October 10, 2006
With four of its top scorers back from a year ago, the Texas A&M women?â„¢s basketball team continues its presence on the preseason national radar as CSTV.com experts have picked the Aggies as one of the nation's top 25 teams heading into the 2006-07 season.
CSTV analysts Debbie Antonelli, Greg Amsinger and Ann Schatz have the Aggies ranked No. 12 in the poll. A&M is one-of-four Big 12 Conference schools to receive preseason billing by the network, the second-highest ranked league team behind Oklahoma (No. 3) and ahead of rival Texas (No. 18) and Kansas State (No. 22).
In the preseason polls thus far, the Aggies have been ranked a program-best No. 9 by Street & Smith?â„¢s, No. 15 by Lindy?â„¢s Basketball Annual and No. 24 by Athlon Sports.
Last season, A&M advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996 and returns three All-Big 12 performers in junior All-American candidate Morenike Atunrase (Shreveport, La.), junior A?â„¢Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) and sophomore Takia Starks (Houston, Texas). Rounding out the returning starting five for the Aggies is junior Patrice Reado (Houston, Texas) and sophomore La Toya Micheaux (Missouri City, Texas). The team?â„¢s top returning scorers include Atunrase, Starks, Franklin and sophomore Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) who all combined for 63 percent of the team?â„¢s scoring output in 2005-06.
The Aggies?â„¢ heralded four-member freshman class also includes the program?â„¢s first-ever McDonald?â„¢s High School All-American in 5-foot-10 guard Adrian McGowen (Goodrich, Texas). She is joined by fellow freshmen Damitria Buchanan (Houston, Texas), Ashlaa Horton (Cedar Hill, Texas) and Katrina Limbaha (Riga, Latvia). Horton redshirted last season.
A&M closed out a successful 2005-06 campaign with a 23-9 overall record and a program-best third-place finish in the Big 12. Other key returners from last year?â„¢s NCAA Tournament squad include junior LaToya Gulley (Fayetteville, Ark.), junior Katy Pounds (Shallowater, Texas), senior Jennifer Wilks (Frankston, Texas) and senior Lenka Zimova (Partizanske, Slovakia).
It?â„¢s Showtime as the Aggies commence the 2006-07 season with their first official practice scheduled this Friday night during Maroon Madness festivities to be held at Kyle Field at 11:20 p.m. A&M will then open exhibition play against Athletes In Action on Friday, Nov. 3, in Reed Arena at 6 p.m. Fans can order season tickets for the upcoming 2006-07 season by calling the ticket office at: 1-888-99-AGGIE.
2006-07 CSTV.com PRESEASON TOP 25 POLL
1. Maryland
2. North Carolina
3. Oklahoma
4. Tennessee
5. Stanford
6. Ohio State
7. Duke
8. Connecticut
9. Georgia
10. LSU
11. Rutgers
12. Texas A&M
13. Arizona State
14. Kentucky
15. Purdue
16. St. John?â„¢s
17. California
18. Texas
19. UCLA
20. Vanderbilt
21. BYU
22. Kansas State
23. New Mexico
24. USC
25. Bowling Green