Texas A&M
Arkansas-Little Rock
Texas A&M 78, Arkansas-Little Rock 64
Dec 30, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Morenike Atunrase scored 15 points to lead Texas A&M past Arkansas-Little Rock, 78-64, Friday at Reed Arena.
The victory was A&M?™s eighth straight, the third longest streak in school history, as it improved to 10-2 overall. UALR fell to 8-4.
It marked A&M?™s 16th straight non-conference win at home.
After trailing by as many as 22 points in the first half, UALR closed the gap to nine points midway through the second half. A&M outscored the Trojans 23-18 the remainder of the game.
?In the second half I think we just walked out and thought they were going to fold up and (UALR) played like they played against Oklahoma State when they won by 20,? A&M coach Gary Blair said.
Atunrase gave the Aggies a 16-5 lead after draining a long range three from the left side. A&M found success in the transition game early as 10 of the first 16 points were scored on fast break chances. Atunrase finished with two blocks and three steals.
The Trojans struggled with their shooting early connecting on just one of their first 10 shots. They went more than six minutes without a successful field goal.
?I thought we doing a great job of making them miss in the first half,? Blair said.
Erica Roy, from Little Rock, put back an offensive rebound to give A&M a 23-7 lead midway through the first half. Roy finished with a season-best seven rebounds and three assists.
UALR?™s Renee Renz scored a layup to pull the Trojans within 25-14 with 7:45 until halftime. Renz, a freshman, led all scores with 21 points and seven rebounds.
The Aggies answered with a 13-5 run to extend its lead to 37-19 late in the half. A&M?™s Lenka Zimova scored seven points during the stretch.
A&M led at halftime 43-24.
UALR started the second half with a 9-4 run as Renz scored the first six points to pull the Trojans within 47-33. UALR eventually connected on six of its first eight shots in the half.
Renz later closed UALR?™s gap to 55-42 with a baseline jumper from the right side with 11:55 to play. Jocelyn Love then drained a pair of free throws to bring UALR within 11 points at 55-44 and Ashley Johnson took the game to single digits, 55-46 with a fastbreak layup. It was the closest the Trojans would get the rest of the way
UALR outscored the Aggies 22-12 to start the second half, but the Aggies held the margin the remainder of the frame.
?The best thing we did tonight was we executed our offense pretty damn good and got the shots that we needed,? Blair said. ?The best thing that probably happened was that UALR did not roll over. They played us hard.?
A&M?™s Tamea Scales matched her career high in blocks with three. She last had three blocks against UALR last season. She also took a pair of charges to give her 13 for the season. She scored six points with seven rebounds
Aggies?™ point guard A?™Quonesia Franklin dished out six assists and scored eight points.
The Aggies grabbed 26 offensive rebounds and scored 26 second chance points.
A&M will host a final regular season non-conference game when Rice visits Reed Arena on Monday at 7 p.m.
NOTES?-Erica Roy was selected as the State Farm Player of the Game. Atunrase blocked two shots to give her 84 for her career which is fourth most in school history.
