The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
Women's Basketball rallies but falls to No. 5 Texas A&M, 68-65
02.27.2011 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2011
Box Score | Notes | Quotes | Box Score 
AUSTIN, Texas- Yvonne Anderson scored a career high 24 points, including 19 in the second half, as the Texas Women's Basketball team staged a furious rally against No. 5 Texas A&M on Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center.
A&M led by as many as 16, but the Longhorns trimmed the score to three with a little more than three minutes to play. The Aggies however, held on for the 68-65 victory.
The Longhorns shot 60 percent from the field in the second half as they outscored the Aggies 48 -36 in the final 20 minutes to play. Kathleen Nash contributed a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while hitting 4-of-9 from 3-point range.
Ashleigh Fontenette has 14 points and seven rebounds. Anderson, who found success driving to the rim, again attacked the basket and dished out to Nash on the perimeter, who nailed the 3-pointer to bring UT within 60-57 with 3:35 remaining. Adora Elonu then answered with a jumper to extend A&M's lead to five, and the Longhorns couldn't get any closer than three the rest of the way.
Danielle Adams led the Aggies with 26 points and 11 rebounds. A&M was limited to one of 13 from 3-point range (7.7 percent) by the Longhorns defense.
POST GAME NOTES
TEAM
-Texas held Texas A&M to 7.7 percent shooting from 3-point range (1-of-13), its lowest percentage of the season and the lowest by a Texas opponent this year
-Texas held Texas A&M to under 70 points, marking the fifth time this season the Aggies have posted 70 or fewer points in a contest.
-Texas A&M's three-point margin of victory was its slimmest over the Longhorns since Texas defeated the Aggies on Jan. 21, 2007.
Yvonne Anderson
-Scored career-high 24 points (10-of-16 FG, 2-of-3 3FG, 2-of-3 FT), 19 of which came in the second half
-Has scored 10 or more points 17 times this season and 23 times in her career
-Has scored 20 or more points twice in her career, both of which came this season
-Recorded seven rebounds to mark the second-straight game she's pulled down at least seven
-Is the first Longhorn to score 20 or more points in a game since Ashleigh Fontenette put up 23 at Baylor (Feb. 12)
-Led the Longhorns in scoring for the seventh time this season and the 23rd time of her career
-Is the
Ashleigh Fontenette
-Scored 14 points (5-of-15 FG, 1-of-5 3FG, 3-of-5 FT) for her second-straight double digit scoring effort and 18th of the season
-Has scored 10 or more points 42 times in her career
-Recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 16 points (6-of-17 FG, 4-of-9 3FG) and team-high 10 rebounds
-Reached double-figure scoring for the 24th time this season
-Has recorded 10 or more points 77 times in her career (129 games)
-Pulled down 10 rebounds to move her career total to 881, placing her 10th all-time at Texas
-Now has 1,453 career points, and is 13 points shy of tying for 18th place all-time at Texas (1,466 points, Nell Fortner, 1977-81)
Ashley Gayle
-Posted three blocks to break 100 on the season for the second-straight year ... now has 101 total swats this season and is the only player in UT history to record 100 or more during a season twice in a career.
-Now has 264 blocks on her career ... is 25 blocks away from tying for most blocks ever at UT (289, Ellen Bayer, 1986-90)
POST GAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gail Goestenkors
Opening statement: Well this was a hard loss for us today. Obviously, Texas A&M is a good team and I thought they showed why today. I'm proud of the way we responded in the second half. I thought we really showed some guts and some courage. But to beat a tremendous team, you have to come and play for 40 minutes and we knew it was going to be a very physical game. I thought it the first half we let them dictate the tempo and really get us out of our offensive set. But I thought we responded in the second half. So I'm pleased with the second half, I'm disappointed overall that we couldn't pull it out.
JUNIOR GUARD Yvonne Anderson
On today's game: I think you could see our frustrations during the first half. It just seemed like nothing was going our way but if we honestly look at it, we just weren't playing our game. We came back in the second half and we just played free and it was easy. We just attacked like the way we had practiced and the frustration went away.
SENIOR FORWARD Kathleen Nash
On Texas' shooting today: In the first half we were driving and kicking to each other, and we were wide open. They just weren't falling. We just really tried to attack the basket and we weren't having much luck with that. Luckily in the second half we got some to fall and that opened up the driving lanes too.
TAMU QUOTES
HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
Opening statement: Not a very pretty ball game to be on national television. I'm sure Texas realized how many open shots they had in the first 10 minutes of the game, I mean open shots. Then we guard them in the last 10 minutes of the first half, we adjusted a bit. There was a little frustration at times because [Texas] was going from zone to man-to-man on the first pass so eventually we just ran a man offense or a zone offense against whatever they were running and could still get the overload and get our players down low in the second half. It hurts when Ashley Gayle has to leave the game and it hurts when Danielle [Adams] has to leave the game that's why post players are so valued and they'll have more help next year when Cokie [Reed]'s here. My guards in the second half got lit up like a Christmas tree and I think when [Texas] came in, they shot 60 percent. [Yvonne] Anderson did a great job; [Ashleigh] Fontenette hit a couple. We left Kat Nash wide open a couple of times, there's no excuse. We'll get better. It's a win and we'll take it. The streak is still alive, that's 10 in a row for us. I thought Texas played a great second half. That team is a good team.
On guarding Yvonne Anderson: She was running the same play, a high screen up top and she was running off of it and getting to the rim and we didn't have any help there. She was getting lay ups and if she wasn't getting the shots, she was getting the ball out to the outside. We weren't necessarily doing a good job rotating, getting the next man open and they got some three pointers and even when in the first half they didn't get the three's, they were able to still get open.
On why she is affective against the Longhorns: I'm just playing my game, that's all it is, taking the ball to the inside. I hit a few fade-away jumpers that didn't go in, so I knew I had to go the rim, which I did and I felt I was pretty successful at it. I thought I had to make a quick move or make a pass really quick. It made a big difference not having [Ashley] Gayle being in there. With her being out it was our advantage.
