Career Night from Goodrich Lifts KU Past No. 23 Texas, 72-67
Jan. 4, 2012
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AUSTIN, Texas – Season high performances from juniors Monica Engelman and Angel Goodrich staved off a late Texas surge and propelled the Kansas women’s basketball team to a 72-67 win versus the 23rd-ranked Longhorns Wednesday evening in Austin in both teams’ Big 12 Conference opener.
The win was KU’s first versus Texas in four meetings and first victory in Austin since 2007. It also marked the Jayhawks’ first conference opening win since the 2005-06 season they improved to 12-1 overall. UT fell to 10-3 on the year in suffering its first loss to a non-ranked team.
Kansas led by as much as 23 points in the second half, but Texas refused to go away and eventually whittled its deficit down to two, 69-67, with 15 seconds remaining in the game after a fade-away jumper from Ashleigh Fontenette. KU senior Aishah Sutherland was sent to the foul line in KU’s next possession and hit her first attempt to put the Jayhawks up by three.
Sutherland missed the second shot but when UT ran the ball back down the floor for a quick three, the forward got a hand in the way for her third block of the contest to seal the Kansas victory. Sutherland finished with 10 points in the contest and was one of four Jayhawks with double-digit points.
Goodrich connected on 6-of-11 attempts from the field and added eight free throws as she turned in a career-high 22 points. She was just shy of a double-double with nine assists and also added seven rebounds. Engelman hit a season-high three shots from beyond the arc as she finished with 19 points and was one rebound away from a career best pulling down eight boards.
Junior Carolyn Davis rounded out KU’s double-figure scorers as the forward turned in 16 points. She also led the team on the boards with 10 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass, for her third-straight double-double.
At tip-off, Kansas came out aggressive and jumped to an 11-6 lead at the 15:09 mark, hitting five of its first 11 attempts from the field (45.5 percent). Following the first media timeout, Goodrich sank a three to move the Jayhawks’ advantage to eight, but the Texas defense tightened up and held KU scoreless for over five minutes. The Longhorns collected four points in that span to cut its deficit to 14-10. Finally Kansas broke the drought with an Engelman three-pointer at 9:11 left in the half. Engelman was a key piece to the Jayhawk offense in the first 20 minutes, tallying 14 points before halftime.
As the opening half wound down, neither team had much luck shooting from the floor. KU hit 33.3 percent in the first frame and Texas was just 25.9 percent from the field hitting seven attempts. Davis finally made her first shot of the night with just over a minute to go but it was the last basket for both teams as the Jayhawks took a 30-20 lead into the break.
When played resumed after halftime, the teams went back-and-forth for a majority of the half. It wasn’t until less than five minutes to play when Texas began making its push. At the 2:30 mark, the Longhorns cut KU’s lead to single-digits, 67-56, and continued to chip away. Kansas went 1-for-5 from the charity stripe over the next two minutes to keep Texas in the game but held on nonetheless for the victory.
The Jayhawks are back in action when they welcome in-state rival Kansas State to Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan. 7. KU’s conference home opener is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be televised on Metro Sports.
