Texas A&M
4-0
West Virginia
2-3
Texas A&M 55, West Virginia 52
Nov 24, 2006 | Women's Basketball
November 24, 2006
Junior All-American candidate Morenike Atunrase (Shreverport, La.) scored 18 points to lead No. 12-ranked Texas A&M past West Virginia, 55-52, in the opening round of the Loyola Marymount Ayres Hotel Thanksgiving Classic Friday night at Gersten Pavilion.
After jumping out to a 12-2 run in the opening minutes of the game, A&M would relinquish its lead as West Virginia center Olayinka Sanni turned in 10 points in a five-minute stretch for the Mountaineers. WVU (2-3) would commit 17 of its 29 turnovers in the first half alone with A&M scoring 23 points off of their miscues.
Junior A?™Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) registered 13 of her season-high 16 points in the first half including a jumper at the 6:23 mark which tied the game up at 19-19. The Aggies would head into halftime with a six-point deficit to the Mountaineers, 28-22.
Four lead changes and three ties later, A&M got much-needed scoring production from Atunrase and sophomore Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) coming out of the locker room. Starks ended the night with nine points including five-straight points to open the second half of play.
Sophomore Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) came off the bench and provided 31 key minutes for the Aggies and contributed a team-high eight rebounds and four assists.
In the second half, A&M shot an improved 50 percent (10-20) from the floor and 73.3 percent (11-15) from the charity stripe against an aggressive and physical West Virginia squad.
A&M (4-0) continues tournament play tomorrow and will take on host LMU in the championship game scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT). LMU defeated American, 67-62, in the second game on Friday night.
Postgame Notes?...A&M used the starting lineup of A?™Quonesia Franklin, Takia Starks, Morenike Atunrase,, Patrice Reado and La Toya Micheaux?...The Aggies improved to 4-0 on the season?...It was a first time meeting between A&M and West Virginia?...For the first time of the season, A&M was outrebounded on the boards, 39-24?...Franklin scored 13 of her season-high 16 points in the first half of play...The Aggies shot a season-low 39.6 percent (19-48) against the Mountaineers.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
On the game ?...
?This was a tale of two halves. We started on a 12-2 run and they started to take it to us off the dribble. We thought their post player (Olayinka Sanni) was the second coming of Oklahoma?™s Courtney Paris. She was the best post player out their tonight and did an outstanding job. West Virginia was a carbon copy of us and were doing a lot better job than us. We forced so many turnovers in the first half, but didn?™t convert. Most of their turnovers were traveling calls. We didn?™t get the ball inside enough and when we did, we turned it over. We didn?™t get any production from our inside game. Give them credit though, they took it to us.?
On the second half of play and A?™Quonesia Franklin ?...
?The player of the game was Aqua Franklin. She kept us in the first half. She played error free ball and had only two assists and zero turnovers, mainly because our post players weren?™t finishing. We needed a game like this (against West Virginia). It would have been a huge blow for our us with our football team winning at Texas today. It gave us motivation to play hard. We were not aggressive particularly when they had the ball on offense, but Morenike (Atunrase) and Takia (Starks) stepped it up for us in the second half. Danielle (Gant) played 31 minutes and gave us eight rebounds and four assists and played with a lot of heart. Our defense won the game for us in the second half as did our good shooting percentage.?
JUNIOR GUARD A?™QUONESIA FRANKLIN
On responding to West Virginia?™s aggressive post play?...
?We knew we had to pick up our game in the second half. We?™ve been here before (against aggressive teams) and this was nothing new to us. This was the kind of competition we have been longing for. We had it on our table and we knew we had to take care of business. They (West Virginia) came out aggressive and we had to match their aggressiveness. They had a dominate post player which made us play a little one-on-one. We just adjusted and moved the ball and played defense. Their defense was similar to what we will see against Big 12 South schools, which only preps us for conference play.?
