March 15, 2007
For the fourth time in school history and second time in two years, the No. 13/15-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (24-6) will put on its dancing shoes and look to make a deep run in the month of March. The Aggies are making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances after earning a program-best No. 4 seed in the Dallas Regional. This year's dance card is filled by the likes of No. 13-seeded Texas-Arlington (24-8). Both the Aggies and Mavericks will face each other in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday, March 17 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Game time is set for 1 p.m. (CT).
| GAME INFO |
| Saturday, March 17, 1 p.m. (CDT) Galen Center (10,258), Los Angeles NCAA Championship - First Round |
| RECORDS |
| Texas A&M: 24-6 Texas-Arlington: 24-8 |
| RANKINGS |
| A&M is ranked 15th by ESPN/USA Today and 16th by The Associated Press. |
| TELEVISION |
| Bob Wischusen, play-by-play Lisa Leslie, commentary Krista Blunk, sidelines |
| RADIO |
| KZNE-AM 1150 (Local) Tom Turbiville, play-by-play Amy Wright, commentary (broadcast time 12:40 p.m.) |
| INTERNET |
| Live Video: None Live Audio: None Live Stats: (ncaasports.com) |
| SERIES |
| A&M leads, 7-1 Last Meeting: (12/14/02) |
| UP NEXT |
| Winner vs. Geo Washington/Boise State winner NCAA 2nd Round Monday, March 19, Time TBD Galen Center, Los Angeles |
The winner of the first-round matchup will take on the winner of No. 5-seeded George Washington (26-3) or No. 12th-seeded Boise State (24-8). For the second-straight year, the Aggies will face a neighbor from the Lone Star State in the NCAA First Round, but this time on the West Coast. Last season, sixth-seeded A&M drew 11th-seeded TCU in first-round action played out on the East Coast in Trenton, N.J. With one of the best backcourts and defenses in the nation and a 14-player roster which loses just two seniors to graduation, the Aggies are in control of their own destiny and have already achieved more milestones and program firsts than any other team in school history. Having capped the season off with its first-ever Big 12 Conference Championship trophy with a program-best 13-3 record in the second-toughest league in the country behind the SEC, A&M's 24 wins this season is tied for the second-most victories in school history. Outside of their Big 12 schedule, the Aggies put together a 10-2 record against non-conference foes. They are 2-0 this season when playing in the City of Angels having won the Loyola Marymount Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 24-25 with victories over host LMU and West Virginia.
AGGIES MAKE ESPN DEBUT
Texas A&M will make its ESPN debut in first-round action Saturday against Texas-Arlington. The Aggies previously appeared on the worldwide sports leader twice in school history on ESPN's sister network ESPN2 in last year's NCAA First Round matchup against TCU and this season at Baylor on Feb. 25. The A&M players will get a chance to meet one of their childhood icons in U.S. Olympian and WNBA All-Star Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks who will serve as the color analyst next to Bob Wischusen (play-by-play) and Krista Blunk (color analyst). The trio will broadcast the game live from the Galen Center. Not shy of the limelight, A&M has been successful this season compiling a 7-2 record when playing on the tube. All rounds of the NCAA Tournament will be televised exclusively on ESPN and ESPN2.
TEXAS A&M IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Aggies are 2-3 all-time in NCAA Tournament games. They received an at-large bid and No. 13 seed in 1994 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 by upsetting the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds along the way in Florida (78-76) and San Diego State (75-72 OT) respectively. A&M later fell to top-seeded Purdue (82-56) in the Sweet 16. This will mark the third time A&M will play an NCAA Tournament game on California soil. The Aggies played San Diego State in San Diego and Purdue in Palo Alto in the 1994 Tournament. They earned an automatic bid in 1996 after upsetting top-seeded and then No. 7-ranked Texas Tech (72-68) in the Southwest Conference Tournament title tilt on March 9, 1996. A&M suffered a first-round loss to Kent State in the 1996 Tournament. Last year, the Aggies made their first NCAA Tournament appearance after a 10-year absence and were seeded No. 6 in the Cleveland Regional and lost to TCU (69-65) in the NCAA First Round in Trenton, N.J. They were previously seeded No. 13 in the 1994 West Regional and No. 7 in the 1996 West Regional. Historically, the Aggies have only advanced passed the first round once in three previous NCAA Tournament appearances.
