The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Mississippi
No. 9/6 Women's Basketball tops Mississippi, 74-50
12.07.2008 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2008
Box Score 
| Box Score
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -- Texas needed 18 minutes to find the right offensive combination Sunday at Mississippi. The patience of Longhorns head coach Gail Goestenkors was rewarded.
The No. 9 Longhorns defeated Mississippi, 74-50, dominating the final 24 minutes. The balanced offensive attack placed four players in double figures, led by Brittainey Raven with 16 points. Erika Arriaran added 14 points while Ashleigh Fontenette and Kathleen Nash had 13 and 10 points, respectively.
"It was a matter of finding the right combination," said Goestenkors, as Texas improved to 8-0. "Sometimes it takes a little while to see what is working best and once we did that, I was pleased with how we played."
The Longhorns broke open a 26-26 tie late in the first half on consecutive three-point shots by Arriaran and Yvonne Anderson. By halftime, Texas led 36-29 and opened it to 44-29 with 16:47 left on a jumper by Raven.
Ole Miss (7-1) never got closer than nine points again. Texas led by as many as 26 points in the final four minutes, sparked by a decisive 47-34 rebounding edge, and got points from all 11 players that had playing time.
"When you play Texas, it's not a matter of scouting the first eight players," Ole Miss coach Renee Ladner said. "It's all of them. You've got to deal with all of them, not just the first eight. Those combinations make it tough on you."
The Rebels led by Shawn Goff and Kayla Melson with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Ole Miss, who ranked second nationally in rebounding margin, were outrebounded by Texas, 47-34. In an eight-minute span that bridged both halves, Ole Miss had one field goal.
"I'm disappointed with our rebounding," Ladner said. "We were dominated there. We did a pretty good job guarding Arriaran for about 18 minutes, then she hurt us with threes. But, we're a 7-1 team that's done a lot of good things and we have an opportunity to learn from this."
The Longhorns shot 29-of-60 from the field, 48 percent, while Raven and Arriaran combined for 11-of-21, including five three-point shots. Ole Miss finished 16-of-61, 26 percent, from the field.
"My team needs me to hit those shots and I hadn't done much early in the game," Arriaran said. "We finally got a combination that gave me a chance to get a couple of shots down. We're still working out the kinks, but it's great to win and still know that our team can still get better."
The importance of the road win, in a battle of unbeaten teams with national reputations, wasn't lost on Goestenkors.
"Definitely this was a big game for us; and important game," Goestenkors said. "Any time you can get a road win and a road win over an SEC team, like an Ole Miss, that's very big. They're good and they're well-coached, so it's very important."
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas improved to 8-0 for the sixth time in school history and the first time since 1987-88.
- Texas took its first lead of the game, 14-13, at the 9:55 mark in the first half with a basket from freshman Ashleigh Fontenette.
- Texas tied the game, 12-12, at the 12:37 mark with a free throw from Carla Cortijo.
- Texas held a 36-29 advantage at halftime for its slimmest halftime lead of the season.
- The Longhorns have led at the half in all eight games this season.
- The first half featured seven lead changes and four tied scores.
- Texas used a 6-0 run that spanned the first 2:50 of the second half to build a 42-29 advantage with 17:10 left in the game.
- Texas improved to 8-7 on the road under second-year head coach Gail Goestenkors, including a 3-0 mark this season.
- All 11 Longhorns saw action for the sixth time this season.
- Texas improved to 5-1 all time against Ole Miss.
- Texas held Ole Miss to 26.2 percent shooting from the field (16-of-61), marking the fifth opponent this season that UT has held to under 30 percent FG shooting.
- The Longhorns allowed the Rebels just seven field goals in the second half (7-of-32) for 21.9%.
- Texas shot better than 40% from beyond the arc for the fourth time this season with 47.1% (8-of-17).
- Texas outrebounded Ole Miss 47-34.
- Four Longhorns scored in double-digits (Brittainey Raven - 16; Erika Arriaran - 14; Ashleigh Fontenette - 13; Kathleen Nash - 10) for the fourth time this season.
Gail Goestenkors
- Has recorded five 8-0 starts in her 17-year head coaching career (four times at Duke, last in 2006-07).
Erika Arriaran
- Tallied fourth-straight double-digit scoring effort and sixth of the season with 14 points.
- Tied season-high with three from beyond the arc...has now connected from 3-point range in five straight contests.
Ashley Lindsey
- Led Texas in rebounding for the first time this season and the 23rd time in career with 11 rebounds.
Ashleigh Fontenette
- Recorded a career-high 13 points and three steals...second-straight double-digit scoring effort.
- Tied career-high with four assists and 21 minutes.
Brittainey Raven
- Recorded her seventh-straight double-digit scoring effort with a team-high 16 points.
- Led UT in scoring for the sixth time this season and 28th time in her career.
- Recorded double-figure scoring for the seventh time this season 50th time in her career.
TEXAS QUOTES
Head coach Gail Goestenkors
Opening statement: I'm proud of my team. Everyone knows that this is a difficult place to play. Ole Miss is having a great year, and they're doing a terrific job. Coming in undefeated, we knew it would be a battle. I thought our bench in particular did a great job when our starters got into foul trouble early. Our depth was definitely a factor in the game.
On how easy it is for the bench to pick up the slack: I think it's really easy. They know they're going to get in every game. They know they can have an impact. You're only allowed five starters, but I feel like anyone on the team could start. They have a lot of confidence when they come in. It's been a trend of ours that when the bench comes in, they usually pick up the intensity and the focus. It's kind of like a one-two punch. They take great pride in elevating our level of play when they come in.
MISSISSIPPI QUOTES
Ole Miss head coach Renee Ladner
Opening statement: If you were here for about the first 18 minutes, it was a pretty good game. After that, I think you should have packed it up and taken it to the house. Texas dominated us for the most part, both mentally and physically. That started with that little run before the first half. I thought our players never really recovered from that mentally.
On the Texas depth: They had a lot of depth. That was one of our concerns going into the game. For the most part this year, our bench has been pretty good. In the first half, we played their bench and I thought we should have taken advantage of that. We got the big kid out who was swatting and blocking shots the whole time. We had number four out of the game for foul trouble. We had number ten out of the game. When I look down the stat sheet those are the people who finished with double figures. They're a very talented team. Texas is much better than we are. They altered everything that we tried to do on the offensive side of the floor. Just their size alone was intimidating for us.
