Three years ago, 16th-ranked Texas came to Maples Pavilion and was trounced 93-78. The top four Cardinal scorers (Nneka, Kayla, Chiney and Sarah) made 71% of their shots. The Cardinal defense held the top four Longhorn scorers to 40%.
We've pushed the ball on everybody else but nobody's pushed it back on us," then-coach Gail Goestenkors said. "That was new for us for somebody to attack us the way we've been attacking other people."
The Cardinal won again (72-59), in Austin, the following season, but it was a much tougher game. Kayla and Jeanette had graduated, Nneka was injured and didn't play, and Chiney missed most of the first half with foul trouble.
Two Cardinal freshmen stepped up big in their first collegiate game. Amber ran the point for 25 minutes; her ball control wasn't great, but she drove to the basket for four layups, made all six of her free throws, grabbed six rebounds and had three steals. Taylor, who had earned a starting position with her play in the exhibition games, played for 29 minutes, scored nine points and an assist and stole the ball three times.
Amber and Nneka Enemkpali fight for possession in 2011
The rematch this Saturday will no doubt be a tough defensive battle for both teams. I expect that Chiney and Amber will lead the Cardinal — I wonder which freshmen will step up to help them.
The Longhorns play in a tough league — the Big 12, which was led by Baylor, Iowa State and Oklahoma last season. The Longhorns finished in ninth place.
The Longhorns are now coached by Karen Asten, who became just the fourth Texas women's basketball head coach when she replaced Goestenkors last season. She had been an assistant to Jody Conradt for eight years.
The Longhorns return all five of their starters and have been picked to finish fifth this season. They're off to a good start with three wins and have received 18 votes in the AP poll.
The Longhorns with the most playing time so far this season are:
- #24, 5'10" senior guard Chassidy Fussell has led the Longhorns in scoring percentage in each of the last three seasons, entering her senior year with 1,405 career points (15.6 ppg). She's focused on being a team leader, as well as a sharpshooter, in her senior season.
- #3, 6'1" junior forward Nneka Enemkpali led the team in total points (377), FGs (141), FTs (92-134), and co-led in rebounds per game (9.4) last season. She has 14 career double-doubles.
- #34, 6'7" sophomore forward Imani McGee-Stafford was Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season and has been named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team this season. She averaged 11.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game and had 13 double-doubles in her freshman season. She suffered a hip injury last summer and had to withdraw from the USA U19 team. She's played more than 20 minutes in each of the Longhorn's three games this season, but perhaps isn't yet back to peak condition.
- #4, 5'4" junior guard Krystle Henderson is a junior college transfer in her first season as a Longhorn. She's started at the point in each of the Longhorns' three games this season and has averaged 6.0 ppg and 5.3 assists with just 1.3 turnovers. She's expected to share the point guard duty with last season's starting point, junior guard Celina Rodrigo.
- #32, 5'11" sophomore guard Brady Sanders came off the bench last season and played in every game for an average of almost 20 minutes per game. She's averaged 5.3 ppg and 3.7 rpg so far this season.
Here are the Texas statistics and roster.
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