The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
7-3
Sam Houston State
5-5
Women's Basketball defeats Sam Houston State, 109-48
12.15.2013 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns score the most points since 2010 in 61-point victory on Sunday.
Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery | Notes | Quotes
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Women's Basketball cruised to a 109-48 victory over Sam Houston State on Sunday afternoon at the Frank Erwin Center. The 109 points are the most points scored since Dec. 8, 2010 when Texas downed Texas Pan-American, 112-59.
Junior forward Nneka Enemkpali led Texas in scoring for the fifth time this season, totaling 18 points to go with six rebounds. The Longhorns spread the wealth as 12 different players scored against the Bearkats. Celina Rodrigo, Empress Davenport, Chassidy Fussell, Kelsey Lang, and GiGi Mazionyte all scored in double figures. Mazionyte and Lang outputs were career-highs with 12 and 13 points, respectively.
Texas (7-3) shot a season-high 62.9 percent from the field in the first half to give the Longhorns the 50-25 lead at halftime. Enemkpali shot an efficient 8-of-11 for 16 points to go with six rebounds in the opening half. In Rodrigo's first start of the season, she snagged a steal and fired a three-pointer to give the Longhorns an 11-5 edge just four minutes into the contest. Texas used a 10-0 run to sprint out to a 21-7 lead and never looked back. Texas dominated the inside and outside game, draining five three pointers in the first half to go with 28 points in the paint.
The Longhorns stayed hot in the second half, shooting 61.1 percent, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. For the game, the Longhorn guards connected on a season-high nine three pointers with a season-high three-point percentage of 60.0 percent.
Freshman forward Nekia Jones saw her first action of the season, corralling an offensive rebound and put-back layup for her first career points. All 14 players on the roster played in the second-half, notching Texas' season-high for points in a half with 59.
Sam Houston State (5-5) guard Taylor Dorsey led the Bearkats with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-4 from long range.
Texas is back in action at the Erwin Center on Friday against Northwestern State at 7 p.m. Central on Longhorn Network.
• Series: Texas remains undefeated in eight all-time meetings against Sam Houston State (8-0). All games in the series have taken place at the Erwin Center.
• Sunday's victory marks the 64th time Texas has scored 100 or more points. It is the first 100-point game since Dec. 8, 2010 when Texas defeated Texas Pan American 112-59 in Austin.
• Celina Rodrigo, Empress Davenport, Brady Sanders, Nneka Enemkpali and Kelsey Lang started for the Longhorns. It marked the first time this starting lineup has been used and the first game Rodrigo started this season.
• All 14 Longhorns on the roster saw game action for the first time this season. A season-high 12 different players scored points, including six with in double-figure points.
• The Longhorns recorded the two highest-scoring halves this season, with 50 in the first and 59 in the second. The previous highest scoring half was 48 points in both the first and second half against Texas State Nov. 13.
• Texas dished out a season-high 25 assists and delivered 14 assists in the first half alone. Texas' 14 first-half assists is a season high for assists in a single half.
• The Longhorns also had season-highs in steals (12), field goals (44), field goal percentage (62.0 percent, 44-71) and 3-point field goals (9), and Texas committed a season-low 14 turnovers.
• Texas outscored SHSU 60-12 in the paint and has outscored every opponent in the paint so far this season.
• Texas shot 62.9 percent in the first half, which marks the highest first-half shooting percentage this season.
Nneka Enemkpali
• Her 16 first-half points are the most she has scored in a single half this season.
• Finished with 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go along with six rebounds, a season-high three steals and two assists.
Celina Rodrigo
• Earned her first start of the season and the 24th of her career.
• Scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and dished out a game-high six assists without committing a turnover.
• Her plus-six assist-to-turnover ratio is the best since she dished out eight assists with one turnover against Jackson State on Nov. 20, 2012.
Kelsey Lang
• Scored a season-high 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 21 minutes of play.
• Tied her season-high in assists with two.
Empress Davenport
• Scored in double figures for the fourth time this season with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
• Also grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists in 19 minutes of play.
