January 17, 2006
The Texas A&M Aggies (14-3, 3-1) will look to post its first 4-1 Big 12 Conference start when it travels to face the No. 8-ranked Baylor Lady Bears (12-2, 2-2) Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center.
A&M has won 12 of its last 13 games since returning from Hawaii in November. It included a 10 game winning streak which is the second longest in school history.
The Aggies are in second place in the league with Missouri at 3-1 just behind Oklahoma at 3-0. A&M?â„¢s lone Big 12 loss came at Texas Tech, 56-55, on Jan. 7.
In fact, two of A&M?â„¢s three losses are by a combined three points.
A&M will be seeking to end a 10-game losing streak to the Lady Bears that dates to Feb. 2001. The Lady Bears are undefeated at home this season with a 7-0 mark and hold a conference best 24-game home winning streak. They are 77-10 at the Ferrell Center under coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson.Baylor captured the NCAA Championship last season.
Baylor enters the game after losing at Texas Tech, 64-62, Sunday in Lubbock.
The Aggies will step away from their home court Reed Arena for the third time in four games. A&M has won 12 straight games at Reed Arena dating to last season?â„¢s WNIT postseason contests. It is the second longest home winning streak at A&M. The longest is 17 games set in 1994-95.
The Aggies hold the second longest current home winning streak in the league at 12 games.
A&M leads the Big 12 in overall wins at 14. It is the second most wins for the Aggies since 1996 when they won 20 games.
Currently, A&M is No. 29 in CollegeRPI.com and No. 25 in the Sagarin Ratings. The Aggies are receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and the USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll for the first time since Jan. 2001. A&M has not been ranked in the top 25 since March 11, 1996.
A&M enters the Baylor game after beating Kansas, 78-64, Sunday in Lawrence, Kan.
Sophomore Morenike Atunrase scored a career-high 29 points and blocked five shots in the win over the Jayhawks. She was named Big 12 Player of the Week.
A&M?â„¢s defense has been a major factor in the team?â„¢s success this season.
The Aggies are leading the Big 12 Conference in scoring defense and are No. 25 in the NCAA at 55.3 points allowed per game. A&M also leads the league in number of steals, turnover margin at +10.76 and blocks at 6.29.
The Aggies have held three league opponents to double-digits below their normal scoring output (OSU -18.3 pts., TT -14.6 pts., KSU -33.8 pts.) and most recently held Kansas to -9.7 points below.
A&M?â„¢s defense has been particularly stingy in the first half of games allowing 25.4 points while its offense is averaging 37.5 points.
Last season, the Aggies ranked eighth in the Big 12 in scoring offense averaging 64.3 points a game.
This season, the Aggies are averaging 74.2 points a game ranking third in the league just 3.6 points out of first place.
A&M, Baylor and Missouri are the only three teams in the Big 12 to rank in the top five in scoring offense and scoring defense.
Two Aggies are scoring double-digits this season. Sophomore Morenike Atunrase, last year?â„¢s Big 12 Freshman of the Year, leads the team at 13.5 points while freshman Takia Starks is second at 11.6 points a game. Freshman Danielle Gant is third at 9.8. Senior Tamea Scales is fourth on the team at 8.9 points.
Gant leads the way for the Aggies in shooting at 58 percent. Gant has scored double-digits in seven games. She has started in one game this season and is usually the first player off the bench for the Aggies.
Starks is a two-time Big 12 Rookie of the Week and with Gant, the two average 23+ minutes of playing time. Starks has started in 12 of 17 games and has seen playing time at point guard.
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 8.9 points and a team-best 5.9 rebounds. She has pulled down 54 offensive rebounds to rank sixh in the Big 12 in per game average at 3.18.
Scales has 512 career rebounds to rank No. 15 all-time at A&M. She is the 16th player in school history to grab 500 or more rebounds.
She also leads the team in charges taken with 14.
The Aggies?â„¢ roster is composed of 73 percent of players in their first or second year in the program.
Atunrase has blocked 35 shots this season. She now has 92 career blocks to rank third all-time at A&M. At 5-foot-10, Atunrase is shorter than both players who rank ahead of her.
Atunrase is averaging 17.5 points a game in Big 12 play to rank fifth.