23.
- Texas improved to 12-18 all-time against Tennessee and 5-3 over the last eight contests...UT is now 4-1 all-time against the Lady Vols when ranked higher in the AP poll.
- With this win, the Longhorns tallied their 399th win at the Frank Erwin Center. Texas is 399-68 in the building.
- Texas outrebounded its opponent for the third-straight game (52-41) and eighth time this season.
Gail Goestenkors
- With the win, Coach G moves to 6-5 all-time against Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt.
- Improves to 8-8 (.500) against ranked opponents at Texas...is 95-72 against ranked foes all-time.
Brittainey Raven
- Collected her eight-straight double-digit scoring effort with 21 points (7-of-17 FG, 2-of-4 3FG, 5-of-6 FT).
- Posted her fifth 20-point output of the season and 10th of her career.
- Tied season-high two three-pointers.
- Led Texas in scoring for the sixth-straight game and the 51st time of her career.
Ashley Lindsey
- Reached double-figure scoring for the third time this season with 11 points (5-of-9 FG, 1-of-2 FT)... collected 28th double-digit scoring effort of her career.
- Tallied team-high six blocks...has posted at least two blocks in six-straight games.
- Reached 203 career blocks, becoming just the third Longhorn to post 200 career blocks...is 19 blocks shy of second place in UT's all-time record book.
- Pulled down team-high eight rebounds marking the second-straight game she has led the squad in that category.
Carla Cortijo
- Recorded double-figure scoring with 11 points (3-of-6 FG, 1-of-1 3FG, 4-of-6 FT) for the third time this season and the 35th time of her career...added team-high five assists, marking the seventh game this season she has led the squad in assists.
Ashley Gayle
- Pulled down a career-high seven rebounds...also added six points (2-of-3 FG, 2-of-4 FT).
Kathleen Nash
- Posted her seventh double-digit scoring effort of the season with 12 points (3-of-10 FG, 2-of-6 3FG, 4-of-4 FT)...18th double-digit scoring effort of her career.
- Pulled down team-high eight rebounds.
- Was perfect from the charity stripe (4-of-4) for the fourth time this season.
Earnesia Williams
- Scored six points (2-of-5 FG, 2-of-5 FT) for her highest scoring output since 10 against Furman (Nov. 23)...also added six rebounds and two steals.
TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gail Goestenkors
Opening statement: I'm really proud of the team. It was a hard fought win. Tennessee is an excellent team and they have so many outstanding players. They just kept coming at us. I thought we withstood their runs and made runs of our own. I was most impressed with our rebounding. We knew that was going to be a huge key for the game, and that's what we talked about and worked on all week long. I'm just really proud of the rebounding effort, and it was a team effort. It wasn't just one person, it was everybody, and that's what you need against a great team like Tennessee. Overall, I'm just really pleased. We've got a lot of things still to work on and we will learn a great deal from this game. Both, the good things that we did and the things we still need to do better.
On the difference between the first and second halves: At halftime, I talked to the players and asked them what the most important stats are to me. They all said rebounding, and I asked them what the second most important stat is, and they said assists. I told them that we only had two. That's not going to get it. I do not like that kind of basketball. It's not any fun for you and it's not any fun for me, and it's not going to be good for our team. We have got to share the ball and penetrate to make other people better and to find the open player. We had 10 in the second half and that was the difference for us. Offensively, in our flow, we must share the ball to look good.
On what the team still needs to improve on: We just have to continue to do a better job offensively. We had some good moments in the second half, but overall for the game, we weren't executing or setting good screens. When you're playing athletic teams that really fight hard on defense, you have to make sure to set a good screen and use the screens. Little things like that make a big difference in big games.
SOPHOMORE GUARD Kathleen Nash
On the importance of sharing the ball: Just whenever we drive and kick, it really opens things up for us. I know, as a shooter, it makes it a lot easier when Brittainey [Raven] draws the defense away from me. They were really playing us tight, and I just think that when we move the ball, it really helps.
On the mindset for this game: I think we had a really good mentality going into this game. We knew we could win, and we knew if we played our hardest, we would win.
JUNIOR GUARD Brittainey Raven
On the assists in the second half: Like coach said, at halftime, she told us that we needed to share the ball a lot more, and that's what we're good at. That's what we're known for - driving in and kicking it out to our shooters. Once we got that going in the second half, we hit those two threes, and then we continued to drive the ball. It was hard for Tennessee to read whether we were going to drive-and-kick or just drive to the basket.
On difference between this year's game vs. Tennessee: This year, we had a lot more confidence going into this game than we did last year. Last year, we didn't have Erika [Arriaran], and this year we had Erika back. It wasn't a good shooting night for her, but when she was out on the court, it still helped us. They didn't want to leave Erika to help off on the drive.
TENNESSEE QUOTES
HEAD COACH PAT SUMMITT
On the loss: I was really very pleased with our first half of play. I felt we executed better in the first half. We would have been better off if we didn't have halftime, maybe. Coming out of halftime I just didn't really feel like we did a good job overall. The things that were costly for us were not taking care of the ball, certainly that is costly. When you don't shoot well from the line and you're turning the ball over and you're getting beat on the boards, it's tough to win. We missed so many easy, easy shots in the paint. You've got to give Texas an awful lot of credit. They were tough. They definitely had the advantage on the boards. This team today was not committed to rebounding and you cannot go on the road against quality opponents if you don't bring your defense and your board play.
On what went wrong in the second half: I didn't think (Briana Bass) was as sharp with her leadership at the point coming out of the half. Things just started to break down for us. I thought the one thing in the second half was we played just so over-anxious offensively. When you don't make shots, if you are a young basketball team, that will deflate them.
SOPHOMORE GUARD ANGIE BJORKLUND
On dealing with foul trouble throughout the game: I think with the fouls, that's just something you have to play through and be smart with. I think that's just something I learned from. I can't let that affect the rest of my game and I need to stay in it more mentally.
On what happened in the second half: I do give Texas a lot of credit with their defense and their pressure, and also they were hitting shots. I think our defense just broke down. When things weren't going our way, we weren't there mentally. We just need to stay in it and hopefully we'll learn from this.
On where the team goes from here: I really think the major thing is staying in it mentally. When things aren't going our way we need to just go to the next play and just take it one possession at a time, especially on defense. If we don't hit a shot we need to go back and get a stop in order to stay in the game. We'll take this and hopefully grow up fast.
FRESHMAN FORWARD GLORY JOHNSON
On picking up three fouls in three minutes in the first half and none in the second half: I just had to play smarter. I knew what I could do and I knew what I couldn't do. I knew what the refs were going to call and I knew what they weren't going to call. I just wasn't as physical, wasn't as aggressive, but I still tried to play my own game.
On what effect missing shots had on the team: At some point I think it affects us individually, but as a team if we miss shots you have another teammate pumping you up. We shouldn't worry about what shots we miss and what shots we make, we should just keep on trying to push the ball and play our game.
