Texas vs. Penn State

[YemenBear]

Okay Longhorns, help pull me out of my funk. It's 11:00 PM here in Cairo. I can't sleep after the near come from behind attempt by the Lady Bears, so I'm going to switch over to the UT internet broadcast. Get out there and do our conference proud.

[YemenBear]

Well, I have to take back the part about listening to the game through the UT athletic website. Come on Longhorns, you make people pay to listen to the internet broadcast?!?!?! Neither Baylor nor LSU take advantage of their fans for audio.

Support for the conference and Lady Longhorn team doesn't wane. However, a hex on your athletic department. Phooey on the Penn State site as well.

For any of you out there with access to the game, occasional updates greatly appreciated.

[Row6Seat10]

Yemenbear try this link:

http://www.texassports.com/live/wbb/xlive.htm

[wwi_flying_ace_17]

From what I have seen, Strom and Wright are a good combination for Penn State, but they definitely need someone else to step up.

Texas is shooting lights out. Nina Norman deserves more press than what she gets. Coco Reed been playing well for Texas. I like Jamie Carey, but I wish the announcers could go a whole game without recapping how she transferred from Stanford and ended up at Texas.

[Jimi]

Texas is up 72-59 with 7:55 to go.

[Jimi]

78-68 Texas with 4:44 to go.

[Jimi]

82-69 Texas with 1:49 to go. Texas is not cracking they are putting this away.

[Jimi]

84-69 TEXAS! final. Tiffany Jackson was named player of the game. IMHO it could have just as easily been Jamie Carey. She is a prize!

[spooky]

Mercedes Williams was the key for me. Tiffany gets two fouls in the first few minutes and sits down, and you couldn't tell the difference to save your life. In fact, it took me 3-4 minutes to realize that Jackson was out of the game.

Texas looked really good. I didn't see anybody that had an off game. Penn State has good guards, but i think there gonna have problems with good inside players. They had four guards on the floor a good bit, and the Texas forwards seemed to have all the room they wanted inside.

[Texan]

Williams had an outstanding game. Ballanced scoring all the way around, but Merccedes more than held her own. The big lead came while she was in the game.
Kala Bowers got some good minutes as well. She doesn't seem to be 100% but she still looked danged good out there. And Anissa Hastings reminded us all of how much we missed her.
Good game all around.

[Jimi]

You make some good points about the other Texas players. It looks like there is no point in us opponents worrying about getting any UT players in foul trouble. They look to be able to just reload. Even if Jamie gets in foul trouble Nina Norman is MORE than ok at the point.

[horntooter]

Well, you can't practice for three years against Stacy Stephens and not learn a few moves. Mercedes was truly a sight to behold - 7/8 from the field and 9 rebounds. And great to see Anissa and Kala back. Five players in double figures - would much rather see that than have one superstar with 30 points. Texas had a rotation of 8 players with 16 minutes or more - Daria had 4 minutes - and you really couldn't see any dropoff in skill level or intensity.

[Bob_Ballew]

I also thought Mercedes Williams had a good game. Texas has a great deal of depth and I was impressed when Jackson left the game and her replacement didn't miss a beat. Fun games today. Glad to get a Big XII win by one of the teams in the Tip Off Classic. The exposure for the conference was great. I wish I had taped the game. The Big XII will prove once again that it is one of the toughest conferences. :p

[beachbum]

I love Tiffany Jackson, & she had a heck of a game in the second half after sitting out most of the first half in foul trouble; however, IMO, Mercedes Williams should have been named the player of the game yesterday.

She had a career high 15 points AND a career high 9 rebounds in 22 minutes of play. She shot 88% from the floor. She did her job and then some! It was a fantastic performance & I hope it was just the first of many more great games that we will see from Mercedes this season.

[Bball Girl]

Great game by Williams and Jackson. It's good to see that depth working well.

One concern...Texas needs to get more movement in that motion offense...there was much to much standing around going on and that won't work against Tennessee or against Big 12 opponents.

[horns2005]

I agree that Mercedes looked great. She looked so solid with her spin move in the low post. Also, Annissa really surprised me with her short jumper. I used to be tense when she handled the ball on the offense, but she made me feel so much better yesterday. If our big girls can hit the jumper, then let them key on Heather and Jamie. Who cares?

A great game; the got the defensive stops when they finally buckled down, though #33 was awesome. We have to come up with a stopper for fantastic players like her.

[zip]

You are exactly right - the motion offense didn't have much "motion" at times. It is a new offense for all these players - and the motion offense is a read and react scheme. It will take them time, they were reading (looked like reading a loooong novel at times) a bit too much without the reacting part yesterday. I like it so much better than our old offense and I think it/they will be fine - but you are right, we need some more practice! This means that we could easily drop a game or two to GA or TN or maybe even someone else here at the beginning of the season. However, I truly believe by the end of the season that it will be clicking on all cylinders.

[TRH]

Mercedes was the clear star of this game IMO. This young woman has worked very hard to improve her game, and it is great to see her enjoy the results.

