January 28, 2006
A'Quonesia Franklin scored 20 points for Texas A&M but 18 points by Courtney Paris led No. 13 Oklahoma to a 81-72 victory Saturday in front of 5,565.
A&M falls to 16-5 overall and to 5-3 in the league while Oklahoma improved to 17-4 overall and to 7-0 in the Big 12.
"This one stings because we had them here first," A&M coach Gary Blair said. "This was our first real test. We're going to learn from it. Our goal this year is to win every ballgame we can and get to the NCAA Tourney. We'll do whatever we can. We'll have some pitfalls along the way. We improved up here (in the brain) today. We got smarter."
The loss ended a 13-game home winning streak for A&M which was the Big 12's longest active streak It was the first time for A&M to compete as a second place team in the league against the first place team.
"It was a good ballgame," Blair said. "Are they best team we've played this year? Probably so. But I've still got a lot of respect for Baylor. That was a very good ball club we faced tonight. We played pretty good at times. Give (OU guard Britney) Brown credit. She was the whole difference in the ballgame today."
Britney Brown scored a career-high 16 points and dished out eight assists with six turnovers. She connected on 8-of-10 shots.
Franklin, a sophomore, dished out a career-best 10 assists and did not record a turnover. She was 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
"I tell you what, (Aqua) Franklin was a warrior tonight," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said. "Goodness gracious. She took a lot of shots but she made a lot of shots. A lot of them weren't very easy. She's the backbone of this team and she took it over."
A&M freshman Takia Starks added 19 points and five rebounds while sophomore Patrice Reado had 11 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Danielle Gant added eight points and nine rebounds.
"I thought (Danielle) Gant came in, and she is just sort of my wild card out there," Blair said. "We really don't have a true position for her. We just let her play. I thought she did an outstanding job getting rebounds and letting us get out on the break, but then we weren't finishing."
Oklahoma placed five players in double digits. Paris grabbed 14 rebounds in addition to her 18 points. Chelsi Welch scored 16 while Laura Andrews had 14 points. Leah Rush scored 11 points.
A&M had an early 6-2 lead as the Sooners recorded four turnovers. But the Sooners rallied with a 10-2 run featuring six points by Paris to take 12-8 lead.
Paris scored the Sooners' first eight points and left after eight minutes with two fouls and did not return in the frame.
"The biggest key to the game was the last 10 minutes of the first half, when (Courtney) Paris in foul trouble," Blair said. "We didn't take control of the game. We were giving up too many easy baskets at that time and we were not finishing in transition ourselves. That has been a season-long problem."
A&M regained the lead 19-16 with an 11-4 run with five points from Starks midway through the half. Oklahoma led 36-33 at halftime.
The Aggies shot at a 32 percent clip in the first half while the Sooners were over 60 percent for much of the half.
The Sooners converted 26 of their 36 first half points in the paint.
Early in the second half the Sooners extended their lead to 48-42 after a 12-4 run.
A&M pulled within 50-46 with a jumper by Starks before the Sooners jumped out to a 67-53 lead following three straight three pointers.
Oklahoma's largest lead was 15 points when Paris hit a free throw to make the score 70-55 with four minutes left.
A late 17-9 run by A&M cut lead to 72-79 in the final seconds.
The Sooners scored 48 of their 81 points in the paint.
A&M tallied a season-low eight turnovers while scoring 22 points off of Oklahoma's 17 turnovers.
The attendance of 5,565 was the second largest in school history.
"The crowd was tremendous," Blair said. "Give our students a lot of credit. Hopefully it will pay off in wins. We are starting to understand what it takes to be a basketball town. We're starting to get it. That's important. When we can get it, (men's coach) Billy (Gillispie) and I are trying to give you better ball clubs out there. We're becoming a basketball town. I really appreciate the fans sticking with us and learning about us."
A&M remains in second place in the league behind Oklahoma.
"You know I thought they were a little bit underestimated early on," Coale said. "Gary's got some good kids in here and he recruits players who play the way he wants to play. It doesn't surprise me. They're going to get a lot of people in this place. I told our players after the game you don't have any idea how big this win is. This win is huge."
The Aggies will be off midweek before hosting Texas Tech next Sunday at 3 p.m. at Reed Arena.
