The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
18-10, 9-7
TCU *
15-13, 6-10
Second half lifts Women's Basketball over TCU, 62-50
02.25.2014 | Women's Basketball
Imani McGee-Stafford leads Texas with 12 points and a season-high 17 rebounds.
Box Score (PDF) | Notes | Quotes | Photo gallery
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Women's Basketball team used a second-half rally to defeat the TCU Horned Frogs 62-50 Tuesday night at the Frank Erwin Center.
Trailing by seven at the half, Texas (18-10, 9-7) used timely shooting and aggressive defensive play to outscore TCU (15-12, 6-10) 36-17 in the second half and end a three-game skid.
The Longhorns scored 15 second-chance points on 26 offensive rebounds and out-rebounded the Horned Frogs 55-29 for the contest. Sophomore center Imani McGee-Stafford led the way with 17 rebounds, one shy of her career-high. She added 12 points and three blocks for her fourth double-double of the season.
Junior Nneka Enemkpali hit clutch shots throughout the contest, totaling 15 points and six rebounds to lead the second-half attack.
Both teams battled throughout the opening half, as the Longhorns and Horned Frogs exchanged the lead four times. When Texas looked to separate themselves at 12-8, TCU used an 11-4 spurt to retake the lead at 19-16.
TCU was led in the first half by guard Zahna Medley and forward Natalie Ventress who scored the first 17 points of the contest for the Horned Frogs. Medley finished with 10 points, while Ventress added 14 for the visiting squad.
Texas cut the lead to one at 21-20 when the Frogs went on a 10-2 run to take the largest lead by either team of the half at 31-22. Texas responded with a putback by McGee-Stafford and a fastbreak layup by sophomore Brady Sanders to cut the deficit, but TCU took a 33-26 lead heading into the locker room.
The Longhorns opened the second half with a 4-0 run to get back in the game, thanks to a pair of Enemkpali free throws and a Sanders layup. After TCU reclaimed a seven point edge at 37-30, the Longhorns scored nine straight points, capped off by a three-pointer by junior Krystle Henderson. The long-range jumper marked Texas' first lead since 16-14 at the 10:22 mark of the first half. The lead would remain with the Longhorns, as they stretched the run to 13-0 to take a 43-37 edge with 9:39 to go.
Defensively, the home team stepped up and held TCU to 13.3 percent from the field on 2-of-15 shooting over the first 10:21 of the second half. Nekia Jones played 15 efficient minutes off the bench, hitting both of her three-point attempts to extend the Longhorn lead to 51-44 with 6:10 to play. The hot shooting continued and Henderson's second three of the night put the Longhorns up 58-46 to seal the victory.
The win clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship (March 7-10) and guaranteed a .500 or better record in Big 12 play. Texas plays its final road game Saturday at 2 p.m. Central against Texas Tech before the home finale next Monday versus Oklahoma State.
• Series: Texas leads the all-time series with TCU, 34-1, including a 16-0 mark in Austin.
• Starters: For the fourth time this season and the third straight contest, Celina Rodrigo, Brady Sanders, Chassidy Fussell, Nneka Enemkpali and Imani McGee-Stafford started for the Longhorns. The team is 1-3 with this lineup this season.
• In the first half, despite outrebounding TCU 21-13, the Longhorns trailed by seven. Heading into tonight's game, Texas was 2-7 when trailing at the half this season.
• Texas limited TCU to 13.3 percent from the field on 2-of-15 shooting over the first 10:21 of the second half. The Longhorns, who rank second in the nation in field goal percentage defense, limited the Horned Frogs to 25.8 percent shooting in the second half and 36.7 percent for the contest.
• Texas out-rebounded the Horned Frogs 55-29, which is their largest rebounding margin in conference play (+26). In addition, the Longhorns' 26 offensive rebounds mark a season-high for the squad.
• Seven Longhorns grabbed four or more rebounds in the contest which has happened only once previously this season. At Oklahoma on Feb. 19, seven Longhorns grabbed four or more rebounds with no player recording more than eight rebounds.
Imani McGee-Stafford
• Scored 12 points and a season-high 17 rebounds for her fourth double-double this season.
• McGee-Stafford was one rebound shy of her career-high of 18, which she grabbed at Baylor Feb. 9, 2013.
Nneka Enemkpali
• Scored a game-high 15 points, including 11 in the second half, and grabbed six rebounds in 28 minutes of play.
Brady Sanders
• Contributed nine points off 4-of-9 shooting in 30 minutes of play.
• Also grabbed four rebounds.
Nekia Jones
• Provided a major spark off the bench in the second half, scoring six points (2-2 3FG) in 11 second-half minutes.
• Also grabbed two rebounds with one blocked shot.
TEXAS QUOTES
Head Coach Karen Aston
Opening Statement: I'm really, really proud of this basketball team. Obviously we were coming off of a tough week and to me, this was a heart and gut check tonight because things still didn't go exactly the way we want them to on the offensive end. But I thought that our team came out of the half and just decided they were going to win the game on the defensive end and on the backboards. Obviously Imani (McGee-Stafford) had a whole lot to do with that, but just a huge win for us because of our psyche. It wasn't that we were playing terrible but our team is really wanting to please and really wanting to do well and I'm happy for them. I thought a lot of people stepped up tonight, a whole lot of people.
On what she did to get them pumped up for the second half: Not anything. I will tell you what I thought the difference was tonight was them. It was them talking to each other. The leadership was terrific tonight, and I heard very positive feedback while I was in the coaches' locker room talking to the coaches and they were in the players' locker room. I didn't hear any negativity, it was all positive about what they needed to do. We locked in at half about what we needed to do defensively to be better, and I just think they as a unit decided they would win this thing as a team. I think that's what they did.
On what she told Imani before conference play: We talked about the consistency and I think what I have seen from Imani, especially after a meeting that we've had a week or two ago, where we had a sit-down that wasn't critical or serious but it was more about this is what the next step, which was just becoming consistent. You could see the flashes beginning to happen and then all of a sudden her preparation has become different. I thought she had a different look in her eye today, all day. Her preparation has become serious and more business-like, not that she didn't ever really mentally prepare, but now she's putting together mental and physical preparation at the same time.
Sophomore center Imani McGee-Stafford
On the team protecting their home court: We definitely needed this win. Not only coming off a three-game losing streak but we're trying not to lose at home. We've had two losses this whole season and they've both been to ranked opponents so we've got to protect The Drum.
On a winning record in conference and improving: As a player, having a lower than .500 record is horrible and last year was really, really hard. I think everyone came into this year expecting it to be better, and we put in the work for it to be better. So we've come this far, and we're not trying to give it up.
On being a leader and picking it up in conference play: I think I was out of shape before conference started and Coach [Aston] told me before conference what I needed to do better. So I've just been trying to do that every day, and today my offense wasn't really going well. I haven't had over a 10-rebound game all conference, so I was trying to make sure I could still contribute.
TCU QUOTES
Head coach Jeff Mittie
On the difference between the first and second half: We didn't make any shots in the second half. But then that rebound margin just continued. They got a lot of second and third chances. When the margin is that big, there's not a lot you can do defensively. I liked our first shot defense most of the night. It was us finishing plays. [Imani] McGee-Stafford's all over the glass. They've got a lot of big bodies and we had trouble matching them.
On what he expected coming into the game: I thought it would be similar to the game in Fort Worth. I thought the pace got a little bit away from us in the second half. I would have liked the pace to stay a little slower. I thought we took some early shots. In the first half we scored eight points in the last three seconds of the shot clock. So we had great poise and made some big plays that way. We got a little rushed in the second half.
On Imani McGee-Stafford: Her length is big. I thought [Latricia] Lovings was pretty good on her most of the night. The second and third chances that she was able to get; eight offensive boards is huge. We just had trouble finishing plays. But Imani is so agile. She's pretty strong. I think she's learning to play even stronger and that's just a process with the bigs. She's having a good stretch right now and we knew coming into this game that she's coming off a great game and a pretty good stretch for her right now.
On what he tells his players after a loss like this: Same message is always, there are things that we could have done better. The rebounding, we certainly could have competed better. There were plays out there to be made. We left some out there. Other than that, we'll take a look at the film and go to the next one as quickly as possible.