TOURNAMENT AND BRACKET OVERVIEW
Texas A&M (Big 12) is one of only three BCS Conference member schools playing at the Los Angeles first-and-second round site along with Louisville (Big East) and Arizona State (Pac-10) showing the strength of mid-major schools this season. Other teams playing at USC's Galen Center are No. 6 seed Louisville (26-7), No. 11 seed BYU (23-9), No. 3 seed Arizona State (28-4) and No. 14 seed UC Riverside (21-9). All four of those teams are seeded in the opposite side of the bracket in the Greensboro Regional. North Carolina (30-3) is the top seed to beat in the Dallas Regional. A&M is one of four top seeds in the regional including No. 2 seed Purdue (28-5) and No. 3 seed Georgia (25-6). No. 6 seed Iowa State (25-8) and No. 11 Washington (18-12), two of the schools who defeated the Aggies in regular season play, will play each other in first round action in Minneapolis and are seeded in the Dallas Regional.
LOOKING AT THE MAVERICKS
Texas-Arlington is making its second all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament (2005 and 2007) and both under seven-year head coach Donna Capps. UTA advanced to the Big Dance by defeating Stephen F. Austin (68-47) in the Southland Conference championship game on March 10 to earn the league's automatic bid. The Mavericks finished the SLC regular season with an undefeated 16-0 record and have already registered the most wins ever in school history with a 24-8 record. Leading scorer Terra Wallace was named Southland Conference Tournament MVP after guiding UTA to its second SLC Tournament title in three years. She is averaging a team-leading 16.6 points per game. The Mavs strive for perfection on the court and currently rank fourth nationally in turnovers per game (13.2). They went 0-2 against A&M common opponents with a 64-62 overtime loss to Pepperdine on Dec. 1 and 64-49 loss at Texas Tech on Dec. 6.
BOISE STATE SCOUTING REPORT
Most sports fans around the country remember Boise State most for its blue football turf and for upsetting Oklahoma in a Fiesta Bowl overtime thriller this past January. The Broncos have also seen the same success on the basketball court this season as the reigning Western Athletic Conference regular season co-champions and tournament champions. BSU defeated New Mexico State (49-46) in the WAC Tournament championship game to claim the program's first-ever conference tournament title. The Broncos are making their second all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament behind an at-large berth in 1994 as members of the Big Sky Conference. They are 0-1 against top 25 opponents this season with a loss to No. 13-ranked Purdue (80-64) in the Duel In The Desert championship game held in Las Vegas on Nov. 21. The Broncos are vying for their first tournament win.
BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
George Washington's NCAA Tournament resume mirrors Texas A&M's among the four-team field. The No. 14/13-ranked Colonials have been ranked in both national polls since the preseason polls came out in November and have one of the top defenses in the country. Two of their three losses this season came against two of the top teams in the nation in top-seeded Tennessee (85-62) on Dec. 7 and defending national champion Maryland (73-48) on Nov. 19. The Colonials are making their 14th overall and fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Joe McKeown. They are 2-3 against top 25 opponents this season. GWU was upset in the semifinals of the Atlantic-10 Conference Championship with a two-point loss to Saint Joseph's (57-55) on March 4. However, the Colonials won the regular season title for the sixth-straight year with an undefeated 14-0 mark in league play. Junior point guard Kimberly Beck ranks 20th nationally in assists per game (5.5), while the GWU defense has frustrated opponents allowing them to shoot 35 percent or worse from the floor which ranks 10th-best among NCAA leaders in the category.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2006-07 Stats)
#10 A'Quonesia Franklin, G, 5-3, Jr. (10.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg)
#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, So. (14.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
#21 Morenike Atunrase, G/F, 5-10, Jr. (10.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg)
#24 Patrice Reado, F, 6-0, Jr. (7.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, So. (6.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg)
TEXAS-ARLINGTON
No. Name (2006-07 Stats)
#10 Maryann Abanobi, G, 5-8, Jr. (10.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg)
#22 Terra Wallace, G, 5-7, Sr. (16.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg)
#3 Tojjinay Thompson, F, 5-9, Sr. (4.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
#20 Ashley Bobb, F, 5-11, Sr. (8.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg)
#24 Tiffeny Riles, C, 6-1, Jr. (9.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg)
BOISE STATE
No. Name (2006-07 Stats)
#12 Tasha Harris, G, 5-7, So. (10.6 ppg, 3.9 rpg)
#15 Jessica Thompson, G, 5-9, So. (14.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg)
#2 Jackie Lee, F, 5-9, Jr. (7.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg)
#55 Jackie Thompson, F, 5-11, Sr. (4.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg)
#44 Michelle Hessing, C, 6-2, Sr. (11.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg)
GEORGE WASHINGTON
No. Name (2006-07 Stats)
#5 Kimberly Beck, G, 5-8, Jr. (11.2 ppg, 5.5 apg)
#32 Sarah-Jo Lawrence, G, 5-11, Jr. (13.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
#3 Whitney Allen, F, 5-11, Jr. (6.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg)
#20 Kenan Cole, G/F, 5-10, Sr. (10.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg)
#1 Jessica Adair, C/F, 6-4, So. (13.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg)
SERIES HISTORY
Texas A&M leads 7-1 in the all-time series versus Texas-Arlington. The Aggies pulled out a narrow 72-70 victory in both team's last meeting on Dec. 14, 2002 in College Station. It is the closest contest between the two schools in eight all-time meetings. A&M has won seven-straight in the series. Prior to the two-point win in 2002, the Aggies won by an average margin of 20 points per game with a 27-point blowout on Feb. 15, 1979 (72-45). UTA's only victory in the series dates back to the first game contested between both schools during the 1975-76 season. The Mavs last defeated A&M (79-69) on Feb. 5, 1976. This will mark only the second time in the new millennium in which A&M and UTA will have faced each other. The Aggies are 2-1 when playing the Mavericks on a neutral court having last done so in 1976 at the Baylor Invitational, 1977 in the TAIAW State Tournament and 1979 at the Texas Classic. Should A&M advance past the first round, it would mark first time meetings with George Washington or Boise State.
