The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Incarnate Word (exh.)
Women's Basketball tops Incarnate Word, 77-33, in exhibition play
10.30.2012 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 30, 2012
Box Score | Box Score 
|
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Women's Basketball team held the University of Incarnate Word Cardinals to eight second-half points in their 77-33 exhibition victory Tuesday night at the Frank Erwin Center.
The Longhorns boasted three players with double-digit points: GiGi Mazionyte had 12, Cokie Reed had 13 and Chassidy Fussell led the way with 18. Imani McGee-Stafford came off the bench and pulled in 12 rebounds for the Longhorns.
The Longhorns shot 51 percent from the field on the game.
UT forced four turnovers to start the competition against Incarnate Word, boosting its lead to 13-0 before the first media timeout. Incarnate Word responded with a 9-3 run to make it a seven-point game. TheLonghorns slowly chipped away at the UIW defense and led 31-16 with five minutes left in the first half.
UT out-rebounded Incarnate Word 28-13 in the first half, and even though the Longhorns were slowed by 16 turnovers of their own, they converted 12 UIW turnovers into 18 points. UT shot 47 percent and went intohalftime leading 41-25.
Texas grabbed 20 more boards in the second half, finishing the game with 58 to the Cardinals' 23. The Longhorns shot 55 percent in the second half and outscored UIW 36-8, as theCardinals were limited to 2-of-26 shooting in the final 20 minutes of play.
The Longhorns open their regular season on Friday, Nov. 9 against St. John's at the WBI Tipoff Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla. UT hosts Jackson State on Nov. 20 for the Longhorns' home opener.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS HEAD COACH Karen Aston
On Texas' defensive play: We were more disciplined, I thought. They were trying to get fouled and I thought we made some adjustments where they were a little more disciplined, but the first half fouling was probably just trying to play hard, a little anxious.
On not sitting on the bench: I pace too much. I get up and down. I haven't managed to not do that. It's probably healthier to sit down but I haven't figured that out yet.
On what she liked most about the team: I thought they shared the ball. Obviously if we don't turn it over I think we see more assists. We shot the ball pretty well. The thing I was most pleased about is because we've been having a lot of conversations about how to get out of the gate. I'm really big on starting games with high energy and I was very pleased on how we started the game
On senior P Cokie Reed's performance and expectations: Well first off you have to give her a lot of credit as far as getting herself to this point where she was in the best condition she's been in physically, putting herself in a good place. I think she knows this is it and now you have to give the credit to her as she's put herself in this situation where she's leading our team from a verbal standpoint. She does a great job of sort of being the team mom at this point because we're so young, and then on top of that working on herself and getting comfortable with the system. I think she does know that we're going to throw the ball inside and that she has a situation where she's going to touch the basketball a lot.
On Reed being a leader and pride in being a senior: She's the leader of the group and she's proud of being at this point where she can take some responsibility for this program. I think she's taking that personally right now. And we have a long way to go, but I see that she takes it personally. She wants us to have a good year, and for our team to have a good year, not just her.
On integrating fans to the team: It's very important. That's the word of mouth thing. If you have fans that feel connected to the players, they're going to spread the word that good things are happening here. We have a lot of work to do to build this fan base up to where it was when I left a few years ago. All of us need to feel like that's not a responsibility on our part. I've encouraged our team to start developing some sort of personality so that people will enjoy watching them play. Then the word will spread. I think people enjoy people who play hard, and we're not anywhere near where we're going to be as we get into the season.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEXAS TEAM NOTES
- Texas shot 50.8% (32-of-63) from the field while holding Incarnate Word to 16.7% (9-of-54).
- The Longhorns out-rebounded the Cardinals 58-23 ... freshman Imani McGee-Stafford recorded a game-high 12 rebounds.
- UT produced a balanced scoring attack with seven players contributing six points or more, three of them indouble figures.
- Junior Chassidy Fussell led all scorers with 18 points, while Cokie Reed and Gigi Mazionyte chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively.
- Celina Rodrigo, Empress Davenport, Chassidy Fussell, Nneka Enemkpali and Cokie Reed were Texas' starters in the exhibition contest.
- The Longhorns outscored Incarnate Word in the paint (54-14), off turnovers (24-11), from second-chance points(19-6) and off the bench (32-17).
PLAYER NOTES
Chassidy Fussell
- Extended her made free throws streak to 27-straight dating back to Feb. 8, 2012.
