Why Didn't Stephens Play?

[Hazel]

Looking at the boxscore of the UT-Penn State game, I noticed that Stacey Stephens was not listed in the boxscore. Is she injured?

[RaiderPower1]

"Texas played without leading scorer and rebounder Stacy Stephens. She missed the game to deal with a family matter."
--AP Story

[RaiderPower1]

At least they cut down the TO's to 13 this game. Unfortunately, the last one was the most costly one as Kenya Larkins lost control of the ball when UT had the chance to take the lead with less than 30 sec. to go. FTs killed UT though...6-13

[carolann]

Yes, it is hard to play at the last minute w/o a key player like Stacy. We could have used her rebounding, her defense, and the attention she draws from the other team's defenders in the post.

Raiderpower, it is good to see the reduction of turnovers but, then again, Penn State does pressure the ballhandlers that much. The lack of a dependable ball handler at the end of games is a concern. As Bevo said 'dribble, dribble, oops' and I will add 'deja vu'. Kenya played a very good game (it really is not her fault if Anissa and Kala refuse to move w/o the ball and Kala will not shoot when open) but again made critical errors at the end of the game (the first was using Texas' final timeout to early). When the game came down to a couple of final possessions, I knew we were in trouble. Penn State had Kelly Mazante. You knew Mazante was going to get the ball and take control. You could feel see Mazante's calm confidence and feel it spreading over her teammates. Texas seems to have no no one like that this year. We have to find that person. My friend said 'Well, we didn't have Stacy Stephens, our star player'. Stacy is a post. Someone has to give her the ball. Tracy has been reliable in crunch but she has to get the ball. Tech has Jia Perkins. ISU has Lindsey Wilson and Tracy Gahan. I'll confess. I would rather let Asha Hill have the ball at the end of the game. She is not spectacular but she is very intelligent, steady, focused, and just as driven as Kenya in her own way. She seems to have positively channelled every disppointment in her college career into a determination to play and to win. Last, but not least, she does not throw the ball away.

[Bevo]

Originally posted by carolann:
You knew Mazante was going to get the ball and take control. You could feel see Mazante's calm confidence and feel it spreading over her teammates. Texas seems to have no no one like that this year. We have to find that person.

Over and over this happens to us. The other team executes, is calm and collected, and we are frazzled and lost. I was perplexed by Conradt's quote in the Statesman regarding the final play. She said they had drawn up what they wanted to happen, but it was not designed for anyone in particular to take the shot. What does that mean? Maybe I'm just misunderstanding a newspaper quote. But my gut feeling is that we really didn't have a play. We just wanted one of the guards to penetrate and get fouled. I think that's why we looked so lost, nobody was designated to be the go-to player. Not good coaching in my uneducated opinion.

[Bobcat4956]

TEXAS HAS NO OFFENSIVE STRATEGY because TEXAS DOES NOT HAVE A GOOD COACH!!!!!!! It pains me to say this because I have always admired and respected Jody Conradt. But her time has come and gone. The players do not respect her anymore. She has ruined the confidence of Asha Hill whom I think could have been a very good player. I hope she does not do the same to Kala Bowers and Heather Schreiber. She needs to go. PERIOD!!! You can disagree with me all you want, but I sat directly behind the Longhorns bench against Penn State. At one point, Conradt pulled Alisha Sare after missing a shot. As Tracy Cook came over to the sidelines, she looked at Sare in disbelief and they both just laughed. You can see it in their faces. The coaches don't know what the hell they are doing, so the players don't either. I had very high expectations this year but looks like I will have to change that. And Kenya did play well, but she lost the ball on the last play. Maybe it is the stinking coaching and lack of organization that causes her to have so many turnovers. I am emotionally drained right now. I have no answers.