LOOKING FOR WIN NO. 25
Texas A&M will look for win No. 25 against the Mavericks in first-round action Saturday. In the first two seasons of the Gary Blair era, the Aggies combined for 25 total victories with a 9-19 record in 2003-04 and 16-15 record in 2004-05. A victory would give the Aggies their second-most victories in school history behind the program's 26-18 campaign in 1978-79. A&M has compiled 20-win seasons seven times in 1978-79 (26-18), 1974-75 (24-9), 1993-94 (23-8), 2005-06 (23-9), 2006-07 (23-5), 1994-95 (21-9) and 1995-96 (20-12). No matter what happens in postseason play, mathematically the odds are in favor of the Aggies recording their fewest losses in a single season next to a 23-8 campaign in 1993-94.
BLAIR AMONG THE BIG NAMES OF BASKETBALL
Who says nice guys don't finish first? Described by many as an all-around good guy among the coaching ranks, Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair was recently named one of the top four finalists for the prestigious Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year Award as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on March 14. Blair is joined on the final ballot by Connecticut's Geno Auriemma, Duke's Gail Goestenkors and Tennessee's Pat Summitt. The Naismith Award is the most prestigious national award presented annually to the men's and women's college basketball coaches of the year. The winner will be named at the Naismith Awards banquet on April 5 in Atlanta. Blair is one of only four coaches in NCAA history to take three different schools to the NCAA Tournament including Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer, Ohio State's Jim Foster and former great Marianne Stanley who won three national championships at Old Dominion. He is one of the top 30 all-time winningest active Division I women's basketball coaches with a career record of 480-212 (.694). Blair has led 13 different teams to the Big Dance in his 22-year coaching career.
BLAIR NCAA TOURNAMENT RESUME
1: NCAA First Round Losses
6: NCAA Second Round Losses
1: NCAA Final Four Appearances (1998)
4: NCAA Sweet 16 Appearances (1989, 1990, 1992, 1993)
13: NCAA Tournament Appearances
16: 20-Win Seasons
7: 10-Win Conference Seasons
18: Postseason Appearances
21: Winning Seasons In 22 Years
480: Career Victories
THREE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS IN NCAAs
*Gary Blair (Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M)
*C. Vivian Stringer (Cheyney State, Iowa, Rutgers)
*Jim Foster (Saint Joseph's, Vanderbilt, Ohio State)
Marianne Stanley (Old Dominion, USC, Stanford)
*denotes current active coach
THE AGGIELAND 500
Texas A&M (498-479) is two wins away from recording its 500th overall victory in the 33-year history of the program. A&M's first season of women's basketball began in 1974-75. The Aggies would become one of only 121 Division I women's basketball programs to accomplish that feat (about 36 percent of the 335-team membership). Over the last three seasons, A&M has won 63 overall games which is more than six seasons of wins combined (62) from 1998-2004. In those six seasons, the Aggies compiled 13 victories or less with single digits twice (7-20 in 1998-99 and 9-19 in 2003-04). A&M and Iowa State are the only Big 12 schools who have yet to reach the 500-win mark.
SOLID "D"
There's no question that no one plays defense harder or tougher than Texas A&M. The nation will get to see first hand what many Big 12 Conference opponents fear when matching up against the Aggies on any given night. A&M currently ranks seventh nationally in scoring defense holding opponents to under 53.5 points per game. The Aggies top the Big 12 in scoring defense, three-point field goal percentage defense (27.1) and turnover margin (+5.6). They are not the only first-round team in Los Angeles with stingy defenses. Three of the four teams in their four-team field rank among the top 15 teams in the country in scoring defense including Texas-Arlington (10th, 53.8) and George Washington (15th, 55.0). Last season, UTA led the nation in the category allowing just 51.6 per game. Opponents are averaging 22.2 turnovers per game against the Aggie defense, while UTA opponents are averaging 19.0 miscues and GWU opponents 19.7 miscues per contest.
