#21/22 Texas (2-1) vs. Virginia (2-2)
at the Jack in the Box Wahine Classic
Friday, Nov. 23, 2007 · 5:20 p.m. Central
Stan Sheriff Center (capacity 10,300) · Honolulu, Hawaii
GAME DAY QUICK FACTS
TELEVISION: None
RADIO: Tape-delayed on KVET Radio 98.1 FM (Central Texas): Chad Hastings, pxp; Carol Ross, color analyst ... broadcast takes place at 9 p.m. Central
INTERNET VIDEO: None
LIVE STATS: None
GAME DAY INFORMATION
In the National Rankings: Texas is No. 21, Associated Press Top 25 (media poll) & No. 22, USA Today/ESPN Preseason Poll (coaches poll) ... Virginia is not ranked
Texas Head Coach Gail Goestenkors (Saginaw Valley State '85): 16th year overall: 497 games: 398-100 (.799); first year at Texas: 2-1 (.667)
Virginia Head Coach Debbie Ryan: 31st year overall as head coach, all at Virginia: 933 games: 653-280 (.700)
All-Time Series Record: 6th meeting: Texas leads the series, 3-2
Texas' Home/Away/Neutral Record vs. Virginia: 0-1 at home, 0-1 at Tenn., 3-0 at neutral sites
Series Win Streak: +3, Texas
Last Meeting: #2/4 Texas 74, Virginia 54 (Rainbow Wahine Classic 2nd round, Nov. 29, 2003 in Honolulu)
Goestenkors All-Time vs. Virginia: 19-10 (all games at Duke).... Goestenkors' Duke teams won the last 13 in a row against UVa
A Glance at Today's Teams
Texas (2-1), under first-year head coach Gail Goestenkors, is ranked No. 21 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll (the media poll) and No. 22 in this week's USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, the same positions UT held last week ... Virginia is 2-2 and is coming off an 80-59 win over Richmond (Nov. 18) in Charlottesville ...This is the second of four consecutive games on the road for UT ...Texas posted season-opening wins at home against Missouri State (92-55, Nov. 11) and Lamar (94-35, Nov. 15) before traveling to Knoxville, Tenn. where defending NCAA champion Tennessee defeated the Longhorns, 92-67 on Sunday.
Texas was picked to finish fourth in the highly-competitive Big 12 by vote of the preseason coaches, with the other three teams ahead of the Longhorns all nationally-ranked as well (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Baylor) .. UT was tied for seventh last year (6-10) in the Big 12.
Fourth Texas Trip to Wahine Classic
Texas will be making its FOURTH trip to the Wahine Classic (1988, 1999, 2003) and its third in the last eight years...The three prior trips saw Jody Conradt on the Longhorns sidelines as head coach.... This is Gail Goestenkors first-ever trip to the Wahine Classic as head coach...Texas is 8-1 in all-time Wahine Classic games, winning the tourney twice by going 3-0 in both 1988 and 2003 ... UT went 2-1 and finished second to host Hawaii (78-74) in 1999... In 2003, Texas beat Navy in the first round (97-46), then defeated Virginia (74-54) in the second round before beating Montana, 85-46, for the title. Host Hawaii has won the tournament four times (1989, '91, '93 and '99)
Texas-Virginia Series
This is the sixth meeting between these two schools, with Texas leading the series, 3-2, having won the last three contests - all played on a neutral court in a regular season tournament game ... The last time these two met was in 2003-04 - at the Wahine Classic This is the THIRD time that Texas and UVa meet in Wahine Classic play (also in 1999) with UT winning both ... In 1999, Texas won 78-73 in the semifinals, before losing to Hawaii in the finals; in 2003, Texas beat UVA 74-54, again in Wahine Classic second round play... On November 20, 2000, these two played in the third-place game of the State Farm Tipoff Classic at Purdue, with UT winning 56-53 in double-overtime.
Longhorns, Goestenkors Against the Wahine Classic Field
Texas has faced four of the other seven teams in this year's Jack in the Box Wahine Classic field - Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Virginia - and stands 7-3 against them all-time (.700) ... Texas is: 0-1 vs. Hawaii, 1-0 vs. Kentucky, 3-0 vs. Minnesota, 3-2 vs. UVa and has never faced UAB, Hartford or Lipscomb.
In her tenure at Duke, Goestenkors is 20-10 against the Wahine field ... She is 19-10 all-time against Virginia, including winning the last 13 games, and 1-0 against Kentucky
Longhorn Stat Leaders
Five players are averaging 9.0 points per game or above ... Sophomore guard Brittainey Raven leads the way with 17.3 ppg and a team-high 11 steals ... Raven has been the lone Longhorn in double-figure scoring in each of the three games and is coming off an 18-point, three-rebound, three-steal effort against Tennessee. Freshman guard Kathleen Nash, this week's Big 12 Co-Rookie of the Week, has come off the bench in all games to average 15.0 ppg, and she is tied for the team lead in rebounding (8.3 rpg)... Sophomore redshirt point guard Carla Cortijo (12.0 ppg) leads the squad with 15 assists, a 5.0 apg average, and has been clutch from the free throw line, hitting 90 percent of her free throws by going 18-for-20 to start the season.
