Chuck Carlton

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When Gail Goestenkors decides to send a message, the Texas women's basketball coach prefers the direct approach.

No one is immune, not even the team's leading scorer, as Brittainey Raven discovered.

She has found herself in a reserve role for the last three games, including two in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship.

Raven, a 6-0 junior from North Crowley, will probably be watching from the sidelines to start the NCAA Tournament. Sixth-seeded Texas (21-11) faces No. 11 seed Mississippi State (22-9) today in Columbus, Ohio.

"It was different coming off the bench," Raven said. "I definitely wasn't used to it. Coach, she has made a lot of changes this year and she felt that was a change she had to make to better the team."

Goestenkors made the lineup switch for the final regular-season game against Oklahoma.

"Brittainey has not been rebounding for us," Goestenkors said at the time. "That's been such a focus for us. After the last game [against Kansas State], when she didn't have any rebounds, I felt like I needed to make a statement to her. We had been talking about it, but I really needed to show how important it was."

The move was a major step.

At her best, Raven brings athleticism, open-court skill and the ability to create her own shot.

She averages 13.3 points per game on a team that sometimes struggles to score and had been a lineup fixture for 87 consecutive games, dating to Dec. 16, 2006.

Raven has been trying to fulfill Goestenkors' expectations.

In the three games since her rebounding goose-egg against Kansas State, she has averaged 4.0 rebounds to go with 11.3 points.

"The next couple of games I was trying to go harder to the boards and just play harder overall," Raven said. "When I was starting, I knew I was comfortable and I knew I would be playing a lot of minutes, and I was trying to pace myself a little bit. Coach basically told me I can't do that and I have to play aggressively for the whole 40 minutes."

In some ways, Raven's season has mirrored that of Texas: high expectations followed by solid, if inconsistent, performance.

Texas opened 11-0 in Goestenkors' second season.

Then the grind of the Big 12, the top conference in the RPI rankings, took a toll. The Longhorns have lost six of their last eight games.

Raven, for one, is happy to leave Big 12 opponents behind.

"In the Big 12, we played teams two or three times," Raven said. "It's kind of a relief to finally be able to play somebody who isn't used to what we do or knowing our plays. I think it will help us out on the floor."

Berkeley Region (Columbus, Ohio), 11 a.m. today (ESPN2)

Notable: Defense has been the key for Texas. Opponents have shot 32.9 percent in the Longhorns' victories and 44.4 percent in their losses. Point guard Carla Cortijo will play despite a fractured finger on her left (non-shooting) hand. The Bulldogs feature an excellent 3-point shooter in Alexis Rack (14.6 points per game) and a shot-altering center in 6-5 Chanel Mokango (3.1 blocked shots per game).

Up next: Winner between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 14 Sacred Heart