December 26, 2005
The Texas A&M Aggies (8-2) will host the Utah State Aggies (1-7) Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
Tickets for all home games through January 4 are half-price. Contact the Athletic Ticket Office for details at 979-845-2311 or online at AggieAthletics.com.
The Aggies enter the game on a six-game winning streak, the fifth longest in school history.
Prior to the Christmas break, the Aggies topped Dartmouth and Eastern Washington at Reed Arena on the heels of a tournament win over Detroit and road win at UNLV. The scoring margin against Eastern Washington (94-40) was the fifth most in school history.
The win over UNLV is arguably the most impressive non-conference road win by the Aggies in more than 15 years.
The recent wins have propelled A&M in the various RPIs to as high as 26 in the CollegeRPI.com, easily its highest such rating since the inception of the Big 12 Conference.
A&M has won 14 straight non-conference games at Reed Arena dating to January of 2004.
Overall, the Aggies have won 20 of their last 24 games (.833) away from the Big 12 Conference.
A&M and Utah State have never met.
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 76.4 points a game ranking fifth in the league just 1.9 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 13.1 points, while freshman Danielle Gant is second at 10.8. Freshman Takia Starks is third at 10.5 points a game. Senior Tamea Scales is fourth at 10.1 points.
Gant leads the way for the Aggies in shooting at 64 percent. Gant has scored double-digits in five 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 earned 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 23 shots in the first 10 games (2.3 average). She now has 80 career blocks to rank fifth all-time at A&M. At 5-foot-10, Atunrase is shorter than all four players who rank ahead of her. She blocked a school record 57 shots last season and needs two blocks to move into fourth 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 10.1 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds. She has pulled down 37 offensive rebounds to rank third in the Big 12 in per game average at 3.7.
Scales has double-digits in seven of the last nine games and two double-doubles.