Texas Tops the Hilltoppers, 90-65, to Go 33-0

Jody Conradt couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

The winningest coach in women’s basketball was standing in front of her Texas bench with four minutes left in Friday night’s semifinal game against Western Kentucky, and she had to keep her right hand over her mouth to stifle the grin that resided there.

The No. 1 Longhorns, undefeated but never before in the Final Four, were easily beating the No. 5 Hilltoppers. By getting here, Conradt had got a monkey off her back, and now she wanted to celebrate.

That came a few minutes later as Texas raised its season record to 33-0 with a 90-65 victory before a crowd of 8,000 in Rupp Arena.

“This team has waited a long time for this,” Conradt said, still grinning half an hour later. “This team has been through so much.”

Conradt was emotional after Texas’ 66-63 win over Ole Miss in the finals of the Midwest Regional. The team was not.

“The pressure in that game was unbelievable,” Conradt said earlier this week. “The team didn’t jump up and down and celebrate. I was very disappointed. Things just didn’t go well. Somebody said, ‘You can cut down the nets.’ The team very dutifully tried to gnaw the nets down. The scissors were dull.”

Freshman Clarissa Davis scored 32 points, 22 in the second half, to lead all scorers.

“My comments about Clarissa are going to be the same as I’ve been saying all season,” Conradt said. “She is a very talented young lady. If there is a more talented freshman in the country, I’d be shocked.”

It was Western Kentucky (32-4) that denied Texas a chance to get to the Final Four last season. The Hilltoppers won, 92-90, on Lillie Mason’s shot at the buzzer.

Conradt, who earlier Friday had been named Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn., spent a good deal of her time this week deflecting the “revenge” questions. “We don’t want to get involved in that,” she said.

The Texas players couldn’t make up their minds what they wanted to say about the revenge game. Kamie Ethridge said in one press conference that she hadn’t thought about last year’s game but told a television audience that the team had thought about it all season.

“If you get to this point in the season and you need more motivation to play, you are in trouble from the beginning,” Ethridge said, eventually.

Texas looked as if it was not going to allow the Hilltoppers any chance to get untracked in the first half. The Texas defense forced Western Kentucky into 14 turnovers in the half. The Longhorns held a 25-16 lead with 6:49 left after a bank shot form the lane by Clarissa Davis.

Davis had 10 first-half points, and so did teammates Fran Harris and Beverly Williams, underscoring the balance that the Longhorns have used to their advantage this season.

With a slightly taller team, Western Kentucky outrebounded Texas, 20-12, in the first half.

“I broke down five game films,” Western Kentucky’s coach, Paul Sanderford, had said Thursday. “They averaged 16 layups per game. That’s 32 points, and most came off the break. If they score 16 layups tomorrow, we are in trouble.”

Trouble came from Davis. She not only helped the Longhorns with scoring but she also pulled down 18 rebounds.

Clemette Haskins came on for Western Kentucky after Mason fouled out with 7:18 to play and wound up leading the Hilltoppers with 21 points. But even Mason’s aggressive play couldn’t help chip away at Texas’ 20-plus point lead.

“If we could have kept Lillie Mason in the game when she had four fouls, I think we could have had a better chance,” Sanderford said.