Dec. 18, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Kathleen Nash scored a career-high 27 points, propelling fifth-ranked Texas to an 81-71 victory over No. 21 Arizona State on Thursday night.
Nash tied a school record by going 12-for-12 from the free-throw line, and connected on three of six 3-pointers. Forward Ashley Lindsey added 12 points and four key blocks.
"We knew going in it was going to be our toughest challenge to date because they are big, strong, athletic and deep," Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said. "And they are experienced, and that's the thing they have on Tennessee."
Dymond Simon led the Sun Devils (7-3) with a season-best 21 points while Danielle Orsillo added 11 points.
In all, Texas was 30-of-33 from the foul line.
"That was the game," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We had some big breakdowns in our team defense, and there were times when we started to get beat, and we just hacked them. And that's absolutely, positively not acceptable in our program.
"Our goal is to make people make shots, and we failed miserably at that goal tonight."
With Texas ahead by just three points late in the second half, Nash nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Longhorns a 57-51 lead. Nash scored 10 points in the last 10 minutes of the game to help Texas pull away.
Things weren't as easy for the Longhorns early on.
Texas was bullied down low as Arizona State outrebounded Texas 23-17 in the first half. The Sun Devils grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and led most of the way.
Arizona State made its first six three-point field goal attempts and led by as many as nine in the first half. Sybil Dosty had eight of her game-high 12 rebounds during the first 20 minutes, including six on the offensive glass.
"We were all frustrated with the offensive rebounds," Goestenkors said.
With Texas down 35-34 in the remaining seconds of the first half, Nash caught a pass from guard Carla Cortijo in the corner and nailed a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Longhorns a 37-35 lead going into the break.
Arizona State scored 10 of the first 14 points of the second half to take a 45-41 lead on Lauren Lacey’s jumper with 15:11 remaining. However Texas would counter with a 20-6 run over the next eight minutes to take a 61-51 lead.
Nash scored eight of Texas' last 16 points for her eighth double-digit scoring effort of the season.