The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
12-0, 1-0
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Kansas *
9-5, 0-1
No. 3/3 Women's Basketball defeats Kansas, 60-46, in Big 12 opener
01.03.2015 | Women's Basketball
Senior forward Nneka Enemkpali registers her sixth consecutive double-double as UT improves to 12-0.
Box Score (PDF) | Notes | Quotes | Photo gallery
AUSTIN, Texas -- Senior forward Nneka Enemkpali registered her sixth consecutive double-double, scoring 12 points with 14 rebounds, to lead No. 3/3 Texas Women's Basketball to a 60-46 victory over Kansas in its Big 12 Conference opener on Saturday night at the Erwin Center.
Junior guards Empress Davenport (13 points) and Brady Sanders (10 points) joined Enemkpali with double-figure scoring efforts to help fuel the Longhorns (12-0, 1-0) to their best start since going undefeated during the 1985-86 season (34-0).
Texas has won four straight against Kansas (9-5, 0-1), improving its all-time series lead to 18-10 against the Jayhawks.
"I'm proud of our team," Head Coach Karen Aston said. "We looked a little tentative in the first half and then we regrouped ourselves in the second half. Our older players that have been there and done that before really settled us down and our bench play was really good tonight. Everyone that came off our bench gave us something, whether it was a block or a big bucket or a defensive stop so it was a team effort for sure."
Despite a sluggish first half in which Kansas out-rebounded the Longhorns, 20-18, Texas went in to the locker room with a 28-24 lead behind seven points from Davenport and Enemkpali, plus a late 3-pointer from freshman guard Brooke McCarty.
The Longhorns responded in the second half by holding KU to 22 points with a 21-11 rebounding edge. Sanders scored eight of her 10 points in the second stanza to help Texas maintain its lead for the rest of the night.
The third-ranked Longhorns return to the Erwin Center on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. Central tipoff against No. rv/21 West Virginia (Longhorn Network).
• SERIES: Texas improves its lead in the all-time series with Kansas, 18-10, including an 9-4 mark in Austin and a 4-1 mark under Head Coach Karen Aston. The Longhorns have won the last four meetings with the Jayhawks.
• BIG 12 OPENERS: The Longhorns improve to 9-10 in Big 12 Conference openers. Saturday's win marked UT's first Big 12-opening win in 10 years. The last time Texas won its conference opener was a 66-51 victory against Kansas on Jan. 5, 2005 in Austin.
• STARTERS: For the fifth time this season, Celina Rodrigo, Empress Davenport, Brady Sanders, Nneka Enemkpali, and Kelsey Lang started for the Longhorns. Texas is 5-0 with this starting five.
• HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: Texas is 23-2 at the Frank Erwin Center since last season, including an 9-0 mark at home this season.
• POINTS IN THE PAINT: Texas out-scored Kansas in the paint, 38-18. On the season, UT is out-scoring its opponents in the paint by an average of 44-to-20.
• NNEKA ENEMKPALI earned her sixth consecutive double-double on Saturday, registering 12 points and 14 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. It ties her own program record for most consecutive double-doubles. Enemkpali -- who leads the Big 12 in rebounding (10.3 rpg) -- now has 28 career double-doubles, including seven this season.
• EMPRESS DAVENPORT registered her fifth double-figure scoring effort of the season with 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting.
Head Coach Karen Aston
Opening Statement: Anytime you get a win in the Big 12 you need to be excited about it and that's the first time we've won an opener in quite some time, so I'm proud of our team. We had the first game jitters a little bit. We looked a little tentative in the first half and then we regrouped ourselves in the second half. Our older players really settled us down. Our bench play was really good tonight. Everyone that came off our bench gave us something, whether it was a block or a big bucket or a defensive stop so it was a team effort for sure.
On whether your mindset is defense first then offense second: Well, it is with me. The players would all tell you that. But I also think you look across the board at the three games today in the Big 12 and there were teams who average 70 or 80 points a game that had 60 today so its just Big 12 play. You obviously want to go back and look at film to improve from game to game but you don't over analyze the fact that everybody was 0-0 today and everybody thought they could win and this is a hard game to play especially when you are expected to win. You do have the jitters and I think sometimes you start playing a little differently then who you are. I thought we were a little bit like that in the first half and it didn't surprise me but again you look at the scores across the board and they are going to get lower because everybody knows each other and everybody is well coached and we have some pretty good defensive teams in this league.
On whether you see yourself as the team to beat: I don't think they are even thinking about that I'd be shocked if they were. They can probably tell you the answer to that. I just think that they want to win. They want to do well every game so they know that now the games are significant and once you start playing a couple of them you start settling in but everybody was anxious today. I don't think they are scared of anything, its just anxiety. We had to wait until seven tonight and everybody else played this afternoon so we sat around all day ready to play so I'm sure they were just anxious.
Empress Davenport
On being more of a scorer tonight: No that didn't particularly run through my mind. I think we focused in on practice about getting to the basket so I think that's what I was trying to do in the game.
On Big 12 Conference play: It is conference now, so it definitely was a harder game to play in. It's all about getting on the floor, executing plays and who is well conditioned at the end of the game.
Nneka Enemkpali
On Big 12 Conference play: The Big 12 is a very competitive league. All of the teams are well-coached and have great players. It will be whoever focuses in on possession and whoever focuses in on the hustle plays will come out on top that night.
On having jitters tonight: I was just excited. It was my last first home conference game so the excitement was there for me. I was prepared and just looking forward to starting conference and starting new season.
