Monday, February 02, 2009
By Brice Cherry
Tribune-Herald staff writer
It was anything but a Super Sunday for the Baylor Lady Bears.
Fourth-ranked Baylor continued a trend of dwindling net gains with a second straight rough shooting outing, as No. 16 Texas scratched its way to a 58-55 upset victory before a white-clad crowd of 7,345 Sunday afternoon at the Ferrell Center.
The stands resembled a series of snow drifts, with fans wearing white T-shirts as part of a promotional giveaway, but the real blizzard manifested itself on the court. BU’s cold shooting — the Lady Bears hit 27 percent of their shots in a 56-51 home loss to Oklahoma last Wednesday — reared its head again, as the team hit 31.3 percent of its field goals and a season-low 50 percent of its foul shots.
“Free throws, layups, 7-for-32 from four post players . . . I can’t explain it,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “Some of our kids are just not playing very well. It’s like we’re throwing up shots hoping to get fouled instead of being poised and finishing shots.”
Texas (15-5 overall, 3-3 in the Big 12), meanwhile, buried several clutch shots to register its biggest upset in the Gail Goestenkors era. Prior to Sunday, the Longhorns had lost five of their previous eight games, including their last two by an average of 17 points.
“We’ve had some rough games lately and I just talked to the team about character,” said Goestenkors, who is now 3-1 against Baylor since taking over at Texas. “When you hit adversity, character reveals itself. I think we saw some great character from our team today. It was a war, which I think every game in the Big 12 is, and I was just proud of the way we battled from the tip.”
Following the tip, Texas owned the court in the early going. The Horns busted out to an 11-0 lead in the first 3:19 of the game.
Baylor (17-3, 5-2) managed to claw its way back thanks to a gritty defensive effort that limited Texas to 32.3 percent shooting in the first half. Jessica Morrow gave the Lady Bears their first lead with 6:41 before the halftime break when she intercepted an errant pass and glided downcourt for a layin while drawing a foul. The Lady Bears managed to hang onto their edge heading into the locker room at intermission, leading 24-21.
But the offensive floodgates never burst forth for Baylor, allowing Texas to hang around throughout the second half.
“What I was surprised about was that we could never extend the lead,” We’d get a 6 or 7-point lead and then we’d turn it over or let (someone) hit a 3. That’s my disappointment, that we can’t extend leads when we have them.”
Texas took the lead for good at 53-51 on a pair of Brittainey Raven foul shots with 2:46 remaining. Following a pair of misses on BU’s end, the Longhorns hammered the final nail into the Lady Bears’ coffin when Kristen Nash found an open gap in the defense and dropped in a shot clock-beating layup on the ensuing possession.
The Horns, the conference’s leading free throw shooting team at 72.7 percent, proved deadly at the stripe against Baylor, hitting 11 of 15.
For the Lady Bears, even the easiest shots seemed to be a struggle. BU’s posts, who by definition set up shop close to the basket, made a collective 7 of 32 shots, with Danielle Wilson providing all seven of the makes. Rachel Allison, Morghan Medlock and Ashley Field combined to miss all 12 of their attempts.
“It is (frustrating),” Mulkey said. “Ashley Field will start the next game alongside Danielle Wilson in the post. When your post players shoot 7-for-32, who are you going to beat? Who? One kid had the seven. I just don’t know who you’re going to beat when you shoot like that.”
Wilson battled her way to her 10th double-double of the season, finishing with 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Jhasmin Player hit 5 of 7 shots, scoring 12 points to go with eight rebounds.
Kathleen Nash tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds for Texas, while speedy guard Carla Cortijo also chipped in 11 points before fouling out on a charge with 3:18 to play.
Mulkey was angry and frustrated following the game, unable to explain the team’s shooting woes. With a road game on tap Wednesday at Nebraska, the Lady Bears know they’ve got to find their range — and quick.
“We have to get better,” Player said. “We know how tough the Big 12 is. Personally, I feel like it’s not something Coach Mulkey has to do, it’s something with our individual mentality. We as players need to get stronger, need to get better.”
bcherry@wacotrib.com
757-5714
Comments
By Katy Bear
Feb 2, 2009 6:16 PM | Link to this
What a disappointing week for Baylor basketball capped off by the women's loss to a good but still inferior (by comparison) Texas women's team. It's frustrating to see a team with all the talent Mulkey's squad has continually miss point blank shots and shoot 50% from the line. Just based on those facts, even a mediocre team probably would've taken the Lady Bears on Sunday. I hope when facing Goestenkors, the Lady Bears aren't starting to develop a mild case of "Rick Barnes disease" (i.e. if we don't just get clearly beaten, we'll some way, some how find a way to blow it), but based on the first four times Mulkey has faced her, I'm beginning to wonder.
Even in a great conference like the Big 12, the Lady Bears are too talented to be losing two straight home games, even to ranked teams. Here's to hoping they "right the ship" and return to playing up to their capabilities.
By Small Griffin Fan
Feb 2, 2009 12:04 PM | Link to this
What a great game. What a treat to see THE TEXAS LONGHORNS come to town and play in the gold dome.
The lady bears played a good game, but seemed to throw air balls most of the time. Any time BU plays the champions of UT or OU, you have to bring your A game. Time to stay out of the BU party barn and start hitting the wood floor with the round ball.
Go HORNS
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