The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
10-0
Arizona State
7-3
No. 5 Women's Basketball downs No. 21 Arizona State, 81-71
12.18.2008 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2008
Box Score |Box Score 
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Kathleen Nash was back at it again on Thursday night.
After providing a much-needed spark in Texas' 73-59 win against 10th-ranked Tennessee on Sunday, Nash was the catalyst against Arizona State.
Nash paced Texas with a career-high 27 points, propelling fifth-ranked Texas to an 81-71 victory over No. 21 Arizona State on Thursday night.
"We knew going in it was going to be our toughest challenge to date because they are big, strong, athletic and deep," Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said. "And they are experienced, and that's the thing they have on Tennessee."
Nash tied a school record by going 12-for-12 from the free-throw line, and connected on 3-of-6 3-pointers. Forward Ashley Lindsey finished with 12 points and four key blocks for the Longhorns.
Dymond Simon led the Sun Devils (7-3) with 21 points
While Nash is known for her skills behind the 3-point line, it was her dribble-and-drive penetration that set her apart in this win. Nash had four trips to the free throw line in the second half due to her aggressiveness with the basketball.
"I've been trying to work on my driving, and not just be a 3-point shooter," Nash said. "I think I did a better job of that tonight, and when I penetrate it helps open things up offensively."
In all, Texas was 30-of-33 at the free throw line.
"That was the game, that's 30 points right there," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We had some big breakdowns in our team defense, and there were times when we started to get beat, and we just hacked them. And that's absolutely, positively not acceptable in our program."
In Turner's eyes, the Sun Devils failed to meet their objective tonight.
"Our goal is to make people make shots, and we failed miserably at that goal tonight," Thorne said.
With Texas ahead by just three points late in the second half, Nash nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Longhorns a 57-51 lead. Nash scored 10 points in the last 10 minutes of the game to help Texas pull away in the second half.
But things weren't as easy for the Longhorns in the first half.
Texas was bullied down low as Arizona State outrebounded Texas 23-17 in the first half. The Sun Devils grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and had many second-chance points, giving them the lead for most of the first half.
"We were all frustrated with the offensive rebounds," Goestenkors said.
With Texas down 35-34 in the remaining seconds of the first half, Nash caught a pass from guard Carla Cortijo in the corner and nailed a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Longhorns a narrow 37-35 lead going into the half.
Both teams exchanged baskets in the early part of the second half, but Nash helped spark a late rally for the Longhorns. Nash scored eight of Texas' last 16 points in her eighth double-digit scoring effort of the season.
"I think we're all very relieved we came away with a win," Goestenkors said. "We can enjoy Christmas a little more."
The Longhorns are now 10-0 for just the third time in school history, and the first time since the 1985-86 season. Texas finished that season off undefeated and claimed the school's lone National Championship.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas won its 400th game at the Frank Erwin Center. 2008-09 marks the 32nd season in the building, and UT holds an all-time record of 400-68 (.855) in the building.
- Texas improved to 10-0 on the season for the third time in school history and the first time since the 1985-86 season.
- Texas improved to 79-54 (.594) at home against Top 25 opponents.
- Texas improved to 4-0 all-time against Arizona State.
- Texas improved to 18-3 (.871) at home under Gail Goestenkors.
- The Longhorns took their first lead of the game at the 3:38 mark in the first half on a jumper by Yvonne Anderson, 28-27.
- Texas' 37-35 halftime lead was its slimmest of the season. UT has led at the half in nine games.
- UT recorded seven or more blocks for the seventh straight game with 8 blocks.
- Texas used a 9-2 run that spanned from 10:19 to 8:53 in the second half - a 1:26 span - to build a six-point 57-51 lead.
- UT shot a season-high 90.9 percent (30-of-33) from the free throw line.
- UT also shot a season-high 55.6 percent (5-of-9) from three-point range.
Ashley Lindsey
- Tallied team-high four blocks...has posted at least two blocks in eight-straight games.
- Recorded 12 points for her fourth double-digit scoring effort of the season.
- Scored 10 or more points 29 times in her career.
Kathleen Nash
- Posted a career high 27 points (6-of-10 FG, 3-of-6 3FG, 12-of-12 FT) ... 14 of which came in the first half.
- Registered eighth double-digit scoring effort of the season.
- Scored 10 or more points for the 19th time in her career.
