The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
11-6, 0-3
Oklahoma
13-3, 3-0
Women's Basketball falls to No. 15 Oklahoma in overtime, 71-67
01.16.2011 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2011
Box Score |
| Box Score 
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Danielle Robinson overcame early shooting struggles to score 30 points, including five in overtime, as No. 15 Oklahoma beat Texas 71-67 on Sunday, sending the Longhorns to a winless Big 12 record through three games.
The Sooners (13-3, 3-0 Big 12) have won four in a row in Austin. The Longhorns have two overtime defeats and a loss to No. 1 Baylor in their three-game skid. Texas had never been 0-3 in conference play, even dating back to the old Southwest Conference.
"I'm just extremely disappointed," Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We have to start playing smarter basketball."
Statistically, little would have suggested Oklahoma would win this one.
The Sooners blew an 11-point leade in the second half, shot just 31 percent, went 3 of 21 on 3-pointers and were outrebounded 56-45. But they also forced 23 Texas turnovers, went 20 of 25 from the free throw line and kept going to Robinson, who eventually shook off the bad start to carry her team.
Robinson missed 13 of her first 16 shots with a couple of blown layups but kept firing away. She also made 8 of 10 free throws.
The Longhorns were even worse on offense, shooting 30 percent and just 22 of 35 from the free throw line.
"We feel very fortunate to shoot the way we did and come out of Austin, Texas with a win," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said. "Maybe it speaks volumes for our defense."
Texas had none of its turnovers in the final 10 minutes of regulation as the Longhorns rallied from a 49-38 deficit.
Kathleen Nash scored 20 for the Longhorns (11-6, 0-3). Chassidy Fussell, who scored 10 points in the final six minutes of regulation, forced overtime with her tough layup with 27 seconds left that tied it at 59-59.
The Sooners had to play overtime without centers Joanna McFarland and Jelena Cerina, who both fouled out. Oklahoma opened the extra period with Ellenberg's 3-pointer. Whitney Hand and Robinson made four free throws to quickly push Oklahoma to a 66-59 lead.
Robinson said she never lost confidence in her shot, even when she couldn't get anything to fall in early.
"You can miss a couple, but that shouldn't stop you from shooting," Robinson said.
Texas got back within three on Fussell's jumper before Oklahoma's Carlee Roethlisberger got an easy put-back layup and Robinson followed it with a floating jumper to make it 70-63.
"We were undersized and I think they battled valiantly," Coale said. "And then we had Danielle Robinson."
POST-GAME NOTES
TEAM
-Texas overcame an 11-point deficit when it took a 56-55 lead with 2:38 remaining in the game for its largest deficit overcome this season.
-Texas held an opponent to 25 or fewer points in the first half for the sixth time this season and first time in Big 12 Conference play ... the Longhorns are 10-2 when leading at halftime.
-UT out-rebounded its opponent by a double-digit margin for the seventh time this season ... the Horns held a 56-45 advantage on the boards, their largest since league action began ... Ashleigh Fontenette and Kathleen Nash each recorded double-digit rebounds marking the sixth time this season two players have been in double figures in the category.
-Texas shot a season-low .303 (20-66) from the field.
-Third time this season Texas has had two players with a double-double.
Kathleen Nash
-Recorded her sixth double-double this season with 20 points (6-of-14 FG, 3-of-5 3FG, 5-of-5 FT) and team-high 14 rebounds
-Scored 10 or more points for the 69th time of her career
-Scored 20 or more points for the third time this season and 12th time of her career
-With 20 points, now has 1,322 career points, moving her into 20th all-time at Texas
-Has scored 10 or more points in all but one game this season
-Went 5-of-5 from the free throw line to extend her streak of consecutive made free throws to 20 straight over the last six games
-Led the Longhorns in scoring for the fourth time this season
-Led the Longhorns in rebounding for the seventh time this season and third-straight
Ashleigh Fontenette
-Recorded her second double-double of the season with 13 points (4-of-15 FG, 1-of-5 3FG, 4-of-8 FT) and career-high 11 rebounds
-Has recorded 10 or more rebounds twice this season
Chassidy Fussell
-Scored 13 points (5-of-15 FG, 0-of-4 3FG, 3-of-4 FT) for her 15th double-digit scoring effort of the season
-Scored 12 or her 13 points in the second half after only having one point in the first half.
-Has scored in double-figures in all but one game this season
-10th-straight game with 10 or more points
TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gail Goestenkors
Opening statement: I'm just extremely disappointed. I really felt like we were ready to play this game and that we were going to come away with a win. Unfortunately with the turnovers and missed free throws against a great team, you have to take advantage of every opportunity given and we didn't do that. Congratulations to OU, but I'm just very disappointed overall for us.
On outrebounding OU and holding them to 30-percent shooting from the field: I absolutely would have felt that we would come away with a win, but I certainly didn't anticipate that we would turn the ball over 23 times and miss a good bit of our free throws as well. I thought we had good effort again. I told the team this team is similar to Baylor and that I thought our effort was excellent, but we have to start playing smarter basketball, take care of the basketball and take advantage of opportunities and hit free throws.
SENIOR GUARD Kathleen Nash
On offensive issues today: I think at the beginning when Oklahoma wasn't shooting as well, we should have made a good run. That way we would have a bit of a cushion. When you look at the stats, pretty much the only thing that was holding us back was that we didn't take advantage of those opportunities. I think it was a little bit mental. Obviously when you have that many turnovers, you're not as focused as you should be. But we were also trying to push the ball and that led to it.
FRESHMAN GUARD Chassidy Fussell
On the second-half comeback: I just felt like the older girls on the team pulled us together and said, "This is our time. This is Texas time." In the end we didn't pull it out, but I felt like we had a really good comeback.
OKLAHOMA QUOTES
HEAD COACH SHERRI COALE
Opening statement: We feel very fortunate to shoot the way that we did and come out of Austin, Texas, with a win. Maybe it speaks volumes about our defense. Early in the year we felt like our identity was scoring points and making threes and we have not had that happen in the last couple days and we've won anyway based on our defense, so maybe it has been a blessing in disguise that we have developed that and grinded it out and found a way to win. I think that Carlee [Roethlisberger] and Whitney's [Hand] efforts on the boards were just outstanding. We were undersized and I think they battled valiantly and did a great job on the glass, and then we had Danielle Robinson.
On being happy with the shots they had: Yes, very happy. I thought our shot selection in the first half was great. I thought our execution got us just where we wanted, but it just didn't go in. I think that's when you panic if you're not getting the shots that you want, and then you have to break it apart and figure out a new way to look at it. But we were, we just needed to stay the course.
SENIOR GUARD DANIELLE ROBINSON
On struggling early and turning it around: I just had to focus on the target. I think I was rushing a little bit. I was rushing the lay-ups and my steps were off a little bit on some of them, so it was really just finding the target and slowing down enough to find the target.
SOPHOMORE GUARD WHITNEY HAND
On the rebounds she got today: They crash hard. It was a battle. I feel like every time the ball went up I couldn't relax. I was sprinting to the basket with whomever I was guarding. We focused on in practice preparing for this team and I feel like we did a pretty good job. They probably still out-rebounded us, but I thought we did a great job.