Texas A&M Postgame Notes
- Franklin was selected as the State Farm Player of the Game.
- It marked the seventh straight loss by A&M to the Sooners.
- The Aggies have dropped 15 of the last 16 meetings with Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Postgame Notes
- Oklahoma improved to 17-4 on the season and 7-0 in Big 12 play. The Sooners are the only undefeated team remaining in the conference and own a two loss lead over second place Missouri, which defeated Texas Tech 65-51 today. OU has won five straight games.
- The 7-0 start is the second best in OU history behind the 9-0 mark posted in 1999-00.
- OU snapped Texas A&M's 13-game home winning streak, which was the longest in the Big 12. The Sooners ended the previous league high, which belonged to Baylor and was at 26 games until last weekend. OU has also snapped home winning streaks of 21 at Iowa State and 16 at New Mexico.
- OU is shooting 45.7 percent (35-83) from 3-point range in its four road Big 12 games. Today they were 4-8 from long range.
- The Sooners return to the court on Tuesday in the Bedlam finale against Oklahoma State, which has not won a Big 12 game to date. The contest will be broadcast by the Sooner Sports Network on KAUT-UPN (Cox channel 16) with opening tip at 7 p.m., from the Lloyd Noble Center.
FIRST HALF NOTES
- OU was able to counteract 11 first half turnovers by shooting 55.6 percent (15-27) from the floor and by making 11 of its first 14 field goal attempts. OU also held a 23-17 advantage on the boards. The Aggies shot 32.4 percent (12-37) from the field in the first half.
LAURA ANDREWS
- Laura Andrews has made 6-of-8 field goals, 4-4 three pointers and 4-4 free throws in the last two games for a combined total of 0 points in those contests. Today she had 14 points, marking the fifth time she has scored in double figures this season.
BRITNEY BROWN
- At the 14:41 mark in the second half Britney Brown had set a career high in points with 14, she finished with 16. Brown set her previous high at 13 point in the OU last game against Texas. She also tied a career high with eight assists.
- Britney Brown has scored 64 (10.7 PPG) points in the last six games, good for 58.1 percent (64-110) of her season total. Her season average entering the game was 4.7.
ERIN HIGGINS
- Erin Higgins extended her streak of consecutive starts to 70 games, but failed to extend her OU record streak of 19 game with a three-point make.
COURTNEY PARIS
- Courtney Paris clinched her NCAA leading 18th double-double at the 8:00 minute mark of the second half, it also extended her streak of consecutive double-doubles to 13. The freshman center finished the afternoon with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
- Paris needed just eight minutes to score eight points and collect six rebounds in the first half. She went to the bench with two fouls at the 12:05 mark in the first half.
CHELSI WELCH
- Chelsi Welch scored 16 points and shot 9-9 from the free throw line today. Welch has average 12.9 points per game over the last nine games.
- Welch's 9-9 performance at the free throw line improved her season line to 67-70 and her Big 12 leading percentage to 95.7.
Postgame Quotes
OU COACH SHERRI COALE: "After the first 10 minutes of the game I thought it was fairly decent basketball by our team. In the first 10, I really had no idea what that was. Brittany (Brown) was a warrior the whole night, keeping pressure on the defense with dribble penetration. Chelsi Welch was tremendous. She did a great job on the boards and a great job scoring. (Laura) Andrews, off the bench in the second half, that was a great performance by senior. A&M played well. They made tough shots. We were just poised enough to finish them."
"(A&M coach) Gary (Blair) did a great job. We started switching things and he tried to exploit that. But he did good stuff. We just had to keep them off-balance and not be predictable. If you can survive all that heat (of A&M's defense) you can exploit them on the back side. I thought our poise was good."
"Having five (players) score in double-digits is awesome. That's a recipe for a championship. We've got to figure out a way to keep doing that. They all did it quietly. It's a real unselfish group of kids so that doesn't surprise me."
(on why Atunrase was not a factor) "Actually we had a very similar plan for guarding a lot of them (A&M) on the perimeter. I tell you what, (Aqua) Franklin was a warrior tonight. Goodness gracious. She took a lot of shots but she made a lot of shots. A lot of them weren't very easy. She's the backbone of this team and she took it over, and for whatever reason (Morenike) Atunrase was not quite as much a factor."
