The No. 21 Longhorn basketball team capped off a trip to Hawaii by celebrating a consolation championship and their coach's 400th career win.
Texas (4-2) defeated UAB (2-4) 59-49 in the Jack In The Box Rainbow Wahine classic fifth place game, making coach Gail Goestenkors the fourth fastest coach to win 400 games. Former coach Jody Conradt is seventh on the list of fastest coaches to get 400 wins. Goestenkors also reached the plateau faster than Tennessee's legendary Pat Summitt.
"I'm still a new kid on the block," Goestenkors said. "They'll [Conradt and Summitt] will have more wins than I'll ever have."
In a close game down the stretch, Texas hit 18 of 21 free throws and forced UAB to 26 percent shooting. Brittainey Raven led the team with 21 points.
"I'm proud of them for battling and showing a lot of character," Goestenkors told AM 1300 the Zone. "It was a test of true grit and came down to who wanted it the most. Playing three games in three days really exposed our lack of depth."
Texas went 2-1 in tournament play.
The team opened up the tournament on Friday evening with a loss in a slobbernocker against Virginia. After trailing for most of the game, Texas went on a 17-9 run to take a 77-76 lead with 1:46 left to play after redshirt sophomore Carla Cortijo converted two out of three free throw opportunities when fouled shooting a 3-pointer. After both teams exchanged free throws, Virginia's Paulisha Kellum hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 78-78. Texas turned the ball over on their next offensive possession, and Kellum got fouled again, making both free throws this time, and giving Texas a 80-78 lead with 57 seconds left. Virginia never looked back and went on to win 86-83, despite some questionable calls. Freshman guard Kathleen Nash led the way with 18 points, while sophomore guard Raven and redshirt sophomore forward Earnesia Williams both netted 15.
The loss to Virginia put Texas in a must-win game on Saturday against Kentucky.
The Longhorns controlled the tempo from start to finish, defeating Kentucky 72-60 behind 18 points from Raven and a career-high 16 points from post/forward Ashley Lindsey, who also swatted away four shots, going up against a 6-foot-6-inch Kentucky player. Texas never trailed and shot 60 percent in the second half.
"Everyone on the team, starters and our bench players, contributed with intensity every time they came on the court, and it showed in the win," Raven said. "We were able to really push the ball today, and give E-Bay [Erneisha Bailey] credit - she was a monster on the boards."
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