The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
4-0
UT-Pan American
4-3
Lang shines as No. 6/9 Women's Basketball defeats UTPA, 72-45
11.26.2014 | Women's Basketball
Sophomore center Kelsey Lang scored a career-high 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting.
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Sophomore center Kelsey Lang is beginning to flourish in a bigger role with Texas Women's Basketball. Lang scored a career-best 20 points to help No. 6/9 Texas (4-0) beat Texas-Pan American (3-3), 72-45, on Wednesday night at the Erwin Center.
Lang shot 10-of-13 from the field, renewing her previous career-high scoring mark set less than a week ago, with 14 points as the Longhorns upset No. 6/1 Stanford on Nov. 20.
Last season, Lang averaged 5.4 points in 14 minutes per game. Lang is now averaging a team-best 14.5 points in 31 minutes.
"Our guards have been throwing some tremendous passes," Lang said. "They get it right where I need it."
Lang used her height to score inside against the shorter Broncs. She also shot well from outside.
"She's deadly from 15 feet," Pan American coach Larry Tidwell said.
Brady Sanders and Tasia Foman scored 10 points apiece for Texas. Another guard, Brianna Taylor, led the Longhorns in rebounds with a career-best 11 in 11 minutes.
Shwante' Goff led UTPA with 15 points.
UTPA had played then-No. 5 Texas A&M tough 10 days earlier in Chicago before losing by two. But they were never competitive against Texas. The Broncs didn't make their first basket until 4:26 into the game. They had missed their first five shots, committed two turnovers, and trailed 9-0.
By halftime, Texas held a 34-17 lead that was primarily the product of tenacious defense and Pan American's inability to score. The Broncs shot 28 percent and committed 11 turnovers in the half. They also hit 28 percent in the second half.
"That is, by far, the best we've been guarded all year," Tidwell said. "We had seven airballs in the first half."
That figures to be the Longhorns' calling card this season.
"I think we can be a tremendous defensive team," Texas coach Karen Aston said.
Texas was not particularly efficient on offense, either, shooting 41 percent -- 36.1 in the first half -- and committing 19 turnovers. But the Longhorns turned 25 offensive rebounds -- including five by Taylor -- into 23 points. Overall, they outrebounded UTPA 59-27.
"We've been looking for an identity," said Aston, adding that they have found one. "Defense and rebounding."
Texas continues its six-game home stand on Sunday against No. 4/5 Tennessee at 5:30 p.m. Central. The game will be televised nationally on FOX Sports 1.
• Series: Texas now leads the series with UTPA, 6-0. The last meeting was a 112-59 Texas victory on December 8, 2010 in Austin.
• 8th in all-time rebounds: UT's 59 rebounds ranks tied for eighth in program history. It is the most rebounds in a game for the Longhorns since posting 62 against Hofstra on Nov. 10, 2012.
• DEFENSE: Texas held the Broncs to 27.9 percent shooting from the field (17-61 FG), the lowest an opponent has been held to this season (Last season Texas held a 6-1 record when holding opponents to under 30 percent shooting from the field).
• Rebounding margin widens: Texas won the rebound battle with UTPA, 59-27, including a 25-10 advantage in offensive boards. The Longhorns now have an average rebounding margin of +17.3 in four games this season.
• Longhorns lead: Texas never trailed in the game for the team's first wire-to-wire win of the season.
• Block party: Texas blocked eight shots on Wednesday, including five from senior forward Nneka Enemkpali.
Kelsey Lang (Sophomore, C)
• Scored a career-high 20 points (10-13 FG) with seven rebounds and two blocks 27 minutes.
• Her four consecutive games with double-figure points is a career-best.
• Made 10 of UT's total 27 field goals.
• UT's leading scorer with 14.5 points per game after Wednesday.
• Her 76.9 shooting percentage from the field (10-13 FG) ranks 12th in program history.
Brady Sanders (Junior, G)
• Scored a season-high 10 points (4-5 FG, 2-2 FT) with four rebounds and three assists in 19 minutes off the bench.