- Scored 20 or more points for the third time of the season and of her career.
- Led the Horns in points for the second time this season and fifth time of her career.
- Tied Texas record for best FT percentage in a game (12-of-12, 1.000 percent)...third person in Longhorn history to accomplish the feat.
- Set career high with 12-of-12 shooting from the charity stripe.
Earnesia Williams
- Scored a season-high 11 points (5-of-5 FG, 1-of-3 FT).
- Recorded 10 or more points for the fifth time this season and the 32nd time of her career.
TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gail Goestenkors
Opening statement: I'm very happy to come away with a win. We knew going into this game that this was going to be our toughest challenge to date. They are big, strong, athletic and deep. They are just as deep as we are, if not deeper, and they are experienced. I think that was the difference between them and Tennessee. Tennessee is all those things as well, but Arizona State has great experience on its roster. They came out ready to play. I was very frustrated early on with our effort, especially on the boards. I just thought we had a lack of focus. They run their motion as well, if not better, than 95 percent of the teams in the country. They did a great job with their motion and they broke us down. They were scoring at will early on. But I am proud of the way the team came back, one possession at a time. We just clawed our way back into the game. We stayed aggressive. Our offense was not flowing smoothly, but we stayed aggressive, took the ball to the basket and we got the free throw line, which obviously was huge. We did a great job hitting our free throws.
On the importance of having a productive bench: We have great depth and I also think we have great balance. I think it's important to be balanced. Anytime you just rely on one specific person, good teams will be able to shut them down. I think my goal now is to get one of my post players to be our leading scorer in a game. We need to get some more production from them, and that's an area we'll continue to work on.
On limiting ASU on the offensive rebounds: I think we were all frustrated with the offensive rebounds. Rebounding is about determination and heart, and I think our players just became very determined to do a better job of keeping them off of the offensive glass.
SOPHOMORE GUARD Kathleen Nash
On coming off of a big win and having to play another Top 25 opponent: I definitely thought we started out slow and that could have been a drag from the Tennessee win. I also think that we need to take every game seriously, and I think we came out lackadaisical. Luckily, we stepped it up in the second half.
On her performance: I think right now, I'm trying to work on driving and not just being a three-point shooter. I think tonight, I did a better job of that, because they were putting so much pressure on us that we had to go to the basket. My teammates also did a great job of finding me in transition, so that really helped.
On how her driving to the basket helps: I think when I penetrate, it helps open things up because they have to step off a little and that made my shots more open.
On why it was difficult to get momentum: I think all of our momentum starts with our defense, and I don't think our defense was great. They were setting a lot of screens and getting a lot of good looks. I think once we picked up our defense, we created points on our offense and that really gets us.
ARIZONA STATE QUOTES
HEAD COACH CHARLI TURNER THRONE
On the difference between the first and second halves: We did a good job of controlling the boards in the first half, and some of those were just rebounding our own misses. I think during the course of the whole game, we didn't give them a lot of second shots. For us, I thought that was one thing that we needed to do. Our transition defense was a little better than average, not great. We haven't played a real transition team in a while and it was a quick turnaround for us. I was a little worried about that. We'll get back to it and not give people easy looks like that. The last thing was to keep them off of the free-throw line. That was our game plan.
On the importance of free-throws: We usually pressure people a lot more, but looking at them on tape, we told our players to just keep them in front of you and not to let them draw the fouls. We had some big break downs with our team defense. We just need to be more disciplined. Anytime we star t getting beat, we just let it happen. That's absolutely what is not acceptable in our program. That's very frustrating to all of us that we came in here and played like that, because our goal is to make people make shots, and we failed miserably at that goal tonight.
On the team's atmosphere at halftime: We thought we just played very average, not good. We played really soft defense and missed a lot of shots, but yet it was only a two-point game to Texas. In general, we thought that if we play good position defense, we take away everything. But we didn't do that. Their trapping zone gave us some problems and we were a little soft in that. We need to be a little more aggressive. We coughed it up a little bit and gave them some easy baskets.
SENIOR GUARD BRIANN JANUARY
On their hot start at the beginning of the game: We came out with the mentality that we were going to throw the first punch and be aggressive. With Lauren Lacey hitting threes, she is more than capable of hitting that. She hit them tonight and she was looking good. We just tried to come out aggressive and attack them in every position, and I think we did a good job of that in the beginning.
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