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Nov. 15, 2008

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes |  Photo Gallery 

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Erika Arriaran and Earnesia Williams each scored 10 points, and the No. 13 Texas Longhorns defeated Dayton 66-40 in the first round of the World Vision Classic on Saturday.

Arriaran came out strong off the bench, hitting four of her first five shots. Yvonne Anderson added eight points in her first game as a Longhorn.

Dayton was led by Kristin Daugherty, who finished with 15 points.

After a slow start, the Longhorns hit seven straight shots to open up a 22-12 lead. They shot 42 percent from the field while holding the Flyers to 28 percent.

Texas will play St. Mary's on Sunday and face No. 25 Old Dominion on Monday. Dayton will take on Old Dominion on Sunday and St. Mary's on Monday.

POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
· Texas improved to 12-3 (.800) at home under Gail Goestenkors.
· The Longhorns have won 25 of their last 33 home contests.
· Texas improved to 32-3 in all-time home openers.
· Texas improved to 26-9 in all-time season openers, including 11-3 in its last 14 season openers.
· Texas improved to 1-0 all-time against Dayton.
· Texas held Dayton to eight field goals (8-29) in the first half.
· Texas held its' opponent to 40 points or less for the first time since limiting Lamar to 35 points on Nov. 15, 2007.

Erika Arriaran
· Made the first 3-point field goal of the season at the 11:25 mark in the first half.

Earnesia Williams
· Was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.

Yvonne Anderson
· Scored eight points in her first collegiate game.
· Was a 4-of-5 from the field, with four rebounds and two assists in her Longhorn debut.

TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gail Goestenkors
Opening statement: I just give Dayton a lot of credit. They're a young team, they have a lot of freshman and only one returning starter so I thought they did a tremendous job. They showed no fear. Overall, I was pleased in particular with my bench. I thought they gave us some energy and it helped us a lot. In particular the two freshman guards [Yvonne Anderson and Ashleigh Fontenette], Aubry [Cook] and [Kristen] Nash, I thought they gave us great energy. That's the great thing about this team, they're going to give us a lot of depth and you'll see different people stepping up in different situations. Every one contributed, we were able to get some rest and I think we'll be ready for tomorrow.

On starting Kat Nash tonight: I think both Kat and Erika have done a great job in preseason. They both give us something different. Kat has size but Erika passes the ball better. I haven't made the decision yet so I don't want them to play too much emphasis on starting, I have complete faith in both of them.

On having many shooters who can hit the three: It feels great. It was tough last year because everyone know that Kat was the top 3-point shooter, but I think Erika is the best 3 point shooter I've ever coached. Brittainey is shooting the ball much better as well and then the freshman can shoot so it adds so much to our game when we can spread out our shooters.

On Yvonne Anderson: I don't think she played like a freshman. All of our freshmen are going to be major contributors and I thought she did a great job running the team for Carla. She played with a lot of poise.

JUNIOR GUARD Erika Arriaran
On the team's performance tonight: We really wanted to start pushing the ball a lot more. I think our defense was getting better and we were communicating a lot better. Coach talked about attacking but also having a lot of poise. We were careful with the ball and we set the tempo well on defense.

SENIOR FORWARD Earnesia Williams
On the bench's contribution: It was nice to get some rest and watch everyone else play. I thought the bench brought us a lot of energy.

On the team so far: I think we're a lot better. We have Erika back and we have some great freshmen. We have some ball handlers and Ashley Gayle is a big inside post for us. We have two shooters and a lot of penetrators, so hopefully we'll be hard to guard.

FRESHMAN GUARD Yvonne Anderson
On her performance tonight: I felt good. I tried to go out and do as coach says to keep the intensity high. She was stressing to be more vocal and lead more on the floor. I tried to do that out there today and prove that I can play.

On feeling comfortable with being vocal on the court: My teammates respect me because when I'm on the floor, I'm the point guard. As the point guard, it's your job so you have to have the courage to play your role.

DAYTON QUOTES
HEAD COACH JIM JABIR
On comparing this year's Texas team to last year: I think they might have pressed less than they did last year. Having [Erika] Arriaran back helps out a lot because it opens things up for them. They're still playing the same kind of way as last year, but they're getting better at it.

On his game plan tonight: Going in initially, we just wanted to keep our freshmen from totally losing it. We had to keep our composure against their pressure. Our biggest fear was controlling the basketball which we didn't do a good job of. I knew [Brittainey] Raven could shoot the ball, but I didn't know she could shoot the three so well. I thought we did a pretty good job with their posts, we doubled down and I don't think they hurt us as bad as they have done to other opponents. We couldn't make shots and I thought they did a good job controlling the offensive board and getting second chances. I thought our trapping defense worked pretty effectively, so there were some silver linings. I'm really impressed with Texas, they have some things to iron out but their future is really bright.

On improving after tonight's loss: We fought and we battled and when you play against a great team you see your weaknesses and they were very visible tonight. So tonight was a successful for us in that we know what we have to work on and we're just going to go back and work harder.