The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
15-8, 3-6
Texas A&M
17-6, 5-4
Women's Basketball mounts late rally before falling to Texas A&M, 66-57
02.09.2008 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Led by a game-high 25 points from junior guard Danielle Gant, No. 21 Texas A&M posted a 66-57 Big 12 women's basketball victory over Texas Saturday afternoon in a State Farm Lone Star Showdown contest (the annual rivalry series between the two schools).
The Longhorns, now 15-8 overall and 3-6 in the Big 12, made a huge run midway through the second half, cutting a 19-point deficit (41-22) to four points twice down the stretch.
Redshirt sophomore forward Earnesia Williams led the Longhorns with 12 points, and sophomore guard Brittainey Raven and junior post Ashley Lindsey added 10 points apiece. Raven and Lindsey battled foul trouble all game long, with Raven playing just 29 minutes and Lindsey 26.
Texas A&M (17-6, 5-4 in Big 12) was up by 14 points with about seven minutes left when Texas went on a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to make it 57-53. Texas cut the lead to 57-53 on a layup by junior post Ashley Lindsey with 2:36 to play. The Aggies' leading scorer, Takia Starks, then sank two free throws to put TAMU up by six (59-53) with 2:28 to play. Texas brought it to within four again, 59-55, on two free throws from freshman Kat Nash 43 seconds later.
The Aggies, however, sealed the game by connecting on seven of 10 free throws in the last one and one-half minutes, while Texas made one of its final six attempts from the floor. Aggie point guard A'Quonesia Franklin, who had nine points and 10 assists for the Aggies, made one of two free throws. UT then missed an open layup on the other end and the Aggies added two more free throws to push their lead to seven with less than 30 seconds remaining. Williams made a layup for Texas, but the Longhorns were forced to foul again and Sydney Colson made both free throws to seal the win.
Texas shot 52 percent in the final period, making 14 of 27 field goals, while the Aggies went 33.3 percent from the floor (8-24).
The victory increases Texas A&M's win streak to four games. The Aggies were the third Top 25 opponent in a row for Texas, which is now 3-4 against Top 25 opponents this year.
Joining Gant in double-figure scoring for A&M were Starks (13 points) and Patrice Reado (10 points). Reado also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Franklin added nine points and a game-best 10 rebounds.
The two teams combined for 40 turnovers and 40 fouls. Texas had 21 turnovers to TAMU's 19.
Texas was out-rebounded for just the fourth time this year, as TAMU held a 39-26 advantage on the boards. The Aggies had 13 offensive rebounds to UT's five.
At intermission, Texas A&M led 39-22. The Aggies led 41-22 before the Longhorns went on an 8-1 run to close the gap to 42-30 on a Raven jumper with 13:05 left. A jump shot by Gant with 12:33 remaining got the Aggies back on the scoring track.
In the first half, Texas A&M led 18-12 and then went on a 13-4 run to push the lead to 31-16 with four minutes to play. Texas was hurt by cold shooting in the first half (31.8 percent), while the Aggies made 48 percent of their shots, paced by seven points from Gant and Starks.
Texas returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 13 when they face Big 12 opponent Baylor for the second time in two weeks in Austin. That game will tip at 8 p.m. (Central) and will be televised on ESPNU and broadcast via the airwaves on KVET Radio 1300 AM in Central Texas.
The game is , as all Texas fans are encouraged to wear pink to support breast cancer awareness and research. With coordination from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), over 900 women's basketball teams join the fight against breast cancer during the 2008 "Think Pink" week which runs February 8-17.
POSTGAME NOTES
- UT sophomore guard Brittainey Raven (10 points) was in double-figure scoring for the 22 times in 23 games (a team-high)
- Junior post Ashley Lindsey notched double-digit scoring with 10 points, marking the 14th time the 6-4 junior has scored 10-plus points this year ... She is second to Raven in UT games in double-figure scoring
- The 39 points yielded by the Longhorns in the first half were the third most points given up this year by the Longhorns in the first 20 minutes of the game... The most was 42 first-half points in its last game (Feb. 3) against No. 11/10 Oklahoma, and the second-most was 41 points, yielded to Virginia (Nov. 23)
- This was just the fourth times in 23 games this year that Texas was out-rebounded ... The Longhorns have out-rebounded 16 opponents and tied three others... In games where they are out-rebounded, the Longhorns are 1-3 overall and 0-3 in Big 12 action
- Texas A&M was the third of four consecutive Top 25 opponents that Texas will face ... UT is 3-4 against the Top 25 to date this season
- The Longhorns are looking for their first Big 12 road victory, as they stand 0-4 in league games away from Austin to date
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gail Goestenkors
Her general statement: I give great credit to Texas A&M. They had great energy out there, and I've watched a lot of tape on them and that is the very best defense that I've seen them play this year. When we turned the ball over and over again in the first half, they became much more aggressive and confident. (Danielle) Gant was great for them today. We lost her in the zone quite a bit and she did a great job. We could not get her out of her game, with her mid-range jumpers and driving to the right side - she did that all game long.
When both Ashley (Lindsey) and Britt (Raven) picked up two early fouls apiece and had to come out, I watched our energy disappear out there. When the energy level went down, we got away from our game plan, and that was disappointing.
But, I am proud of the way we came back in the second half. I was pleased with our overall effort in the second half and how we made a game out of it. It was not one play or a series of plays that turned it around for us - it was the play of Kristen Nash. She was really strong out there. She came in and battled for us when our energy level was very low.
On what Texas did to limit the Aggies' effectiveness in the second half: It was mixing up our defense, moving from zones to man-to-man and changing up our presses. I like to mix things up. When the Aggies got comfortable out there, they were very good, and our goal was to change things up and get them uncomfortable.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD CAOCH GARY BLAIR
His general statement: The first half, we were very very good, but in the second half, we came out a bit flat. We wanted to jump on them to start the first five minutes of the second half, but they did a great job themseleves and prevented us from doing that. After that sluggish start, I thought rebounding was the key for us. In fact, rebounding was the key the whole game. For a while, after Gail (Goestenkors) mixed up the zone and man-to-man defenses on us, we got confused. They were doing a really good job against us, but (Takia) Starks and Gant answered the bell for us. Down the stretch, I felt like this could be another Oklahoma State game for us where we lose it at the end, but Aqua (Franklin) wouldn't let us lose tonight.
I think Texas is a mirror-image team of ourselves, with running and trapping, and I am happy for the win.
