Texas A&M
6-0
Arizona
4-3
Texas A&M 64, Arizona 44
Nov 28, 2006 | Women's Basketball
November 28, 2006
Sophomore Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) scored 20 points and junior All-American candidate Morenike Atunrase (Shreveport, La.) added 18 to help No. 10 Texas A&M beat Arizona, 66-44, Tuesday night at Reed Arena.
Texas A&M, which climbed into the top 10 for the first time in school history this week, also got eight points and nine rebounds from sophomore La Toya Micheaux (Missouri City, Texas).
Ashley Whisonant led Arizona (4-3) with 14 points and Joy Hollingsworth added 13.
The Aggies trailed by six early, but pulled away with a 26-5 run in the first half in which Atunrase scored nine straight and made one of her season-high five blocks of the game. She needs 10 more blocked shots to break the school record in the category.
Arizona made just two of its 11 three-point attempts and scored 28 of its 44 points in the paint.
A&M (6-0) next travels to Rice (4-2) for a Friday, Dec. 1 matchup in Houston. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Postgame Notes?...A&M earned its first-ever victory over Arizona in the all-time series?...They previously lost two prior meetings to the Wildcats by more than 20 points in the series?...Atunrase and Starks each reached double digits before halftime?...Atunrase had 16 of her 18 points in the first half of play as did Starks with 10 of her season-high 20 points?...It was Starks?™ fourth career 20-point game?...She shot 60 percent (9-of-15) from the floor?...Atunrase swatted a season-high five shots and needs 10 more blocks to break the all-time career record in the category (128)?...The Aggies improve to an undefeated 6-0 on the season?...It is their first 6-0 start of the season, since going 6-0 to start the 1977-78 season?...They close out the month of November undefeated for the first time since the 1999-2000 season when the Aggies went 3-0?...It was the first time in the Gary Blair Era to go undefeated in the month of November?...A&M has defeated all but one opponent (West Virginia by three) this year by a margin of 20-or-more points?...Sophomore La Toya Micheaux (Missouri City, Texas) brought down a season-high nine rebounds?...A&M outrebounded its fifth opponent this season, 41-32.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
On the game ?...
?This game reminded me of the West Virginia game. We were trailing 9-2 on the boards after the first media timeout. But, the kids later responded and we got into the press. You force tempo off the press and we were able to make some plays. Morenike (Atunrase) and Takia (Starks) can tear up a zone. This team is learning how to make the extra pass and Aqua (Franklin) is doing a good job in distributing the ball. In the second half, the difference was our rebounding. (Patrice) Reado, Morenike and (La Toya) Micheaux did well for us. Arizona had to play two ballgames in less than 48 hours, but will be an NCAA Tournament team. We made a good ball club look average on offense. Eventually, the maturity of our team started dissecting the zone.?
JUNIOR GUARD/FORWARD MORENIKE ATUNRASE
On her scoring and the team?™s defensive pressure ?...
?I was looking for the open shot and took them. They were as fast as we were. We felt we had to play as hard as we did on the road. We were tentative on the boards early, but we started to be more aggressive on the boards after that first timeout. We just have to keep working hard to stay in the top 10.?
SOPHOMORE GUARD TAKIA STARKS
On Arizona?™s first half run to open the game ?...
?I think we were a little tentative when we first started the game. We weren?™t as aggressive on defense. We picked it up and just went from there. Coach (Blair) just told us to be aggressive and he told us we were being too soft. We cranked it up, got into a little press and everything turned out great. Defensively, we weren?™t going to let her (leading scorer Joy Hollingsworth) get any shots. It really changed when we started to be more aggressive.?
ARIZONA HEAD COACH JOAN BONVICINI
On the game ?...
?I thought we had a good start, because we used our height and our strength inside. We rebounded well and shot well. A&M really took it up a notch on defense and forced us into turnovers. They are deserving of their (No. 10) ranking and will win more games this season. It?™s really as if Gary (Blair) had four guards out there. We didn?™t handle the pressure well and executing our offense. We learned a real valuable lesson here tonight, because we will face similar teams down the road. They are a good team. They play smart and play hard. We allowed the pressure to get to us a little bit.?