NCAA LEADERS SCORING DEFENSE (as of March 11)
1. LSU 49.4
2. Duke 51.6
3. Hartford 52.5
4. Arkansas-Little Rock 52.7
5. Delaware State 53.0
6. Coppin State 53.2
7. Texas A&M 53.5
8. Purdue 53.5
9. Marist 53.7
10. Texas-Arlington 53.8
11. Army 53.9
12. Connecticut 54.4
13. Wyoming 54.5
14. New Mexico 54.8
15. George Washington 55.0
MOST IMPROVED AWARD GOES TO ...
Just three years ago, Texas A&M went 9-19 overall and 2-14 in Big 12 Conference play. Three years later, the Aggies have turned in back-to-back 20-win seasons, back-to-back 10-win seasons in conference play, back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and their first-ever Big 12 Conference regular season crown. A&M is the most-improved ball club in the Big 12 in a three-year span having gone from 11th place in the league in 2004 to tied for first place in 2007. With its current 24-6 overall record, A&M has already assured itself of its 19th all-time winning season in the 33-year existence of Aggie women's basketball. They have posted three consecutive winning seasons under head coach Gary Blair. Blair has led 16 different teams to 20-win seasons combined at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and A&M including last year's 23-9 NCAA Tournament squad.
TEXAS ROOTS, TEXAS HOOPS
The Texas A&M roster is made up of 64 percent of all-state players from the Lone Star State. Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair began his coaching career at Dallas' South Oak Cliff High School from 1973-80 where he also taught physical education. One of his early gym class pupils was former NBA All-Star Dennis Rodman. Blair coached Rodman's sisters, Debra and Kim, who went on to become All-Americans at Louisiana Tech and Stephen F. Austin respectively. Texas A&M associate head coach Vic Schaefer and assistant coach Amy Tennison both have Texas high school roots as well. Just like the Aggie coaching staff, Texas-Arlington has used its high school connections to recruit some of the state's best talents with 100 percent of their roster hailing from the state of Texas. UTA head coach Donna Capps, one of the most successful high school coaches in Texas High School Girls Basketball history, put together winning programs at both North Mesquite High School and Crandall High School. Texas A&M redshirt freshman Ashlaa Horton (Cedar Hill, Texas) played high school basketball alongside UTA freshmen Kiarra Shofner and Meghan Nelson at Cedar Hill High School. Horton was rated No. 145 nationally and the No. 33 power forward by All-Star Basketball Report.
DROPPING IT LIKE IT'S HOT
Texas A&M has been on fire from downtown shooting a conference-leading 34.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Aggies rank 17th nationally when dropping down the three as of March 11. As a team, they have tallied 144 three-pointers which ranks second-most in a single season behind 159 set in 1994-95. A&M has drained five-or-more three-pointers in 16 games this year including a season-high 11 against Mercer on Nov. 16. Leading the way from three-point land is junior A'Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) who has drained 47 treys this season. She is hitting on 34.1 percent of her three-point attempts and currently ranks fifth all-time in career three-pointers made (105) in school history. In three-point accuracy, freshman Adrian McGowen (Goodrich, Texas) is shooting a team-best 50.0 percent (12-of-24) followed by junior Katy Pounds (41.7), sophomore Takia Starks (39.5) and junior Morenike Atunrase (33.7). Starks ranks sixth in the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage and ranks ninth all-time in career three-pointers (76). George Washington also ranks 12th nationally with a 37.1 percent accuracy from three-point range.
COACHING FRATERNITY
The coaching fraternity is always such a small world. Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair will reunite with two of his good friends in the business this week in Los Angeles - George Washington head coach Joe McKeown and Louisville head coach Tom Collen. Last summer, Blair and McKeown both fulfilled lifetime dreams by attending The Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club. Blair also celebrated McKeown's 50th birthday in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, Collen served as one of the top assistants for Blair at Arkansas from 1993-97. He brought in two of the Razorback's top 20 recruiting classes while in Fayetteville. In fact, two members of Blair's coaching staff at Arkansas followed him to College Station - associate head coach Vic Schaefer and assistant coach Kelly Bond. Both have brought in back-to-back top 20 recruiting classes for the Aggies.
13 GOING ON 30
The Aggies have played 30 games so far this season which marks the 10th time in school history to do so. The school record for most games played in a single season is 44 (1978-79) followed by 37 in 1977-78 and 33 in 1974-75. A&M has played 31 games on four occasions and 32 games twice. The Aggies have reached postseason play six times (Four NCAA and Two WNIT) in the 10 times they have played 30-or-more games in a single season.
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women's basketball games can be heard via a radio broadcast on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Tom Turbiville (play-by-play) and Amy Wright (color analyst) will call first-and-second round action live from the Galen Center on KZNE 1150 AM The Zone.