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No. 17 Texas ends Sooners' home win streak at 20

Feb 4, 2010 - 4:11 AM By JEFF LATZKE AP Sports Writer

NORMAN, Okla.(AP) -- Texas coach Gail Goestenkors sent guard Ashleigh Fontenette to the low post in a bid to draw the fifth foul against Oklahoma star Danielle Robinson.

Even without getting the desired whistle, the plan worked so well that Earnesia Williams and Brittainey Raven got in on the action, too.

By the time they were done, the No. 17 Longhorns were well on their way to a 75-57 victory against the 13th-ranked Sooners on Wednesday night.

"We initially were just running it to post up Robinson but some of the other players also took it upon themselves to get down on the block and make some good reads," Goestenkors said.

The three consecutive layups finished off a 12-0 surge for the Longhorns (15-6, 4-3 Big 12) that pushed their lead to 56-41 with 6:54 remaining, and the Sooners never got closer than 11 after that.

Fontenette finished with 21 points while getting Robinson in foul trouble, and Raven added 17 points as Texas snapped Oklahoma's 20-game winning streak at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Longhorns started their big push on a putback by Ashley Gayle that also resulted in the fourth foul against Oklahoma center Abi Olajuwon. Erika Arriaran scored four points in a row after Olajuwon joined Robinson on the bench, but even Robinson's return didn't stem the tide for the Sooners as the post-up strategy paid off.

"They put such good pressure on the ball and in passing lanes, we felt like we could post up our guards a little bit," Goestenkors said. "There wasn't as much help."

Sooners coach Sherri Coale questioned her team's fire in that stretch and throughout the game.

"It was fundamental toughness," Coale said. "Not jumping to the ball, not getting in the proper position. If you don't do that and someone pins you, then you're in deep trouble. Just collectively, you have to guard them as a unit and we didn't."

The Longhorns shot 50 percent and held a 42-32 advantage on the boards, winning for the fourth time in five games after an 0-2 start in Big 12 play. The Sooners fell to 1-5 when getting outrebounded this season. They're 14-0 when controlling the glass.

"We just splintered," Robinson said. "I feel like everybody was on different pages. That's what it felt like. We weren't having fun, which helps us win. When we have fun, it's over - for anybody - and we didn't do that tonight."

Robinson fouled out for the second time in three games - with the Sooners losing both times. She said she promised her teammates that's "not going to happen again."

"Whether the refs are calling it bad or not, I need to be in the game," Robinson said. "That's no excuse."

Robinson, who leads the Sooners in scoring, assists and steals, picked up her first foul only 62 seconds into the game and Texas kept going after her.

"I think that was a key factor because she runs their team," Fontenette said. "She's their main factor for their engine to go, so we just wanted to come out and attack and it happened to go our way tonight."

The Longhorns never trailed but had to fend off two separate rallies by Oklahoma after they had built double-digit leads to earn their second win in the teams' last seven meetings.

"I thought the big difference was intensity," Coale said. "I didn't think we competed. We didn't come out of the tunnel to compete and Texas made some great plays early, some really tough shots and we let it affect our confidence and then it affected us on the other end of the floor."

Texas rushed out to a 17-6 lead with some hot shooting early. The Longhorns made nine of their first 12 shots before cooling off to let the Sooners back in the game. Oklahoma cut it to 24-22 as Texas made just two of its next 13 field goals, but Raven scored the first five points in the Longhorns' 9-0 run to finish the first half.

The Sooners countered with nine straight points of their own early in the second half, getting within 35-33 on Carlee Roethlisberger's three-point play with 16:22 to play. Robinson picked up her fourth foul with 14:32 left while trying to guard Fontenette on a drive into the lane.

"We kind lost our momentum. When they went up, I felt like everybody kind of backed away instead of fighting back and D-Rob got in foul trouble," Thompson said. "I felt like we didn't link together when we had a little adversity."