Oklahoma Tops Texas by Twelve
AUSTIN, TX -- The Oklahoma Sooners showed the Texas Longhorns why they are the best team in the Big 12 Conference this season Sunday afternoon with a very solid 74 to 62 win inside the Frank Erwin Center in front of 6396 fans celebrating Senior Day.
"Congratulations to Oklahoma," said Gail Goestenkors, Texas Longhorns head coach in the post-game press conference. "They showed why they're the best team in the conference. Obviously they've got Courtney [Paris], but they're so much more than just one player. They gave a great team effort."
The game was tied twice before the Sooners (27-3 overall, 15-1 in Big 12) scored eight straight points to take a 17 to 9 lead with 11:08 left in the first half.
Texas' guard / forward Brittainey Raven ended the drought with a three point play; but, Oklahoma answered with seven straight points (four from junior Amanda Thompson, two by sophomore guard Danielle Robinson to double up the Longhorns 24 to 12 at the 8:20 mark.
The Longhorns (20-10 overall, 8-8 in Big 12) shooting woes continued the rest of the half; and, Oklahoma closed out the first half outscoring the Horns 16 to 9 to take a 40 to 21 lead into halftime.
"I was real proud of our effort," said Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale. "I thought in the first half we really had great offensive rhythm and did a nice job with the defensive game plan."
Texas shot 37.5% (9 for 24) in the first half while Oklahoma converted 18 of 29 shot attempts for 62.1%.
The Sooners outscored the Horns 17 to 9 over the first seven minutes and 9 seconds of the second half for a 57 to 30 lead before the Horns sparked to life.
Ashleigh Fontenette (8 points) and Kathleen Nash (six points) combined for 14 points during a 24 to 10 run by the Longhorns to help trim UT's deficit to 13 points (63 to 50) with 5:47 remaining in the game. The Sooners committed eight turnovers to aid the UT run.
"I thought we got to playing too fast late," said Coach Coale. "We had a few crazy ones in the first half, nothing I was too upset about. But in the second half we just went way too fast. Trying to fix what we had broken all in one fell swoop and it kind of caught up with us."
Kathleen Nash scored all 12 of her points in the second half and helped the Horns within 11 points (69 to 58) on two made free throws with 1:40 left in the game.
Fontenette scored all 10 of her points in the second half as well.
Oklahoma turned the ball over 21 times and 12 came in the second half due to the Horns' aggressive defense.
"We picked up full court, tried to trap and create some things with our defense, Coach Goestenkors said."
Danielle Robinson led the Sooners with 17 points followed by 16 points each from Amanda Thompson and Courtney Paris.
Oklahoma shot 56.6% (30 for 53) from the field while the Longhorns shot 36.9% (24 for 65).
"I thought we played well at the beginning of the second half," added Coach Coale. "We went flat about halfway through, then I thought Texas outworked us in the middle of the second half. I thought their effort and their fight was obvious. We weren't great but they were pretty good and they did some good things there and give them credit for that. Our experience and our maturity enabled us to steady the ship."
Ashley Lindsey scored a team-high 16 points for Texas followed by 12 points a piece from Kathleen Nash and Brittainey Raven and 10 points from Fontenette.
Note:
For the time since December 16, 2006 (at Duke), Brittainey Raven did not start the ball game.
Coach G explained why she made the move: "Brittainey has not been rebounding for us. That's been such a focus for us. After the last game when she didn't have any rebounds, I felt like I needed to make a statement to her. We had been talking about it but I really needed to show how important it was. I thought the second half, the way she battled, not just on offense and defense but on the boards as well, that's we need from her for 40 minutes. It changes the way we play when she's that aggressive."
"Congratulations to Oklahoma," said Gail Goestenkors, Texas Longhorns head coach in the post-game press conference. "They showed why they're the best team in the conference. Obviously they've got Courtney [Paris], but they're so much more than just one player. They gave a great team effort."
The game was tied twice before the Sooners (27-3 overall, 15-1 in Big 12) scored eight straight points to take a 17 to 9 lead with 11:08 left in the first half.
Texas' guard / forward Brittainey Raven ended the drought with a three point play; but, Oklahoma answered with seven straight points (four from junior Amanda Thompson, two by sophomore guard Danielle Robinson to double up the Longhorns 24 to 12 at the 8:20 mark.
The Longhorns (20-10 overall, 8-8 in Big 12) shooting woes continued the rest of the half; and, Oklahoma closed out the first half outscoring the Horns 16 to 9 to take a 40 to 21 lead into halftime.
"I was real proud of our effort," said Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale. "I thought in the first half we really had great offensive rhythm and did a nice job with the defensive game plan."
Texas shot 37.5% (9 for 24) in the first half while Oklahoma converted 18 of 29 shot attempts for 62.1%.
The Sooners outscored the Horns 17 to 9 over the first seven minutes and 9 seconds of the second half for a 57 to 30 lead before the Horns sparked to life.
Ashleigh Fontenette (8 points) and Kathleen Nash (six points) combined for 14 points during a 24 to 10 run by the Longhorns to help trim UT's deficit to 13 points (63 to 50) with 5:47 remaining in the game. The Sooners committed eight turnovers to aid the UT run.
"I thought we got to playing too fast late," said Coach Coale. "We had a few crazy ones in the first half, nothing I was too upset about. But in the second half we just went way too fast. Trying to fix what we had broken all in one fell swoop and it kind of caught up with us."
Kathleen Nash scored all 12 of her points in the second half and helped the Horns within 11 points (69 to 58) on two made free throws with 1:40 left in the game.
Fontenette scored all 10 of her points in the second half as well.
Oklahoma turned the ball over 21 times and 12 came in the second half due to the Horns' aggressive defense.
"We picked up full court, tried to trap and create some things with our defense, Coach Goestenkors said."
Danielle Robinson led the Sooners with 17 points followed by 16 points each from Amanda Thompson and Courtney Paris.
Oklahoma shot 56.6% (30 for 53) from the field while the Longhorns shot 36.9% (24 for 65).
"I thought we played well at the beginning of the second half," added Coach Coale. "We went flat about halfway through, then I thought Texas outworked us in the middle of the second half. I thought their effort and their fight was obvious. We weren't great but they were pretty good and they did some good things there and give them credit for that. Our experience and our maturity enabled us to steady the ship."
Ashley Lindsey scored a team-high 16 points for Texas followed by 12 points a piece from Kathleen Nash and Brittainey Raven and 10 points from Fontenette.
Note:
For the time since December 16, 2006 (at Duke), Brittainey Raven did not start the ball game.
Coach G explained why she made the move: "Brittainey has not been rebounding for us. That's been such a focus for us. After the last game when she didn't have any rebounds, I felt like I needed to make a statement to her. We had been talking about it but I really needed to show how important it was. I thought the second half, the way she battled, not just on offense and defense but on the boards as well, that's we need from her for 40 minutes. It changes the way we play when she's that aggressive."
posted by Kris G @ 9:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home