The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
14-6, 3-3
Baylor
15-5, 2-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor | 25 | 25 | 50 |
| Texas | 33 | 28 | 61 |
No. 19 Women's Basketball downs No. 14 Baylor, 61-50
01.31.2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2010
Box Score 
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Box Score |
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- After building a big second-half lead, Texas was watching it slip away as Baylor slowly mounted a comeback.
The Longhorns had been through this before.
Just a week earlier, Iowa State rallied to deal the Longhorns a devastating home loss. That one left the players angry and coach Gail Goestenkors declaring a week of "boot camp" practices to learn a few things.
Those lessons and a dose of hard-nosed defense pulled Texas (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 AP) through on Sunday. The Longhorns nearly squandered a 21-point lead before hanging on for a 61-50 win.
Earnesia Williams scored 13 points and combined with Brittainey Raven (12 points) and Ashleigh Fontenette (11 points) for the big plays Texas (14-6, 3-3 Big 12) needed down the stretch.
"We didn't let up in this game," Texas forward Kathleen Nash said.
They almost did. Baylor (No. 16 ESPN/USA Today, No. 14 AP) was chipping away behind Brittney Griner's 21 points and got within seven with under 3 minutes to play before Fontenette converted a 3-point play and Williams hit a long jumper.
During a timeout, Goestenkors had pleaded with her team to do what it takes to hang on.
"They went on a run. Great teams do," she said. "Now it's our turn. Play with poise, play calm."
Baylor (15-5, 2-4), still searching for its first league road win, did little to help Griner. The Lady Bears shot just 32 percent as a team and often struggled to get the 6-foot-8 freshman post player the ball near the basket.
"That's just basketball," Griner said. "Some will go in and some will not."
Griner, one of just seven women players in NCAA history to dunk, spent much of the game pleading for passes that didn't come or fending off Texas' pair of heavier and more muscular 6-4 forwards, Ashley Gayle and Cokie Reed.
By alternating Reed and Gayle -- who both fouled out in the second half -- and just about any player they could find on Griner, Texas could afford to be aggressive on defense.
"Not give her anything easy, that was the main thing," Gayle said.
Griner picked up two early fouls in the first half and spent the final 4:48 on the bench. Texas inserted smaller players and started attacking the lane for layups to build a 33-25 halftime lead.
"When she's in the game, everybody thinks twice about going into the paint," Goestenkors said. "When she went out with that second foul, I could take my bigs out. That's when we went on a run, when we went small."
Griner scored Baylor's first basket of the second half and drew Gayle's third foul in just 13 seconds. Gayle stayed in the game and answered with a basket of her own. Texas built the lead to 44-29 when Williams hit a 3-pointer from the right corner.
Texas kept pressing its lead. Gayle hit a short jumper over Griner and a layup by Fontenette put Texas up 50-29 with 13:18 to play.
The game started to change when Texas got into serious foul trouble.
Texas started missing shots. Griner converted a 3-point play and Jordan Madden hit a 3-pointer to start an 11-0 Baylor run.
Reed and Gayle both fouled out within 51 seconds, taking them out of the game with 7:38 still to play. Baylor got within 51-42 before Raven ended a six-minute scoring drought for Texas with two free throws.
Baylor's last chance for a rally came when Madden hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to get within 56-49 before Fontenette drove the baseline and drew Griner's fourth foul for a 3-point play.
Williams then hit a long jumper over Griner's outstretched arms that helped put the game away.
"We had a week that was pretty intense," Goestenkors said. "I was glad to see it pay off today."
POST GAME NOTES
-Texas is now 56-21 all-time against Baylor ... the Horns are 27-6 when meeting the Lady Bears in Austin ... head coach Gail Goestenkors is now 4-2 against Baylor.
-Texas used a 9-0 run to climb to its largest lead of the first half, 28-17, with 2:59 remaining in the first half.
-Texas limited Baylor, the national leader in blocked shot per game with 7.6, to just 3 blocks.
-UT's defense held Baylor without a field goal for the first 4:52 of the game and from 9:00-2:31 in the first half, a span of 7:29 ... the Lady Bears are the 13th opponent the Longhorns have without a field goal for a span of four minutes or longer.
-Texas opened the second half on an 18-4 scoring run to climb to 51-29, its largest lead of the game.
-Texas held the Bears to 50 points, 10.2 points below their season average (60.2) ... BU is the 10th opponent the Horns have held to at least 10 points below their scoring average entering the game.
-The Horns outrebounded their second Big 12 opponent, 42-40.
-Texas competed in front of its largest home attendance of the season, 9,123.
Ashley Gayle
-Posted two blocks, giving her 62 on the season, four shy of the UT sophomore blocks record (66-Ellen Bayer 1987-88)
-Moves into eighth place on the UT career blocks list with 122.
Ashleigh Fontenette
-Scored 11 points (5-of-14 FG, 0-4 3FG, 1-1 FT) for her second-straight double digit scoring effort
-Scored 10 or more points for the ninth time this season and 18th time of her career
Kathleen Nash
-Scored nine points (3-of-8 FG, 1-of-4 3FG, 2-of-2 FT) and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds
-Led the Longhorns in rebounding for the eighth game this season and the 35th time of her career
Brittainey Raven
-Scored 12 points (4-of-10 FG, 0-of-2 3FG, 4-of-6 FT) for her 19th double-digit scoring effort of the season and seventh-straight.
-Scored 10 or more points for the 82nd time in 120 career games.
-Made her 100th career start in 120 career games.
-Now has 1,530 career points at UT, giving her sole possession of 15th place on the UT all-time list.
-Pulled down six rebounds for her fourth straight game with six or more rebounds.
Earnesia Williams
-Scored 13 points (5-of-7 FG, 2-of-2 3FG, 1-of-2 FT) for her fifth double-digit scoring effort of the season
-Scored 10 or more points for the 41st time of her career.
-Led the team in scoring for the second time this season and the 11th time of her career.
-Tied career-high with two made from 3-point range. <,br>
TEXAS QUOTES
Head Coach Gail Goestenkors
Opening Statement: I'm just really proud of the team. We had a week that was pretty intense practices and we were working on a lot of little things that we needed to get better with. We were so disappointed in our last game with Iowa State. I was glad to see it pay off today. it was a battle. We knew it would be a great game. Baylor is an excellent team. I thought for the most part that we stayed with the game plan. Different players showed up at different times. Everyone I thought contributed and helped us come away with the win.
On if her players surprised her today: No, I told the team that if we play this game the way we've been practicing, we will win, no doubt, because we've had such great practices. I'm more surprised that we don't play better more often, because this is a team that really works hard in practices and does a great job and sometimes it doesn't show up in games. I was really happy for them that their work showed up in this game.
On the team's attitude being up by 20: Any great team is going to make a run, and that's what they did. When we were up 11, we hadn't scored ina little bit and they were on a 10-0 run. I told them, "We're ahead by more than we were at half time, so act like it. They went on a run which I expected them to do. Great teams do, so now it's our turn. Just play with poise, play calm. We have the lead and we'll go on a little run of our own."
G Brittainey Raven
On if it felt like they were up by 20 points at any point: I knew we were up by double digits. I wasn't really aware that it was 20. We were just trying to play every possession as hard as we could, as if it was a close game or we were down. We didn't want to give them any momentum to come back. I guess we were up by 20, but we played like we weren't.
F Ashley Gayle
On guarding Brittney Griner: It was a task. She's a really good player. She's really tall and she's got great length. I just went at it like I go into every game and just play your person and help out the team as much as you can, and keep her scoring to a minimum and not give her anything easy. That was the main thing.
F Earnesia Williams
On beating a team like Baylor: A win like this is great. We're going on the road to Oklahoma next. That in itself is a rivalry and a battle, as well as it being another Big 12 game on the road. This is going to give us a lot of confidence. We played a great game. We can't dwell on it. We have to be ready to come and play a different team.
G Kathleen Nash
On the importance of winning this game: It was huge for us to get this win. Every win in the Big 12 is great. I think last week we learned that no matter how big of a lead we have, we have to keep pressing on the whole game and we can't give up. We didn't let up this game. I think it's important that we can do that to ourselves.
BAYLOR QUOTES
Head Coach Kim Mulkey
Opening Statement: I told them in the timeout that if they cut this game to single digits by this mark, then they would have a chance to win it, and they did. We cut it, and then we gave up the big three-point play. I want to say this about Baylor--we are not going away. We had every opportunity to fold our tent today and use excuses about freshman. Look, it is what it is. Melissa Jones is gimpy. We are getting about all we can out of her. She is still not well. When we were out there, I looked up one time, and we had five freshmen on the floor. Give them the minutes because one day they are going to be able to execute on the offensive end, and that is where we are having our problems.
On Jordan Madden: I thought that Jordan Madden was a spark with us today. She played with such energy, and she has so much God-given quickness and ability. She just has to learn to bring that to practice every day.
On the difference-maker in the game: They were just making shots. I do not think that our defense was all that bad. I just think that they were more patient than we were. I thought that their four player, Earnesia Williams, was really effective. I thought that she hit some great shots. You do not really view her as a three-point threat. I think she had taken three threes before today, and she hit two today. I thought that their four player may have been the difference in the game.
Freshman C Brittney Griner
On shots not falling tonight: Like coach said, that is just basketball. Some will go in and some will not, and in our case, some of them just did not go in.
Junior C Kelli Griffin:
On coming back from a 20-point deficit: We pressed a little bit to try and get them to push the tempo and shoot shots early into the shot clock, and they did. In return, we scored with Jordan's quickness on the outside. She really brought a lot of energy. Coming off the bench, that is what you have to do to get your minutes.
