Defense lifts Women's Basketball over North Texas
Nov. 21, 2009 Rachael Genson, Texas Media Relations AUSTIN, Texas -- Friday night was a victorious night at the Frank Erwin Center for the Texas Women's Basketball team. While scoring a season-high 96 points, the Longhorns also held the North Texas Mean Green to a season-low 52 points. UT coach Gail Goestenkors seemed to appreciate the offensive awakening -- "I thought we were due for a good shooting night," she said -- but, UT's speed and defense were important factors in propelling the game forward. UT began the game playing in a zone, but quickly changed to a man-to-man defense in order to utilize quickness. "(The zone) served its purpose in that we slowed the game down," Goestenkors said. "But we like to speed things up a little, so once we got out of that and started pressuring, it changed the momentum of the game." Junior guard Kathleen Nash was a major factor, leading all scorers with 20 points to go along with six rebounds and two steals. "We have so many fast people like Brittainey (Raven) and Ashleigh (Fontenette) on our team that it really helps if we can get out in the passing lanes and get some steals," Nash said. "It transfers into some good points for us." The Longhorns netted 14 points because of fast breaks. While the number of points the team scored was notable, it wasn't the offense that kept fans cheering. Stellar defense shined in this game, and Goestenkors and her team felt that it improved as the game progressed. Ashley Gayle finished with seven blocks as the Mean Green finished with a point total that was 14.5 points below their season scoring average. UNT shot just 34 percent, and only three players scored more than six points.
"In the second half we picked up our defense and it really showed," Nash said. Throughout the entire game, perimeter pressure was so intense that even center Cokie Reed took her opportunity to get in on the action. With 14 minutes remaining in the second half, Reed supplied the ball pressure on Niq'ky Hughes, which resulted in an Yvonne Anderson steal and fast-break layup. Of the Longhorns 96 points, 39 were scored off those turnovers. "We were pressuring them some more and they turned the ball over," Goestenkors said. "That helped us get a couple easy buckets." |
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