| NEWS
| December 1, 2005
Women’s Basketball
Mavs lose to SMU Wednesday night
Mustangs won 65-68 after a physical
game with ‘a lot of bumping going on.’
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| The Shorthorn: Sara Bookout |
| Junior guard Terra Wallace goes
for a layup while Mustang Jennifer Colli reaches to foul
Wednesday at Moody Coliseum at Southern Methodist University.
The Mavs lost 67-58. |
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By Princess
McDowell
The Shorthorn staff
In a game where both teams battled hard for inside position, the
Mavericks women’s basketball team fell short against Southern
Methodist University, 67-58, Wednesday night at Moody Coliseum in
Dallas.
Guard Terra Wallace led the team with 20 points. However, no other
Maverick reached double-digits in points or rebounding. Post Melanie
Lane had a game-high eight rebounds.
Head coach Donna Capps said she felt good about the team’s
effort and intensity, but breaks in aggressive play helped the Mustangs.
“There were too many slumps, and we stayed in them for too
long,” she said.
In the first half, the Mavs played aggressive defense early with
a steady stream of fresh bodies. A layup by forward Ashley Bobb
behind a steal put the team ahead, 7-3. Forward Tojjinay Thompson’s
jumper in the lane and guard Maryann Abanobi’s second three-pointer
of the night extended the Mavs’ lead to its largest, 17-7.
Early in the period, the Mustangs struggled to gain inside position.
Even with a large size advantage, the Mustangs were forced to settle
for outside shots and three-pointers. The Mavericks kept the Mustang
offense off balance by drawing charges and playing a tough full-court
press.
After Abanobi’s three, SMU responded with a 9-1 run, including
a three-pointer by Juli Coli. Sarah Davis tied the game at 18 with
a lay in under the basket, but Lane’s running basket gave
the Mavs back their lead. An old-fashioned three-point play put
the score at 21-20.
From then on, SMU launched an 18-8 run to lead at halftime, 39-28.
Both teams were in the bonus with 7:21 left in the half and had
committed a combined 28 personal fouls by the end of the period.
Wallace said the game was very physical.
“There was a lot of bumping going on,” she said.
Wallace led the Maverick charge in the second half, scoring six
of the team’s first eight points. Early in the period, the
Mustangs worked to keep UTA out of the paint. After a six-minute,
three-second scoring drought, forward Kristi Dudley made a basket
deep in the lane. Wallace said that because SMU doubled the posts,
the team was forced to look backside for open players or work the
ball around the perimeter.
SMU also found the solution to the Maverick full-court press and
exploited the weakness to gain a 22-point lead, the team’s
largest of the game. Wallace helped UTA fight to within nine with
14 second half points, but the team eventually fell.
Capps said the team dug in and played harder in the second half
but had already fell behind too far.
Guard Jamie Buxkemper said the team played good defense but would
let up at times instead of keeping on the pressure.
“It was mental,” she said. “We slowed down and
got into cruise control. We shouldn’t have done that. We should
have kept it on.”
The Mavericks had just three turnovers in the second half after
posting 13 in the first period. The team was able to convert 23
Mustang turnovers into 21 points for the game.
CORRECTION
The summary deck that accompanied this story should
have stated that the score of the Mavericks women’s basketball
game against Southern Methodist University was 67-58.
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