(on whether or not she is surprised by A&M's success) "You know, I thought they were a little bit underestimated early on. Gary's got some good kids in here and he recruits players who play the way he wants to play. It doesn't surprise me. They're going to get a lot of people in this place. I told our players after the game you don't have any idea how big this win is. This win is huge."
OU GUARD BRITNEY BROWN: (on whether or not they did anything differently to cut down turnovers later) "I think we started using more pressure releases. I think it was a lot easier after the first few minutes of the game because we knew what they were in and we knew what they were trying to do."
TEXAS A&M GUARD AQUA FRANKLIN: (on OU increasing their lead in the second half) "Definitely Oklahoma changed it up quite a bit. They tried to change it up a lot. They were actually sinking into the paint and messing up our inside game. We couldn't look for (Patrice) Reado a lot. But Oklahoma definitely did a great job. They forced us to take off-balance shots and a lot of stuff like that."
(on the hurdle OU faced after Courtney Paris picked up two fouls) "Yeah, that was a big hurdle for Oklahoma, but we didn't capitalize on that. The OU bench did a great job stepping up to the plate."
(on whether or not the team will take anything from the game) "Well, yes, we will take a lot out of it. (With OU) being a top-15 team, we see what level we have to be on when playing against them. We just take it one game at time, but we learn from each game how to get to that next level."
(on OU cutting down its turnover numbers) "You have to give credit to Britney (Brown). I think she was a big key in the game today, just keeping the ball in her hands and running her team."
TEXAS A&M FORWARD PATRICE READO: (on Courtney Paris) "You have to give her credit. Both Parises, actually. They're very good post players. They did their job. Having (Courtney Paris) have two fouls in the first half, I thought we'd do better, but we didn't capitalize."
TEXAS A&M COACH GARY BLAIR: "Obviously y'all could see the crowd that was there. The crowd was excellent. OU was excellent. We were pretty good. We've got to raise our standards just little. We are not in this thing to play close. I was hoping to catch Oklahoma on an off night. The biggest key to the game was the last 10 minutes of the first half, when (Courtney) Paris in foul trouble...we didn't take control of the game. We were giving up too many easy baskets at that time and we were not finishing in transition ourselves. That has been a season-long problem."
"I thought (Danielle) Gant came in, and she is just sort of my wild card out there. We really don't have a true position for her. We just let her play. I thought she did an outstanding job getting rebounds and letting us get out on the break, but then we weren't finishing. (Patrice) Reado in the first half played exceptionally well. We could stay in small ball when we had (Courtney) Paris in trouble. (La Toya) Micheaux played a lot better in the second half."
"If we continue to just be a jump-shooting team, we're allowing defenses to switch and to do certain things. We've got to be a transition team, a jump-shooting team and a team that can score in the paint. When you look the (points in the) paint that's very misleading. I would say 26 of those were on drives by their guards. Now it wasn't all (Courtney) Paris. I thought we did as good as the rest of you (could have). She's got the most incredible hands I've ever seen in my life, and she finishes. We were going to try to 'hack-a-Shaq' but most times we couldn't catch her down there."
"It was a good ballgame. Are they best team we've played this year? Probably so. But I've still got a lot of respect for Baylor. That was a very good ball club we faced tonight. We played pretty good at times. Give (OU guard Britney) Brown credit. She was the whole difference in the ballgame today. We've faced quick point guards in (Texas Tech's Erin) Grant and (Missouri's LaToya) Bond, but none were able to do what Brown did tonight."
(on whether this loss was tough to take) "This one stings because we had them here first. This was our first real test. We're goin to learn from it. Our goal this year is to win every ballgame we can and get to the NCAA Tourney. We'll do whatever we can. We'll have some pitfalls along the way. We improved up here (in the brain) today. We got smarter."
(on the fan support) "The crowd was tremendous. Give our students a lot of credit. Hopefully it will pay off in wins. We are starting to understand what it takes to be a basketball town. We're starting to get it. That's important. When we can get it, (men's coach) Billy (Gillispie) and I are trying to give you better ball clubs out there. We're becoming a basketball town. I really appreciate the fans sticking with us and learning about us."