Texas A&M
14-4, 4-2
Nebraska
16-4, 4-2
Texas A&M 66, Nebraska 65
Jan 24, 2007 | Women's Basketball
January 24, 2007
Junior Morenike Atunrase (Shreveport, La.) scored 19 points, including two big free throws with 18 seconds left as No. 21 Texas A&M beat No. 25 Nebraska, 66-65, Wednesday night at Reed Arena.
Atunrase?™s free throws gave the Aggies (14-4, 4-2) a four-point lead that Nebraska immediately closed to 66-65 on a 3-pointer by Kiera Hardy with 14 seconds left.
A&M?™s Takia Starks missed two free throws after being fouled when the Aggies inbounded the ball, but Hardy missed a jumper at the last second to spoil the Cornhuskers?™ final chance.
Junior A?™Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) led the Aggies with 21 points and sophomore Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) added 11. Sophomore La Toya Micheaux (Missouri City, Texas) led the team in rebounding with career-high tying 11.
Hardy and Kelsey Griffin led Nebraska (16-4, 4-2) with 16 points apiece. Chelsea Aubry added 12 points, while Griffin led the team with 10 rebounds.
Nebraska led 30-26 after the first half. The Cornhuskers pushed their lead to seven points at 16:28, but the Aggies went on a 9-4 run to tie the game at 11:10. The Aggies then pushed the lead to eight at 5:38 on a three-pointer by Atunrase.
The Aggies improved from 29 percent field goal shooting in the first half to 47 percent in the second. They shot 37 percent on the game to 34 percent for the Cornhuskers.
A&M travels to No. 6 Oklahoma (17-1, 7-0) next for another top 25 showdown scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 27 at 11 a.m. in Norman, Okla. The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net.
Postgame Notes?...Texas A&M improves to 2-1 against top 25 competition this season with the one-point victory over Nebraska?...It was only the Aggies fifth win against the Cornhuskers in the all-time series?...Junior A?™Quonesia Franklin tied a career-high with 21 points in 40 minutes of action versus the Huskers?...She hit her first of two three-pointers of the night at the 11:05 minute-mark of the second half to tie the game up at 43-43?...Her eight field goals marked a new career-best in the category?...She has played all 40 minutes six times this season and three times in Big 12 Conference play?...Her 21 points marked the seventh double-digit game this season?...Sophomore Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) was held to a season-low three points in the ballgame?...She has only scored in single-digits in 13 of 49 career games played for the Aggies?...Starks was previously on a 10-game double-digit scoring streak and went 1-of-8 from the floor versus the Huskers?...Junior Patrice Reado (Houston, Texas) had a career-high five blocked shots, while Atunrase had two which puts her at 133 career blocks?...She is five shy of breaking the school record for career blocks?...Texas A&M shot 36.9 percent against Nebraska?...The Aggies have shot 30 percent from the floor in all but one game this season in conference play and are 5-2 when shooting 30 percent including wins over West Virginia, North Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor and Nebraska?...Sophomore La Toya Micheaux brought down a career-high tying 11 rebounds?...The margin of victory was the closest in the series since Nebraska defeated A&M (77-73) on Jan. 9, 2002 in Lincoln, Neb?...Morenike Atunrase?™s 19 points was the most scored in conference play this season and the most points scored since fracturing her left foot at Rice on Dec. 1, 2006.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
On the end of the game ?...
?I don?™t think they were able to get what they wanted. But, I don?™t think they expected us to miss two free throws either. She (Kiera Hardy) got a good look at the end. They could have taken the short jumper, but you want your best player to have the ball at the end. She is their creator and even though it was a tough night, she hit the free throws before that and we knew she had parking-lot range. I thought we had the game won, but I knew nothing was going to be easy for us down the stretch. We got beat in transition. That?™s why they are in a top 25 team. We knew this game was going to be ugly. We are going take this win and say our kids fought hard. We had nothing going for us in the first half. We finally had Morenike (Atunrase) realize to shoot the ball, because she has a good touch. She hit some key baskets. We started to drive the basketball and that was key. We got to the free throw line. It was a great game for the fans, but not for the coaches. I?™m proud on how we executed down the stretch. We guarded that last play pretty well.?
On the upcoming Oklahoma game on Saturday ?...
?There?™s not a whole lot of momentum (going into the Oklahoma game). It is just about surviving right now. This was the biggest win for us, since we were coming off a disappointing loss at Texas. This is just how good this conference is. Sometimes when you can win and not play your best, you have to give credit to your crowd who did not give up on us tonight. You also have to give credit to these kids who made the big shots down the stretch. Oklahoma is next. Bring them all on. Right now, we are just going to play hard and get better on the practice court.?
On the team?™s defense ?...
?I think we frustrated them. They run beautiful stuff and their sets are great. We took them out of it. Give them credit for staying in it. That?™s a very good ball club that we just faced. We?™ve had three-straight games that have been very similar. Micheaux did a solid job inside. She had 11 rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers. That was major for us. Reado was pretty good defensively.?
JUNIOR GUARD/FORWARD MORENIKE ATUNRASE
On her second half play and the team?™s defense on Nebraska?™s Kiera Hardy ?...
?I went in the second half more confident than the first. I was looking for the shot and not hesitating. We just made sure she (Kiera Hardy) didn?™t catch the ball. That?™s the only way that she could create anything, when she caught the ball. Our main emphasis was denying the wings and not allowing her to have anything easy.?
JUNIOR GUARD A?™QUONESIA FRANKLIN
On the game ?...
?We just rushed a lot of things in the first half. Every shot wasn?™t a great shot. In the second half, we just tried to be patient and let the game flow with us and come to us. We wanted to take the wide-open shots. We wanted to keep the ball out of (Kiera) Hardy?™s hands as much as possible, which is very hard. She?™s a very good player. When she has the ball in her hands, she can score. We just tried to keep her in front and be close enough to contest her shot. We wanted to get back in the mode of playing the up and intense defense like we played last year. The past two days in practice, our emphasis has been on defense. That?™s what we wanted to try to do, refocus on the defensive end and try to cause more turnovers. We just tried to contain Hardy. We knew the ball was going to be in her hands. We tried to be close without fouling, because they were in the bonus.?
NEBRASKA HEAD COACH CONNIE YORI
On the game ?...
?We struggled with turnovers tonight. When you play A&M, you have to focus on that (their defense). We didn?™t show up at all. She (Kiera Hardy) sees tough defense every night and they did a good job on her. We?™ve been in enough situations this year to know the game isn?™t over until the clock goes to zero. We had a little run, but did not have enough in the end.?
