Texas A&M
13-4, 3-2
Texas
14-5, 3-2
Texas 64, Texas A&M 45
Jan 21, 2007 | Women's Basketball
January 21, 2007
Sophomore Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) scored 14 but it wasn?™t enough as No. 17 Texas A&M suffered a 64-45 loss at No. 22 Texas Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center.
Defense, defense, defense. That?™s all Texas heard about Texas A&M (13-4, 3-2). Tired of hearing how good the Aggies and their smothering defense could be, Tiffany Jackson and the Longhorns figured it was time to play some of their own. Jackson scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and the Longhorns forced 23 turnovers to roll over the Aggies in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown.
The Longhorns scored 26 points off the A&M turnovers and held the Aggies to a season-low 31 percent shooting. Brittainey Raven added 14 points for Texas (14-5, 3-2).
The Aggies had held opponents to an average of 49.1 points this season, but couldn?™t stop Jackson from posting her seventh double-double this season. Jackson was 9-of-12 from the floor.
?We take a lot of pride in how we play defense, but I was more impressed with Texas?™ defense than anything tonight,? Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said. ?Our post players were scared and not finishing shots. Today, my team lacked toughness and it was all about Texas.?
The Longhorns forced the Aggies into 15 turnovers in the first half, turning them into 15 points, and led 28-18 at halftime. It was the fewest points scored in a half by the Aggies this season.
A 13-5 run by Texas to open the second pushed the lead to 41-23. The Aggies, who waited to use the full-court defense that worked so well this season, tried to disrupt the Longhorns with pressure, but Texas kept extending its lead. The Aggies forced Texas into 23 turnovers, but their own miscues kept them from making a run.
Two steals and layups by Raven, and consecutive baskets by Jackson helped the Longhorns counter any momentum the Aggies could muster. Defensively, the Longhorns kept forcing A&M turnovers and Jackson's tough turnaround jumper in the lane made it 49-31.
Texas dominated scoring in the paint 32-18 and outrebounded the Aggies 41-30. Texas was 14-for-19 in the second half (74 percent). Raven scored 12 in the second half. Patrice Reado (Houston, Texas), who scored 10 points in the second half for A&M, fouled out with more than eight minutes left to remove the Aggies' best scoring threat down the stretch.
A&M will look to bounce back from the Texas loss with a midweek home game scheduled against Nebraska (16-3, 4-1) on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
Postgame Notes?...Texas A&M and Texas met for the 70th all-time in the rivalry series?...The Texas defense held the Aggies to their fewest points scored in a half this season with 18 first-half points?...A&M committed a season-high 23 turnovers in the game?...The Aggies shot a season-low 31.4 percent (16-of-51) from the floor versus the Longhorns?...They also made the fewest field goals in a single game (16) this season?...Sophomore Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) tied a season-high with 13 rebounds?...She has grabbed double-digit boards on four occasions this season?...Junior Patrice Reado scored 10 of her 12 points during the second half of play?...She fouled out of the game for the fourth time this season and third time in league play?...Texas became the only Big 12 team this season to outrebound the Aggies, 41-30...The 19-point margin of victory was the largest by an Aggie opponent this season?...Sophomore Takia Starks and A?™Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) logged in 40 minutes against Texas?...Franklin has done so five times this season and Starks three times?...With her team-high 14 points, Starks has now scored in double figures in 10-straight contests...A&M?™s 45 total points for the game tied the fewest this season along with a 48-45 loss at Kansas State in its Big 12 opener on Jan. 6.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
On the game ?...
?We take a lot of pride in how we play defense and we did not do a good job today. I was really impressed by Texas?™ defense. My team lacked toughness and it was all about Texas. They took us out of every offense that we wanted to run. Basically, it turned into a game with A?™Quonesia (Franklin) and Takia (Starks) trying to get as many shots as we could. Unless, we start doing a better job of developing an inside game and hitting some free throws in some key situations, we are going to end up being a 30-percent shooting team the rest of the year. The story is Texas today and it?™s all Texas. I?™m sure Jody (Conradt) will say that if they could play like that all year, they wouldn?™t be sitting there with their five losses this year. (Tiffany) Jackson looked like an All-American out there today. She really played under control and did not have her normal turnovers. We had 23 turnovers against half court (defense). We did not get anything out of our bench. We had a well-called ballgame against a well-played team. I tried a little bit of everything and it just didn?™t work.?
On Erneisha Bailey ?...
?Give Erneisha credit. She?™s the best shut down guard and the most improved player in this league. That kid is a winner and can play for anybody in the country. That says a lot about Jody (Conradt) and her staff for developing her. I always said that Bailey and (La Toya) Micheaux were the most improved players in this conference. One stepped up and the other didn?™t, but we had a lot of kids who didn?™t step up for us today.?
SOPHOMORE GUARD TAKIA STARKS
On their nine offensive rebounds ?...
?We are usually known as the aggressor (on offensive boards and defense) and Texas showed that today. We did not come out. We weren?™t as aggressive on the boards as we should have been.?
JUNIOR GUARD A?™QUONESIA FRANKLIN
On the game ?...
?They (Texas) basically played our defense. We should have been the intense team on defense. Getting out and denying the ball up in pressure defense. That?™s what Texas did today. They came out strong and intense. They did not give anyone room. They made us take the hard shots, instead of giving us shots easily.?