And, good to see Annissa back. That short jumper sure did look good. She has shown some incredible shake and bake moves under the basket in exhibitions that she didn't show yesterday. If she can be a consistent scoring threat to go with the defense that she has always provided it will be a huge boost for this Texas team.

Neither Nina or Kala are at full strength. Nina is still getting back into game shape after a knee problem - it was good to see her without the brace. Kala has been sick and missed both exhibition games. I was surprised to see her play, then surprised to see how much she played, and then surprised to see how well she played. I am afraid that this will be an ongoing issue for her, but she looks determined to play through it as long as anyone will let her on the court.

I am looking for the Texas rotation to grow to 10 or 11 players before the year is out. But with the schedule they have coming up, Georgia, Tennessee, UCLA, and UConn, it may take a while for newcomers to get those seniors off the court. This is a much deeper team than last year. If they can avoid major injuries they should be able to wear a lot of teams down, and find some favorable matchups. I look for Daria Mieloszynska, Erneisha Bailey, and Katrina Robinson to all get some minutes down the road. That should be a great advantage once they get to that long tough conference schedule.

The motion offense is still a work in progress. On the other hand, this looked like a game where last year Texas would have scored in the mid sixties to low seventies. Instead they were in the eighties. I think they are getting better shots, and will continue to improve as they become more comfortable with the offense.

I thought the defense looked good at times. But, overall they are not where they need to be. I didn't see the intensity that is going to be necessary when they play a team with more than two scoring threats. (But, wow. Those two were GOOD.) Still they seemed to remember how to get a stop when they really needed one. This is still a team that starts with defense, and I expect they will spend more time focused on that for a while, before they get too concerned with the other end of the court.

Texas has a brutal non-conference schedule. And, this is that every other year when they have a tougher conference road schedule. I don't know that their won-loss record is going to be as good as last year. It could be, but that is way too much to count on at this point. But, by the end of the year this is a team that could do some special things. This is the deepest, fastest, most talented and experienced team Texas has had in a long time. It's going to be a lot of fun watching them over the next few months.

[hornsofthedillema]

Just want to put in a word for the contribution of Coco Reed. Those of us who watched Coco in High school before her injury remember what an athletic, high powered player she could be. Well...she's really arrived at a great level. She is a hard worker in practice and is only going to get better with the high level of play on this team. She played a key role in the game that will only be overlooked by UT opponent at their own risk. Great game Coco!!

[Texan]

Coco looked great and showed she deserves the starting spot. It is really nice to see the young women grow into leadership roles.

On another note, anybody else think the team should take advantage of how much Daria looks like Heather? If there numbers were closer, they could really confuse some people.

[hornhooks]

Great game by Williams and Jackson. It's good to see that depth working well.

One concern...Texas needs to get more movement in that motion offense...there was much to much standing around going on and that won't work against Tennessee or against Big 12 opponents.

.....it has worked against Tennessee the last three years and the Big XII as well. The new offense was installed this year and while it did stall at times, Michelle Voepel writes...'Texas' offense was simply impressive'. I thought TEXAS looked good for their opener and now off to #5 Georgia and then bring on #1 Tennessee to Austin!!!!!

Hook 'em

[Bevo]

I am looking for the Texas rotation to grow to 10 or 11 players before the year is out. But with the schedule they have coming up, Georgia, Tennessee, UCLA, and UConn, it may take a while for newcomers to get those seniors off the court. This is a much deeper team than last year. If they can avoid major injuries they should be able to wear a lot of teams down, and find some favorable matchups. I look for Daria Mieloszynska, Erneisha Bailey, and Katrina Robinson to all get some minutes down the road. That should be a great advantage once they get to that long tough conference schedule.



I agree. I think you will see the 8-9 player rotation for this opening stretch against GA, TN, UCLA. Then things will expand for some game experience for the others as we head into conference play. That will hopefully give us a good, deep rotation for the long and brutal conference season. Then it will tighten up again for the post-season.

There's been a lot of talk about the obvious imperfections in the offense for this opening game. Yet we shot over 60% and scored 84 points. Does that mean when they get it down pat we'll be hitting triple digits? :cool:

[Row6Seat10]

The the loss to the Longhorns yesterday must of really took a toll on Penn State Coach Rene Portland.

Lady Lion head coach Rene Portland Admitted to Hospital

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., November 15, 2004 -

Penn State women's basketball head coach Rene Portland was admitted to Mount Nittany Medical Center late Sunday night after experiencing a fainting episode.

Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, Penn State Director of Athletic Medicine, said that she is being treated to rule out medical reasons for the episode, and that she will be released later today or tomorrow.

Portland is expected to make the Lady Lions' trip to Duke for their game vs. the No. 6 Blue Devils on Friday, Nov. 19. The No. 21 Lady Lions were in Austin, Texas on Sunday for an afternoon matchup vs. the No. 2 Longhorns, and flew back to State College following the game.


http://www.gopsusports.com/pressreleases/pressrelease.cfm?anncid=7012

[carolann]

Re Offense:
There's been a lot of talk about the obvious imperfections in the offense for this opening game. Yet we shot over 60% and scored 84 points. Does that mean when they get it down pat we'll be hitting triple digits? Tee Hee. We will see better defenses though, particularly inside.