Twistity Sports Exclusive: DOUBLE TROUBLE

 
When injuries hit a sports team, the common expression to rally the troops is: Next man up.

Sometimes that man is a woman.

The University of Texas women’s basketball team was counting on 6-7 junior center Imani McGee-Stafford for her shot-blocking, her rebounding, her overall sizeable presence. But she suffered a leg injury and has missed more than half of the games so far. Her incapacity left the Longhorns looking to the next man up.

Which is Nneka Enemkpali.

Texas extended its season-opening winning streak to 13 on Wednesday night, defeating reigning Big 12 champion West Virginia 61-55. Enemkpali, who is 6-1, was the only Longhorns player to score in double figures. She had 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. With WVU closing in, she closed them out by scoring the last four points of the game.

How next, uh, person up is she? She’s had seven consecutive double-doubles and the Longhorns are ranked No. 3 in the country.

Texas has a lot of next, uh, people up. In beating West Virginia, the Longhorns got first-half points from eight players and played 10, nine of them for at least 10 minutes (including Stafford-McGee). No one played more than 30 minutes.

Ah, Texas. Where men are men, and women are the next man up.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .