New University of Texas women’s basketball coach speaks at Horseshoe Bay Resort
HORSESHOE BAY — In November 2007, Marble Falls High School point guard Katy Meador signed to play basketball for the University of North Carolina-Charlotte months after helping the Lady Mustangs reach their only Class 4A state tournament berth.
A month after that, her soon-to-be collegiate head coach, Karen Aston, was in the stands watching Meador score 24 points in the Lady Mustangs’ victory against former rival Pflugerville Connally.
PHOTO 1: Horseshoe Bay Sports Club member Gordon Smith (left) talks to University of Texas women’s head basketball coach Karen Aston after she spoke to the group Dec. 4 at Horseshoe Bay Resort. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro
PHOTO 2: University of Texas women’s basketball coach Karen Aston thanks Horseshoe Bay Sports Club member Charlie Brown for listening to her speak.
This year, on Dec. 4, Aston was at the Horseshoe Bay Resort as the new head coach of the University of Texas women’s basketball team. She spoke to Horseshoe Bay Sports Club members about her goals for the Lady Longhorns, her background and girls basketball in the state of Texas.
In Meador, who still lives in Charlotte after finishing her eligibility last semester, Aston found a 5-foot 11-inch point guard who could run the offense and worked to improve her long-distance shooting.
In Charlotte, Meador found a home where basketball was the top program.
"Charlotte was a basketball school," Aston said. "They didn’t have football, so everything revolved around basketball."
Coaching at Charlotte helped Aston understand the importance of getting students to attend basketball games. To drum up attendance at Lady Longhorns games, she has offered to buy books for a University of Texas student who makes a half-court shot.
Her aim is to return the No. 12 Lady Longhorns (6-0) to the glory the program experienced during the Jody Conradt years. Conradt was the women’s head basketball coach at Texas from 1976 to 2007. She guided the Lady Longhorns to the 1986 national title and an undefeated season at 34-0. Texas the first women’s team to complete a perfect season. Conradt guided the 1986-87 and the 2002-03 teams to the Final Four.
"All across the country, people love (the University of) Texas," Aston said. "It’s just amazing to me how people love the Longhorns and how many people want Texas to be great."
Aston was known as a top recruiter when she worked with legendary coaches Conradt and Kim Mulkey. And she credited both of them as well as former Baylor head coach Sonja Hogg for mentoring her and preparing her to become a head coach.
She said she secured commitments from four high school seniors: Nekia Jones from Beaumont, Kelsey Lang from The Woodlands, Lilly Vanderzee from Granbury and Brianna Taylor from Houston.
In addition, class of 2015 members Alyssa Dry of Fort Worth, Jordan Hosey of Houston and LaShann Higgs of Austin have committed to the Lady Longhorns.
The coach said she doesn’t have to travel out of state to find the best high school talent, adding she believes it’s here in Texas with Ohio, California and Georgia also known for producing great talent.
Now, the goal is to keep the top players from leaving the state to play at places such as Duke, Connecticut and Tennessee.
"Years ago, if you were the best player in Texas, you wanted to come to the University of Texas," Aston said. "We lost some of that. We have to be better, and we have to work harder. If you’re from Texas, there’s a different sense of pride."
Before she can help players improve, she wants to develop leaders, so as upperclassmen, those athletes can show younger teammates the standard of being a Longhorn.
"It’s the difference in winning and losing," the coach said. "Winning is a way of life, losing is not acceptable. Those players have to tell the younger ones this is how we do it."