December 20, 2005
The Texas A&M Aggies (6-2) will host the Dartmouth Big Green (5-1) Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
The Aggies enter the game on a four-game winning streak. A&M beat Washington and Sam Houston at Reed Arena prior to beating Detroit and UNLV at the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas this past weekend.
The win over UNLV is arguably the most impressive non-conference road win by the Aggies in more than 15 years.
The victory has propelled A&M in the various RPIs to as high as 34 in the Sagarin Ratings.
A&M has won 12 straight non-conference games at Reed Arena dating to January of 2004.
Overall, the Aggies have won 18 of their last 22 games away from the Big 12 Conference.
The game with Dartmouth features the return of A&M Consolidated High School product Angie Soriaga who is averaging 12.7 points and 4.3 rebounds.
Last season, the Aggies ranked eighth in the Big 12 in scoring offense averaging 64.3 points a game.
In the non-conference slate thus far, A&M has seen an increase in scoring. The Aggies are averaging 76.0 points a game ranking seventh in the league just 2.3 points out of second place.
Four Aggies are scoring double-digits this season. Sophomore Morenike Atunrase, last year?â„¢s Big 12 Freshman of the Year, leads the team at 14.0 points, while freshman Takia Starks is second at 10.9 points a game. Senior Tamea Scales is third at 10.6 and freshman Danielle Gant is fourth at 10.5 points.
Gant leads the way for the Aggies in shooting at 61 percent. Gant has scored double-digits in three games and no less than seven points in each game.
Gant was named to the All-Tournament Team in Hawaii after she scored 14 points against Cal State-Northridge, and 19 points against No. 17 DePaul.
Starks earned All-Tournament accolades at the Duel in the Desert after she came off the bench to score 16 points in the Aggies?â„¢ win over UNLV. She is the Big 12 Rookie of the Week for a second time.
Scales was named the Most Valuable Player after her consistent weekend in Las Vegas. She scored 10 points and six rebounds against UNLV and drained three three-pointers. Scales had only drained three three-pointers in the previous three years for the Aggies.
The Aggies have been successful this season in blocking shots. A&M blocked a Big 12 Conference record 18 shots in the season opener which marked the second most in NCAA history. The squad followed that effort with 12 blocks against Cal State-Northridge in the first round of the tournament in Hawaii.
The Aggies rank fifth in the NCAA in blocks per game at 7.1.
The Aggies?â„¢ roster is composed of 73 percent of players in their first or second year in the program.
Morenike Atunrase, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season, blocked 19 shots in the first eight games (2.4 average). She now has 76 career blocks to rank sixth all-time at A&M. At 5-foot-10, Atunrase is shorter than all five players who rank ahead of her. She blocked a school record 57 shots last season and needs one block to move into fifth place all-time at the school.
Scales has quiety been recording consistently impressive numbers. Her consistency was rewarded in Las Vegas when she was named the Duel in the Desert?â„¢s Most Valuable Player. Scales, who moved to the four position this season from the five position last season is averaging 10.6 points and a team-best 6.4 rebounds. She has pulled down 31 offensive rebounds to rank third in the Big 12 in per game average at 3.9.
Scales has double-digits in six of seven games and two double-doubles.