The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
13-0, 2-0
West Virginia *
10-4, 0-2
No. 3/3 Women’s Basketball defeats No. rv/25 West Virginia, 61-55
01.07.2015 | Women's Basketball
Nneka Enemkpali registered her seventh consecutive double-double as Longhorns remain undefeated.
Box Score (PDF) | Notes | Quotes
AUSTIN, Texas -- Senior forward Nneka Enemkpali recorded her seventh consecutive double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 3/3 Texas Women's Basketball past defending Big 12 Champion West Virginia, 61-55, on Wednesday night at the Frank Erwin Center.
Texas (13-0, 2-0 Big 12) continued its best start since the 1985-86 season behind six Longhorns with seven or more points and a deep bench which out-scored the Mountaineers' bench, 21-8.
Junior guard Empress Davenport had eight points and six rebounds, freshman guard Brooke McCarty scored nine points and sophomore center Kelsey Lang added eight points to go along with five boards.
West Virginia (10-4, 0-2) was led by junior guard Bria Holmes, who registered a game-high 22 points.
Texas scored first on a Celina Rodrigo 3-pointer and never looked back. The Mountaineers trailed by one point after the first four minutes, but the Horns began to take control by increasing their lead by as much as 14 points before going into the break with a 32-26 lead. Texas out-rebounded WVU 23-9 in the first half.
In the second half, WVU trimmed its deficit to four points with under 10 minutes remaining. Enemkpali helped keep the Longhorns afloat by scoring four of her 11 total points during a 6-1 Texas run which gave UT a 61-51 lead. The Mountaineers added two late buckets for a 61-55 final score.
Texas continues Big 12 Conference play on Saturday at Iowa State (11 a.m. Central, FOX Sports Network).
• SERIES: With the win, the Longhorns improve to 3-0 against WVU in Austin and inch close to West Virginia's 4-3 all-time series lead.
• STARTERS: Empress Davenport, Celina Rodrigo, Brady Sanders, Nneka Enemkpali, and Kelsey Lang started for together for the sixth time this season. Texas is 6-0 with this starting five.
• UNDEFEATED: Longhorns are now 13-0 on the season, which marks the third best start in program history. This is the first time the Longhorns have started the Big 12 Conference season at 2-0 since 2003-04.
• DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE: Nneka Enemkpali now has seven consecutive double-doubles after scoring 11 points and 12 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Enemkpali, who entered the game as the Big 12 Conference's leading rebounder at 10.3 rpg, now has 29 career double-doubles and eight this season.
• NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Longhorns improved to 24-2 at the Frank Erwin Center since last season, including a perfect 10-0 mark this season.
• DOMINATING THE PAINT: Texas outscored the Mountaineers 34-20 in the paint. The Longhorns are out-scouring opponents in the paint by an average of 40-to-19.
Head Coach Karen Aston
Opening Statement: I'm really proud of our team. It was what I thought it would be, which was an ugly choppy game in the Big 12. Anytime you play West Virginia you can expect it to be physical and difficult to score. I thought that our team was just resilient enough to win the game. We did some things that were good and some things we are going to look back on and hope we can do a little bit better. Specifically, we need to shoot free throws better. We got a little impatient offensively and turned it over too much but it's a win in the Big 12 so we'll take it and try to move forward and get ready for Iowa State.
On playing in a grind-it-out game: I don't know that we necessarily need that but its probably going to be that way. I think part of it is that we keep getting players hurt that are going in and out of the line up so we aren't able to get into a groove that I thought we were able to get into early in the year. There are some players that probably feel they can't get in foul trouble again or those types of feelings. We maybe playing a little bit safe because it is Big 12 season now but I think that our ability to stay composed is so much better than it has ever been. The players, individually, are able to reset better when they make mistakes. They can go to the next play and don't let it effect the rest of their game. They are more mature and more confident than they have been.
On getting offense on back court: As we go into these games that's the challenge that everybody is going to try and force on our back court -- to make decisions and make shots. That is just part of the ebb-and-flow of the season. It's difficult, especially for a freshman, because they might go into one game and be guarded one way but the next game be expecting the same thing but they aren't going to get it. So I think that it's really positive that our back court stepped up tonight because they are going to have to. Everybody is going to challenge them to make shots and make plays and try to take the ball out of Nneka's hands. Kelsey has got to make some adjustments because she is getting some physical play now that she probably didn't see early in the year.
On team believing they can win the Big 12 Title: Sometimes we're not playing -- like the last few games -- as good as we're capable of play. I don't mean that arrogantly at all. I think we are a good solid basketball team and I want us to play confident and it seems as though at times we're playing to not lose and I don't want us to play that way. Again, some of that is because of injuries that we've had that we feel we need to play a little safer in terms of foul trouble but we're a free flowing team. When we're having fun we're playing free, especially in the open court. I have to be careful not to take that away from them as a coach but also I want them to feel free to still play the way we've been playing all year long.
Brady Sanders (Junior, G)
On playing to potential: Being 13-0 and ranked No. 3 is something our team doesn't really think about. We just try and go to work everyday because we know there are things we need to improve on which you could see in that game. We had some unforced turnovers. I definitely agree with coach that sometimes we are playing not to lose and that's usually when those turnovers happen. We start thinking too much instead of playing how we can play and like she said we have some players out so we think we can't in foul trouble but that's when you do get in foul trouble. That just comes with having your teammates back and having confidence but I'm still proud of the people who came in off the bench, they definitely contributed. That's one thing about this team, even though people are out other people step up to the plate. When one goes down the next one comes in and that's something that's really special about this team.
On the back court contributing: It's definitely important and that's one thing about our team is we have a very strong inside but we also have a very strong outside and that's something that comes with conference play. People know pretty much your every move on offense. Nneka's a power horse in the paint so they know she's one of our go to players so of course they are going to take that away and we know it was just a matter of time before we had to step up and we are going to continue to step up so they have to play each of us individually and not double down as much. Brooke had some big shots and Empress took some great takes to the basket. Like I said before about this team, you can't just focus on one player because we have more and more coming at you each time we sub.
Brooke McCarty (Freshman, G)
On coach having faith in you leaving you in: At the beginning I was a little nervous but I just have to go in and play every game and no matter what coach needs from me I just have to go in there and do it because in the end we are going to need everybody. So when she needs me I'm going to step up to the plate.
WEST VIRGINIA
Head Coach Mike Carey
Opening Statement: I thought both teams played really well. Both teams battled. This is the first time I've told the team after the game even in our ten wins that we played with more emotion in this game then we have all year. So that was good to see we just didn't hit shots. If you hit shots it makes the game a little easier. They hit more shots and had a higher shooting percentage then we did. The effort was there which was good to see. I've got to give credit to the players, they came in here and played hard in a tough place to play and Texas is a very good basketball team.
On relying too much on three point shots: Texas dictates that but I agree with that. We talked about that at half time. We struggled to score at times but they aren't going to let Bria Holmes get open so it leaves everybody else open. Teana Muldrow who did hit a couple of three's is one of our best three point shooters but she just needs to get in the gym and work on it. Linda Stepney needs to score a little bit more. Averee got into foul trouble but she had 12 points. We just don't have that post we can isolate down there like Texas does. We had it last year but we don't have it this year. I think you saw when we went inside that we had a couple turnovers and lost the ball. Those are things that we have to get better at.
On team performance in the second half: I thought we played hard both halves, it wasn't effort. I thought we played hard and played with emotion the thing is we got tired. If you look at our minutes Linda Stepney played 40 minutes and Bria Holmes played 39 and Averee Fields usually plays 42. We don't have substitutes and it is going to be the same thing all year but I thought our effort was better the second half. You can't go three for 19. I tell the players when you aren't hitting your three's you can't stay out there and continue to shoot three's.
Bria Holmes (Junior, G)
On matching your average and not coming out with a win: I don't really think about scoring that much I just go out and play the game and try to get my teammates involved as much as I can. When all the eyes are on me its hard at times because everybody is focused on me which makes it hard to score so I just try to get my teammates involved.
On having a feeling late in the game that you could possibly win: I feel like my team never gave up and we fought all the way to the end. I feel like we had some break downs in between the first half and second half and it's just something that we need to fix in practice.
