Texas A&M
(2-1)
DePaul
(4-0)
Aggies Fall to No. 17 DePaul at Hawaii
Nov 26, 2005 | Women's Basketball
November 26, 2005
Danielle Gant scored a career best 19 points for Texas A&M, but poor shooting by the Aggies coupled with 54 percent shooting by No. 17-ranked DePaul helped the Blue Demons to a 84-71 win in the semifinals of the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic Saturday here at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Aggies (2-1) managed a 43 percent showing from the field for the game while DePaul (4-0) connected on 34-of-63.
A&M coach Gary Blair pointed to his team?™s poor shooting and free throw shooting. The Aggies were successful on 9-of-18 from the free throw line in the first half.
?When you shoot 13-of-27 at line and shoot away so many opportunities it?™s tough to win,? Blair said. ?We?™d draw fouls and could not finish the play. Shooting 9-of-18 in the first half killed us.?
The Aggies were just 4-of-9 from the free throw line in the second while DePaul was 14-of-23 for the game.
?We made some nice runs, but we gave up the easy baskets all night,? Blair said. ?Every time we made a run, we?™d give up a play. They made every tough and smart play.
Transition was the big thing and our inability to communicate.?
A&M trailed 41-35 at halftime, but a 15-4 run by DePaul midway through the second half gave it a 68-49 lead. The Aggies answered with a 13-4 run to cut the Blue Demons?™ lead to 72-62 with six minutes to play. It was the closest the Aggies would get in the half.
?We got beat by a better basketball team, period,? Blair said. ?That?™s a team that understands the game better than we do. DePaul is a top 25 team now and that?™s a exactly where we want to be at the end of the year. To do that, we need to do the little things better to win the games.?
A&M struggled with its guard play and as a team committed 18 turnovers while DePaul tallied 12 steals.
Gant, a freshman forward, connected on 8-of-12 from the field while grabbing eight rebounds off the bench.
?She just takes the ball to the rack,? Blair said. ?She scores and makes good decisions. She passed the ball a couple of times that she probably should have finished herself.?
DePaul was led by Jenna Rubino?™s 18 points and by Khara Smith?™s double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
A&M struggled shooting the ball early as it was 3-of-11 from the field as DePaul jumped out to a 23-12 lead midway through the first half.
The Aggies cut the Blue Demons?™ lead to 28-24 with 4:47 to play, but a 9-4 run by the Blue Demons increased its lead to 37-28 late in the half.
DePaul shot 55 percent in the first half while A&M finished at 38 percent from the field.
It marked the sixth straight loss for the Aggies against a ranked non-conference opponent since its last win in 1995.
A&M will play for third place in the tournament against Hawaii or Wisconsin on Sunday at 7:20 p.m. central time.
NOTES---Danielle Gant was named the State Farm Player of the Game.
