The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
White excelling at right time for Women's Basketball
03.05.2018 | Women's Basketball
Junior forward Jatarie White has recorded a double-double in both games so far in Oklahoma City.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Junior Texas forward Jatarie White is making the most of her first appearance at the Big 12 Tournament.
White, who transferred from the University of South Carolina and sat out last year due to NCAA transfer rules, has been a key to advancing the Longhorns to the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament, the third such appearance for Texas in the last four years.
White, a Charlotte, N.C., native, who has known head coach Karen Aston dating back to Aston's first head coaching job at Charlotte, is averaging 14.5 points per game and a team-best 12.0 rebounds per game through the team's first two games in Oklahoma City. She is also shooting 57 percent from the field and has made five of her six free-throw attempts.
White has recorded double-doubles in both games of the tournament and has tied her career high in both games with 12 rebounds.
Having success on Monday night against No. 2 Baylor's dominant post duo of Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox will be critical for White as No. 8 Texas seeks its second all-time Big 12 Conference Tournament Championship – the other coming in 2003.
That's not to say that White hasn't been effective all season for the Longhorns. She has been.
Entering this weekend's play, White was the team's second-leading rebounder at 5.6 boards per game and was averaging 10.1 points per game. She shot 52.1 percent from the field during the regular season and 70 percent from the free-throw line. White scored in double figures 17 times in the regular season with a pair of double-doubles.
But there's no question that White, who is expected to start for the Longhorns on Monday at the "five" position, is peaking at the right time.
"I think I just get a little more comfortable with my teammates as the games go on," White said. "Kind of getting comfortable and trusting the help and that the guards are going to be there on the skips and all of that. I'm just enjoying playing with my team – enjoying the ride and kind of just giving it my all."
White, who has started 30 of her team's 31 games this season, has been a formidable presence in the paint this season. Her teammates have always been aware of her abilities and are not surprised at her breakout performances in the Big 12 Tournament.
"I think you're just seeing what Jatarie is capable of," Brooke McCarty, Texas' senior point guard said. "Everybody on our team knows what Jatarie can do and, when she is on her game, she is really good and really hard to defend. I think you're just seeing her coming into her role and being comfortable with herself and being comfortable finally out there on the floor."
White and the Longhorns will need to be at their best on Monday night to have the opportunity to bring a trophy back to Austin.
What does that look like for White?
"It's just when she has her confidence and she is playing with a high level of intensity," McCarty said.
Tip-off is 8 p.m. CT on FS1 from Chesapeake Energy Arena.
