Women’s hoops looking for ‘one more’ this season

By Habeab Kurdi

AUSTIN, Texas — After two straight bittersweet seasons, the Texas Women’s basketball team is looking for one more this year.

From there, hopefully a few more to boot for the No. 11 Longhorns.

“I just remember we lost in the Sweet 16 — which sucks because it was the second year in a row,” junior point guard Sug Sutton said. “Us juniors — me, Joyner (Holmes), Jada (Underwood) — it’s our second year losing in the Sweet 16 so we didn’t take it well.”

[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]

One more means more

The team has taken on a “one more” mantra, and coach Karen Aston tasked every player to come up with her own “one more” in their own words.

“Coach will ask us ‘What is our one more?’” sophomore guard Chasity Patterson said. “It can be defense, one more pass, one more hustle if we need a hustle player on defense to give energy. I feel like if everybody plays their role, it will all come together as a team.”

After falling short in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons, the Longhorns went to work in the offseason. The team lost two crucial veteran leaders from a year ago, but in their place a slew of new faces in five freshman and transfer graduate student Danni Williams.

#TBT – @danniwill3 discusses how she first got started playing basketball. #OneMore pic.twitter.com/wyEBpIqaaZ

— Texas WBB (@TexasWBB) November 8, 2018

Setting the bar high this season, forward/center Jatarie White knows it may take a little bit for the team to acquiesce on the court, but the standard remains the same.

“I think they’re the same expectations, doing our best and try to win the Big 12 Championship and get further in the NCAA Tournament,” White said.

The redshirt senior, who was second in scoring a year ago with an average of 10.8 points per game, is actually in a similar yet different position as the new freshmen because she missed her junior year (2016-17) after transferring from South Carolina.

Freshman five + a former Aggie

Gone are USA Today Third-Team All-America Brooke McCarty and do-it-all guard Ariel Atkins from last year’s No. 8 ranked squad. In their place, Williams, who transferred from Texas A&M, is expected to fill a big role along with freshmen Joanne Allen-Taylor, Shae Routt, Sedona Prince, Audrey Warren and Charli Collier.

Aston said her team is making significant in the physical aspects of the game, but the mental components and intricacies could take most of this season to smooth out into a true contender.

Collier is already looking ready to fill huge shoes and embrace a big role. The frosh forward/center had 21 points and 11 rebounds senior as the Longhorns defeated West Texas A&M, 91-63, in an exhibition game Oct. 28 in the Frank Erwin Center.

“We’ve gotten really comfortable and the upperclassmen really took us under their wing early in the summer, that helped us get used to the way things go,” Warren said. “I think we’re bringing a lot of roles to the team — we all came from being the best player on our high school team and now, we understand, we’re smart enough to understand it’s time to be role players and get the job done that needs to get done, helping the team.”

In her seventh season, Aston and her squad are coming off a 28-7 record in 2017-18 in which they advanced to their fourth consecutive NCAA Sweet 16. It was the first time Texas had made four Sweet 16 appearances in a row since progressing to eight consecutive NCAA Regional Semifinals from 1983-90.

Vocal cues keying communication

Taking a cue from her coach, Sutton said she is looking to lead the team in different ways this season, including finding the best way to mesh together all the talent Texas has into a cohesive whole.

“It’s been hard just getting our chemistry back because we lost key players,” she said. “We’re focusing on chemistry, that’s been our biggest problem. It’s still a work in progress but I think we’re getting it down day by day. Right now we’re struggling with chemistry on defense more than on offense. Me, as a point guard, I’ve been trying to lead the team and use my voice on defense.”

Patterson, also a point guard, nearly echoed her teammate’s sentiments.

“I really wanted to focus on being more vocal, as a point guard being more vocal and being able to create for my teammates, and working on defense,” she said. “We definitely have big shoes to fill but we’re getting somewhere and we have a goal set. We gotta approach every day like it’s our last day.”

The Longhorns finished second in the Big 12 Conference with a 15-3 tally and advanced to the championship game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. It marked the fourth year in a row in which Texas won 24 or more games, and the fifth consecutive 20-win season for the Longhorns.

White offered up some advice to anyone on the roster, newcomers and stalwarts alike, for how to get the team over the hump and back to the Elite 8 … and beyond.

“We have a lot of talent, I think were gonna understand what our team is capable of,” White said. “Even if you don’t think you’re gonna play or you’re not getting as many minutes, it’s gonna be your time at some point. If you take that info in and learn from it and add it to your game, your time is probably gonna come sooner rather than later.”

Sacrifice starts tonight 

For Taylor and the well-hyped incoming class, its on them to meet the expectations of the players — and coaching staff — already embedded on the Forty Acres and not the other way around … and that has come about naturally from the seniors to the youngsters.

“Every day day-to-day things — if somebody’s not feeling it or doesn’t necessarily have everything to bring it in practice one day — we pick them up. Thats how our closeness is getting better,” said Taylor, a guard from Cy-Falls in Houston. “We’re there for each other. That’s where the chemistry comes in.”

As for her one more: “(It’s) one more sacrifice. I feel like when you think you can’t bring one more thing, one more sprint, one more shot, you gotta dig down inside you and find that one more, and sacrifice for your team.”

Texas opens its 2018-19 regular season tonight hosting Duquesne at 7 p.m. at ‘The Drum’ and it will be aired on the Longhorn Network.

[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [article-offer] [/s2If]