GiGi Mazionyte
• Scored a career-high 12 points and was a perfect 2-of-2 from beyond the arc in 14 minutes of play.
Head Coach Karen Aston
Opening Statement:
First of all, obviously before we get to our team and our performance today, I just want to take the opportunity to talk a little bit about Mack Brown and the impact he has had, not only on our university but on the head coaches. I'll speak about the head coaches in general just because I haven't been head coach long here, but I was an assistant here long enough to understand the impact he has had, not only on athletics at The University of Texas but on the coaches here. He has been a role model for all of us here. You can't put into words how much we all appreciate what he had done for all of our sports and the commitment level he has had for our university. It saddens me but it's a day where you want to say how much he means to all of us, and how much we appreciate what he has been for our athletic program.
To move on past that, I'm really proud of our team today. It wasn't necessarily – and we talked about this before the game today – anything more than Texas getting better. I thought we got better this week, and I thought we showed some maturity as a basketball team. I think we thought we had some advantages in the paint and had some advantages in transition against Sam Houston. You always want to give your opponent credit, and I thought they hung in there as well as they could. Our transition game was very good today, but I was most proud of our maturity. We kept focused on what we thought was important and wanted to get better at. I think that is an absolute sign of a team that's starting to understand what the ultimate goals are about and not just what today was about.
On Mack Brown's impact on recruiting:
I've never had a recruit that was introduced to him, or a parent, that has not left wanting to come to The University of Texas. That's how big of an impact he has on everyone and how much of an impact he has on younger people in general.
On playing two point guards (sophomore Celina Rodrigo and junior Krystle Henderson) at the same time:
We've played them together some this season. Sometimes it's been out of necessity foul wise and sometimes it's matchups. Today I think I put them both in because Empress (Davenport) had two fouls. But I don't have a problem with playing both of them together at all. I think they both can shoot the basketball and handle the ball well. Sometimes you can't play the two of them together because of matchups, but I don't feel uncomfortable with playing them together.
On maturity level shown in the game:
I think we showed some maturity today. Before the game, we would be tested with that because I knew what kind of game it was potentially going to be. I think I said this with someone that was visiting us before the game that it would be – in fact, we had some academic people who were our guest coaches today, and I was sort of telling them what we were doing – a good test of our maturity. I think what you saw today was Nneka (Enemkpali), for example in a timeout, saying "Hey we need to refocus, and we need to stay on task with what we are doing." I think there was a sign of leadership today that the older players set the tone but were telling the younger players what we are trying to do, which again is a sign of maturity.
Sophomore G Celina Rodrigo
On how she is more offense-minded this year:
I think I just try and be more aggressive as to what our team needs and put myself in the best position to help my team out, in any way. If that means be more aggressive and look for my shot more, that's what I try and do.
On being more relaxed compared to last year:
I think it comes with patience. Just knowing the offense and being more comfortable in it and knowing where the ball needs to go and where the open shot opportunities are. So I think from last year to this year, knowing where everybody needs to be at and just being more comfortable and that starts in practice and from there, it definitely overlays to the game.
On being aggressive on defense and how it prepares the team for conference play:
I know it starts on defense and the boys from practice really push you, so playing against them is always hard and tough in practice. Once conference play rolls around, it's really going to pick up and I think that as long as you stay tough on defense, it'll really change the way of the game.
Junior F Nneka Enemkpali
On if having six players in double figures for the first time this year is an indication of maturity and production:
I think Coach Aston said it a while ago, but we worked a lot on offense the past couple of weeks. We've just been looking into our offense and looking to where we need to get the ball and who needs to score at what time. I feel like we're a lot more selfless this year, and it doesn't really matter who scores, as long as we're winning.
On the growth of the sophomore class this year:
I think that it's just maturity. Coming in as freshmen and being able to play such significant minutes in the Big 12 forced them to grow up, and grow up early. I feel like this year, they've embodied the role that they had to take last year and now that they know what coach wants and expects, they're able to relay that information on to the freshmen class. I know they're young, but the time is now and they have to figure out how to lead and continue to grow.
