February 08, 2006
Morenike Atunrase scored 15 points to lead No. 24 Texas A&M over Texas, 73-53, in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown Wednesday at the Erwin Center in front of 5,018.
The win was the first for A&M (18-5, 7-3) over Texas (12-9, 6-5) in Austin since 1995. It was the largest margin of victory against the Longhorns on their home court.
In the process, A&M stopped Texas' 31-game home conference winning streak.
A&M caught fire midway through the first half while Texas struggled shooting the ball. The Aggies put together a 28-0 run enroute to outscoring the Longhorns 33-5 to halftime.
"I thought our kids played great," A&M coach Gary Blair said. "We had a few lucky bounces in the first half."
During a 13 minute stretch, Texas failed to record a field goal and only made three free throws courtesy of Nina Norman. The Longhorns connected on two of their final 15 shots in the half.
"We were not letting them get to the rim," Blair said. "Our perimeter defense was pretty good and we took it to the glass and then scored in transition."
A&M defense caused havoc on the Longhorns forcing nine turnovers and converting those to 16 points.
"We did a decent job on them in the first half," Blair said.
Texas led early 12-7 after Daria Mieloszynska hit a bucket with 15:40 to play in the half. A&M answered by outscoring Texas 40-8 the rest of the half.
"In the first half we could have beaten a lot of teams," Blair said.
The Longhorns responded in the second half with a 10-2 run to cut the Aggies' lead to 59-38 with 11:45 to play.
A&M's largest lead was 29 points, 57-28, after Lenka Zimova hit a jumper. She finished with a career high 13 points and five rebounds.
Texas pulled within 19 points twice in the final 10 minutes.
"We were not playing not to lose," Blair said. "We were trying to score, but we faced good zone defense by them."
Texas was playing without its leading scorer and rebounder Tiffany Jackson who suffered an ankle injury in the Longhorns' game this past Saturday.
"We feel very fortunate," Blair said. "All of our preparation was for Jackson. Hopefully she'll be back Sunday for (Texas' game against) Connecticut."
A'Quonesia Franklin helped pace the Aggies from the point guard position as she tallied 14 points, five assists, two steals, with zero turnovers. Takia Starks added 11 points.
Erika Arriaran led Texas as she scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half. Norman added 14 points and Mieloszynska tallied 12 points and seven rebounds.
It marked the first win for Blair over Texas since he became a head coach in 1985. He had dropped the six previous meetings.
"It's my first victory as a head coach," Blair said. "It's not that I beat Jody (Conradt), but we beat a program that made the blue print for success that the rest of us follow."
The Aggies travel to Nebraska (12-9, 4-6) Saturday for a 1 p.m. game televised nationally by FSN.
NOTES-Zimova was selected as the State Farm Player of the Game. It marked the first time for A&M to beat Texas Tech and Texas in the same week since 1996. A&M topped Texas Tech this past Sunday at home.