• Wednesday marked her 13th career double-figure scoring effort.
Tasia Foman (Freshman, G)
• Scored a season-high 10 points (8-10 FT, 1-2 FG) with four rebounds in just 13 minutes.
Brianna Taylor (Sophomore, G)
• Paced UT with a career-high 11 rebounds in 11 minutes.
Ariel Atkins (Freshman, G)
• Recorded a game-high five assists with two steals and seven rebounds in 28 minutes.
Nneka Enemkpali (Senior, F)
• Tied her career high in blocks with five, which also against Jackson State on Nov. 20, 2012.
Diani Akigbogun (Freshman, F)
• Made her collegiate debut, playing in three minutes with one field goal attempt.
• Sidelined during preseason and the first three games due to a knee injury.
Head Coach Karen Aston
Opening statement: I was actually really concerned about this game. We came off of the road swing on the west coast and it was a quick turnaround with just one day of preparation. UT-Pan American is a good team. From everything I've seen on film, they've basically given everybody that they've played fits. It was a real concern of mine as to whether we could be mature about this game and really hone in with one day of preparation and really focus on the things that we needed to do. First of all, I thought we got off to a great start. I was really, really pleased about the way we started the game, and then, some of it is probably substitution patterns that I've got to do a better job of. Some of it is just we got ahead, and we thought we could get a little bit away from our discipline offensively, and then from that point it was just sort of a little bit of a rollercoaster as far as our execution. I can't say enough about how we're rebounding the ball, and I thought our defense was really good tonight. We didn't give them anything easy other than a few buckets late in the game.
On discipline and focus: This UTPA team, it might just be that they played us differently. Quite honestly, I didn't think they would play us like that. I was surprised. Everything is about preparation to me. I was surprised that they played the way that they did, which was very aggressive, very sort of up in our face, up the line. They were probably just trying to harass us into not throwing the ball inside. Maybe rush us a little bit shooting wise, and we had not seen that.
On defensive makeup: It's incredibly important because we have the type of team that we can continue to throw bodies at people. If everybody will buy into it and everybody will buy into being consistent defensively and giving their best effort, then I really think we can be a tremendous defensive team. I was very pleased that we cut our fouling down – other than late in the game, I thought we fouled a little too much. That was something we talked about coming off of the California trip. We have to stop fouling.
Kelsey Lang (Sophomore, C)
On Coach Aston emphasizing defensive necessity: At least from the two years that I have been here, Coach has always been a big defensive person. In order to get in transition, which is what we like to do, run and transition and get fast breaks, we have to be able to get stops on defense. We have to be able to not only get stops but also rebound the ball. How well we have been rebounding the ball has definitely helped us a lot in getting out in transition and then getting those easy buckets.
On the opportunity to play Tennessee: Playing top-10 teams like Stanford and Tennessee are great ways that we can build, get stronger and improve our weaknesses. It will only help us later on in conference and into the tournament. Whenever you do play a team like Tennessee, you get to get a feel for not only your weaknesses but also your strengths. You're able to build on those and then you're able to play against other teams and go to those whenever you are not playing as well as you should be.
Texas-Pan American Head Coach Larry Tidwell
Overall thoughts on the game: In this particular contest, we wanted to run and pressure. I'm working on trying to in a WAC championship, and we probably could have gotten into a zone and played a little bit closer. I'm trying to teach my kids that we really want to up the tempo and pressure and press ourselves to see what we can do against top-flight competition. I think the biggest thing is that the Longhorns go to the boards. There was a big discrepancy in the first half.
On Kelsey Lang and UT: Her shot is really good. She's going to finish at the rim but she's really deadly from 15 feet in. She has really up'd her game. She is a really big figure in making them go, and I liked how they played. It's sort of like they play that really good pressure D when they really need to – like they did when Jody Conradt was here. That defense is what won Texas a national championship and they got that back. Karen Aston has done an excellent job with that.
