January 20, 2006
The Texas A&M Aggies (14-4, 3-2) will put its 12-game home winning streak on the line when the Missouri Tigers (14-3, 4-1) Saturday at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
The Aggies will also welcome back players and coaches from throughout the 30-year history of the program for a weekend of events. The attendees will be honored at halftime.
| GAME INFO |
| Saturday, Jan. 21, 7 p.m. (CST) Reed Arena (12,500), College Station, Texas |
| RADIO |
| Tom Turbiville, play-by-play Tap Bentz, commentary (fans can listen in stands on 89.9 FM) |
| TELEVISION |
| none |
| INTERNET |
| Live Stats: (aggieathletics.com) Live Audio: (aggieathletics.com-subscription service) Live Video: (aggieathletics.com-subscription service) |
| RECORDS |
| Missouri: 14-3, 4-1 Big 12 (2nd) Texas A&M: 14-4, 3-2 Big 12 (T-3rd) |
| SERIES |
| Missouri leads, 7-3 In College Station: A&M leads, 3-1 Last Meeting: (2/12/05) |
| UP NEXT |
| A&M at Colorado Tuesday, Jan. 24, 8 p.m. (CST) Coors Events Center, Boulder, Colo. TV: FOX Sports Net Rocky Mountain |
A&M has won 12 of its last 14 games since returning from Hawaii in November. It included a 10 game winning streak which is the second longest in school history.
A&M has won 12 straight games at Reed Arena dating to last season'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. Baylor has a 25-game home streak.
The Aggies are in third place in the league behind Oklahoma (4-0) and Missouri (4-1).
A&M has four losses, two are by a combined three points and two are to teams ranked in the top 10 (#8 Baylor, and #10 DePaul).
The Aggies have lost three in a row to Missouri. The last win in the series by the Aggies happened in 2002 at Reed Arena.
A&M shares the lead the Big 12 in overall wins at 14 with Oklahoma and Missouri. It is the second most wins for the Aggies since 1996 when they won 20 games.
Currently, A&M is No. 35 in CollegeRPI.com and No. 28 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.
The Aggies are leading the Big 12 Conference in scoring defense and are No. 25 in the NCAA at 55.6 points allowed per game. A&M also leads the league in number of steals, turnover margin at +10.06 and third in blocks at 6.06.
The Aggies have held four of five league opponents to double-digits below their normal scoring output.
A&M's defense has been particularly stingy in the first half of games allowing 25.3 points while its offense is averaging 36.9 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 72.8 points a game ranking fifth in the league just 1.4 points out of second 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's Big 12 Freshman of the Year, leads the team at 12.7 points while freshman Takia Starks is second at 11.9 points a game. Freshman Danielle Gant is third at 9.6. Senior Tamea Scales is fourth on the team at 8.4 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 averages 26+ minutes of playing time. Starks has started in 13 of 18 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's Most Valuable Player. Scales, who moved to the four position this season from the five position last season is averaging 8.4 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds.
Scales has 515 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' 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.