Junior 6-4 post Ashley Lindsey (9.3 ppg) is tied for the rebound lead (at 8.3) with Nash ... She has collected 11 blocks as well (3.7 bpg) while shooting 72 percent from the floor ... Lindsey is 11 for 17 in field goal attempts ... The team's lone senior, guard Erneisha Bailey, follows with 9.0 ppg), while redshirt sophomore Earnesia Williams adds 8.3 ppg.
The Longhorns have been solid from the free throw line as a team, connecting on 76.1 percent of their free throws (54-for-71)... UT is hitting at a 50 percent clip from the field while limiting the opposition to 36 percent shooting accuracy.
A Look at the Cavaliers
Virginia is 2-1 at home, 0-1 in away games to date .... UVa opened the season with a win over Longwood (62-49) before dropping back-to-back two-point games to No. 14 George Washington (70-68) and South Carolina (66-64) before posting the win over Richmond (80-59) Saturday ... The Cavaliers have four in double-figure scoring, with all four being the top scorer in one of the games to date: 6-1 junior F Lyndra LIttles (19.7 ppg), 5-8 sophomore G Paulisha Kellum (12.8 ppg); 5-11 sophomore Moncia Wright (12.3 ppg); and 6-3 junior post Alisha Mohammed (10.8 ppg) ... Top rebounders are Mohammed (8.5 rpg) and Littles (7.7 rpg) ... Kellum is 16 for 21 from the foul line (.762), while 5-7 senior guard Sharnee Zoll (6.8 ppg) leads the squad with 16 assists, dishing out 4.0 apg.
Hitting The Boards
A point of emphasis for Gail Goestenkors in preseason was rebounding ... Despite a lineup with one starter over 6-1 (that being 6-4 junior Ashley Lindsey) and only two players over 6-2, Texas has out-rebounded each of its first three opponents ... Through three games, UT has a +7.7 rebound margin (42.7 rpg to opponents' 35.0 rpg) ... Texas out-rebounded the imposing Tennessee lineup, 92-67, on Sunday .... From 2003-04 through 2005-07, Texas was the Big 12's top rebounding squad... Last year, however, UT (18-14) only out-rebounded half of its opponents (16 of 32) and just two of its final seven foes ... Texas finished the year with a +1.1 rebound margin per game.
New Leader for Texas Two Wins Shy of 400
In an unprecedented year of coaching changes in women's basketball following the 2006-07 year, there were 50 coaching changes at the Division I level ... Longhorns head coach Gail Goestenkors has a roster of 12 players in her first year at Texas ... Goestenkors, who built Duke University into a national-championship contender, came to UT this past April to replace retired Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Jody Conradt ... Goestenkors is the third coach in UT's 34-year women's basketball history ... . With UT's 2-1 start, Goestenkors is now two victories shy of her 400th career win, standing 398-99 - for a winning percentage of 79.9 percent - which ranks No. 3 among all active Division I coaches.
In her 15 years at Duke, Goestenkors' Blue Devils made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances which culminated in four Final Four showings in her last nine seasons (1999, 2002, 2003, 2006) ... Her Blue Devils posted seven consecutive 30-plus winning seasons (2000-07), setting the NCAA Division I women's basketball record in the process.
Conradt had spent 31 years on the Longhorns sidelines, beginning with the 1976-77 season ... She stepped down as Texas head coach last March 12, 2007, on the eve of the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Selection Show ... In both the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Conradt ended her career as the No. 2 all-time winningest collegiate basketball coach - men's or women's - with a record of 900-307.
Kat Nash Grabs Big 12 Co-Rookie of Week Award
Freshman guard Kat Nash received Big 12 Co-Rookie of the Week honors Monday after logging impressive numbers off the bench against Lamar and Tennessee ... The 6-2 Nash (Plano, Texas/Plano West HS) registered 36 points and 19 rebounds, averaging 18.9 points and 9.5 rebounds in just 27.0 minutes per game; added seven assists and seven steals; and went five-for-nine from 3-point range... On the week, Nash shot 13-23 from the floor (57%), including a 6-for-10 effort against Tennessee ... She had UT's first double-double with 19 points/10 rebounds against Lamar and followed with 17 points, nine rebounds and five steals against No. 1 Tennessee ... This was the second week of Big 12 voting ... Nash shared rookie honors with Oklahoma's 5-9 guard Danielle Robinson, while Big 12 Player of the Week honors went to 5-9 junior guard Heather Ezell from Iowa State.
