Bad Night for 2 Big 12 Teams in San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO, TX -- The Big 12 prides itself on being the best conference in women's college basketball. Tuesday night, that pride was wounded by the two giants of women's college hoops as the Tennessee Lady Volunteers rolled over the Texas Tech Lady Raiders 91 to 53 in game 1 of the "Road to the Championship San Antonio" followed by the Connecticut Huskies, the defending champs, wiping out the Texas Longhorns 83 to 58 in game 2 in front of an announced crowd of 4,586 fans. (Personally, I thought more people were inside the AT&T Center watching the games.)
"We've got 10 freshmen and sophomores," said Texas Tech head coach Kristi Curry. "We're trying to put the wheels back on the bus one wheel at a time."
Tennessee's height and length advantage gave the Lady Raiders fits throughout the ball game. Texas Tech finished with more turnovers (17) than made baskets (16).
Tennessee sandwiched a 50 to 4 around halftime to blow the game completely wide open.
"Obviously, I thought we were much better in the second half," said Tennessee's head coach Pat Summitt.
The Lady Vols led Texas Tech 30 to 17 at the half.
"I liked the intensity overall. I felt like the people that had to step up early stepped up early," Coach Summitt added. "Shekinna Stricklen has been doing a great job for us. It's good to see Glory Johnson around the rim and getting a lot of scoring opportunities for us. That took a lot off of Kelly Cain. She's been teriffic for us. Overall, I liked the balanced scoring. I liked the commitment to defense in the second half and to our board play; so, I think it was good for us to be able to experiment a little bit in our zone and our man defense."
Freshman Taber Spani led Tennesse in scoring with 18 points; followed by 17 points (and six boards) from Glory Johnson and 16 points (seven rebounds and five assists) from Shekinna Stricklen.
"You have to give Tennessee credit," Coach Curry added. I thought we missed a lot of open works and we have to give them credit; and, it's a lot their reason their length really hurts. This really doesn't define our season; and we have to use every moment as a learning situation. And, when we were called with this opportunity (to participate in the "Road to the Championship San Antonio"), you can't turn it down. It was the right step to take in order to get Tech back to where we want it to be. It's about getting better every day and learning form today as hard as its been."
In the second game, the Longhorns simply couldn't put the ball in the basket. The Horns made just 25.7% (9 for 35) from the field in the first half; and, despite Connecticut's foul trouble, the Horns could not take advantage at the opportunit to pull within 10 points late in the first half. The Huskies took advantage and finished the half leading the Horns 48 to 27.
"I thought we got some really good looks early," said Texas' head coach Gail Goestenkors. "We just had a lot rim in and rim out that could have made a difference for us for our confidence level. Then, I think we got frustrated and then I thought we forced some shots and took some bad shots. We have to stay disciplined in our offense when things don't go our way."
Coach G added these words she told her team after the game.
"I told them Connecticut is the best team in the country and tonight they showed why. If we want to play at that level and if we want to be that good, then we're going to have to do a much better job in our practices to prepare for games like this. We're going to have play with much more intensity and focus. I thought we came in and out of the game with our focus. We had spurts in the game where we'd be pretty good; and, then we'd lose our focus. Against a great team like Connecticut, you can't afford that. You've got to play at an elite level for 40 minutes. Not for 30. I thought we played maybe for 20. Actually, I said 15 where it was an elite level. The rest of it was very average or below average then you get blown out."
All five starters for the Huskies scored in double figures led by, Maya Moore (20 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots), the best player in the country and Tina Charles, (15 points and 11 boards -- in just 18 minutes), the second best player in the country.
The 2009 - 2010 NCAA Championship will take place in San Antonio in April; and, Coach G still hopes to participate; but, she realizes her team has areas for improvement.
"It's a long road to get back to San Antonio. I think Connecticut showed us a lot of the weaknesses that we have which is exactly why we played the game. We now know what we need to work on to get better. We'll go home. Our practices will be definitely be much more intense than they've been; and, we'll definitely be focusing on rebounding as well."
"We've got 10 freshmen and sophomores," said Texas Tech head coach Kristi Curry. "We're trying to put the wheels back on the bus one wheel at a time."
Tennessee's height and length advantage gave the Lady Raiders fits throughout the ball game. Texas Tech finished with more turnovers (17) than made baskets (16).
Tennessee sandwiched a 50 to 4 around halftime to blow the game completely wide open.
"Obviously, I thought we were much better in the second half," said Tennessee's head coach Pat Summitt.
The Lady Vols led Texas Tech 30 to 17 at the half.
"I liked the intensity overall. I felt like the people that had to step up early stepped up early," Coach Summitt added. "Shekinna Stricklen has been doing a great job for us. It's good to see Glory Johnson around the rim and getting a lot of scoring opportunities for us. That took a lot off of Kelly Cain. She's been teriffic for us. Overall, I liked the balanced scoring. I liked the commitment to defense in the second half and to our board play; so, I think it was good for us to be able to experiment a little bit in our zone and our man defense."
Freshman Taber Spani led Tennesse in scoring with 18 points; followed by 17 points (and six boards) from Glory Johnson and 16 points (seven rebounds and five assists) from Shekinna Stricklen.
"You have to give Tennessee credit," Coach Curry added. I thought we missed a lot of open works and we have to give them credit; and, it's a lot their reason their length really hurts. This really doesn't define our season; and we have to use every moment as a learning situation. And, when we were called with this opportunity (to participate in the "Road to the Championship San Antonio"), you can't turn it down. It was the right step to take in order to get Tech back to where we want it to be. It's about getting better every day and learning form today as hard as its been."
In the second game, the Longhorns simply couldn't put the ball in the basket. The Horns made just 25.7% (9 for 35) from the field in the first half; and, despite Connecticut's foul trouble, the Horns could not take advantage at the opportunit to pull within 10 points late in the first half. The Huskies took advantage and finished the half leading the Horns 48 to 27.
"I thought we got some really good looks early," said Texas' head coach Gail Goestenkors. "We just had a lot rim in and rim out that could have made a difference for us for our confidence level. Then, I think we got frustrated and then I thought we forced some shots and took some bad shots. We have to stay disciplined in our offense when things don't go our way."
Coach G added these words she told her team after the game.
"I told them Connecticut is the best team in the country and tonight they showed why. If we want to play at that level and if we want to be that good, then we're going to have to do a much better job in our practices to prepare for games like this. We're going to have play with much more intensity and focus. I thought we came in and out of the game with our focus. We had spurts in the game where we'd be pretty good; and, then we'd lose our focus. Against a great team like Connecticut, you can't afford that. You've got to play at an elite level for 40 minutes. Not for 30. I thought we played maybe for 20. Actually, I said 15 where it was an elite level. The rest of it was very average or below average then you get blown out."
All five starters for the Huskies scored in double figures led by, Maya Moore (20 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots), the best player in the country and Tina Charles, (15 points and 11 boards -- in just 18 minutes), the second best player in the country.
The 2009 - 2010 NCAA Championship will take place in San Antonio in April; and, Coach G still hopes to participate; but, she realizes her team has areas for improvement.
"It's a long road to get back to San Antonio. I think Connecticut showed us a lot of the weaknesses that we have which is exactly why we played the game. We now know what we need to work on to get better. We'll go home. Our practices will be definitely be much more intense than they've been; and, we'll definitely be focusing on rebounding as well."
posted by Kris G @ 11:40 AM
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