Texas A&M
9-319-5; Big 12
Iowa State
6-618-7; Big 12
Iowa State 61, Texas A&M 54
Feb 14, 2007 | Women's Basketball
February 14, 2007
Nicky Wieben scored 20 points and Toccara Ross added 12 points and 13 rebounds, leading Iowa State to a 61-54 victory over No. 13 Texas A&M Wednesday night before a crowd of 9,300 at Hilton Coliseum.
Iowa State (18-7, 6-6 Big 12) held A&M without a field goal for more six minutes during a 14-1 game-clinching run that ended the Aggies?™ six-game winning streak and dropped them to 0-6 at Hilton Coliseum.
A&M (19-4, 9-3) tied the score at 46 when Patrice Reado scored inside with 8:25 left. But the Aggies didn't get another basket until Reado scored at the 2:17 mark and the Cyclones went to the 6-foot-4 Wieben inside to put it away.
Wieben scored on a follow shot and two low-post moves to give Iowa State a 54-46 lead. After A&M's La Toya Micheaux sank a free throw, the Cyclones came back with two free throws by Wieben, two more by Heather Ezell and a turnaround shot in the lane by Ross to stretch their lead to 60-47 and finish off the Aggies.
Takia Starks hit a career-high five 3-point shots and scored 23 points to lead A&M. But she had only seven points and just one 3 in the second half. Danielle Gant added 13 points for the Aggies, who were outscored 21-2 at the free throw line and shot just 37 percent.
Morenike Atunrase, A&M's No. 2 scorer for the season with an 11.8 average, managed only two points on 1-for-7 shooting. Teammate A'Quonesia Franklin went 0-for-8 from 3-point range and scored only four points but handed out eight assists.
Ezell finished with 10 points for Iowa State, which trailed only twice in the second half, each time by one point. There five ties and three lead changes in the second half before Iowa State went on its decisive run.
Iowa State took advantage of some sloppy play by A&M to open a 15-10 lead, with Ezell getting six of those points and Megan Ronhovde adding a three-point play and a putback.
The Aggies had a shot clock violation on the game's first possession, lost the ball on an unforced traveling violation and gave it up again moments later when Franklin dribbled it off her foot.
But Starks kept getting open shots against ISU's zone and brought her team back, hitting a 3-pointer and a jumper to tie it at 15.
It went back and forth the rest of the half. Amanda Nisleit's 3-pointer and Shellie Mosman's two free throws gave the Cyclones a 28-25 lead before Starks' fourth 3 of the half tied it at 28.
Texas A&M closes out a two-game road swing this week at Oklahoma State on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. in Stillwater, Okla.
Postgame Notes...Iowa State improves to 12-3 in the all-time series versus Texas A&M?...The Aggies are now 0-6 when playing on the road in Ames?...The loss ends a program-best six conference wins in a row for the Aggies?...Sophomore Takia Starks scored a game-high 23 points to turn in her ninth 20-point game of her career?...She knocked down a career-high five three-pointers in the contest?...It was the third-straight game in which Starks reached double digits in the first half alone?...She scored 16 of the team?™s 28 first-half points?...Starks had 17 of the team?™s 34 first-half points against No. 12 Oklahoma on Feb. 10 and 16 of the team?™s 42 first-half points at Missouri on Feb. 7?...Sophomore La Toya Micheaux fouled out for the second time this season but brought down seven of the team?™s 35 rebounds on the night?...The Aggies outrebounded the Cyclones, 35-31?...Iowa State was sent to the free throw line 27 times and drained 21 from the charity stripe?...It marked the third-most free throws made by an A&M opponent this season?...It was the second-straight game in which an opponent went to the charity stripe more than 20 times and converted more than 16 of its attempts?...OU went 16-of-28 from the charity stripe in A&M?™s previous outing?...Meanwhile, the Aggies went a season-low 2-for-6 from the free throw line?...Sophomore Danielle Gant has scored in double figures in six of A&M?™s last seven games with a near double-double performance with 13 points and team-high eight rebounds versus the Cyclones?...The Aggies posted a 4-2 record against Big 12 North opponents this season, having fallen only to Iowa State and Kansas State?...Next to last season?™s program-best 6-0 sweep of Big 12 North foes, the 4-2 mark was the second-best for the Aggies since the formation of the league in 1996-97?...A&M was only able to score 11 points off of 14 ISU turnovers to mark only the sixth time this year for the Aggies to score less than 20 points off opponent miscues?...A&M made a season-low four steals versus the Cyclones.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
On the game ?...
?We shot 21 three-pointers, because we had no inside game tonight. We played three different post players. Sometimes it?™s not the defense, it?™s the offense. You have to have balanced scoring. We are not going to win basketball games in our league with two people scoring. It was just poor defense by our guards to stop dribble penetration. We didn?™t have an inside game to soften it up. It?™s hard sometimes when you are forced to take last-second shots. The head coach and point guard are the only two responsible in a loss. She (A?™Quonesia Franklin) and I didn?™t dissect their zone like we should have. Looking at our fast-break points, we were not committed on the press. We wanted to take time off the clock, but we didn?™t tonight. Give credit to Iowa State and the crowd. This is one of the best places to play in the Big 12. We have a lot of good teams in this league. Iowa State is going to finish 8-8 (in Big Conference play) and make it to the NCAA Tournament. Coach (Bill) Fennelly is doing a good job here.?
On the close game and trading baskets ?...
?I didn?™t feel comfortable throughout the ballgame. It?™s never easy to trade baskets in a ballgame. We had to get on a six or eight-point run and we never did. When you play on the road, the home team has the advantage down the stretch. We?™ve been winning, but every game has come down-to-the-wire. Last year, we were blowing out teams at home.?
SOPHOMORE GUARD TAKIA STARKS
On the team?™s offense in the second half ?...
?On offense, we weren?™t executing. In the second half, they (Iowa State) took a lot out of our offense. Basically, we didn?™t execute.?
On the Big 12 race ?...
?It?™s a great league and a tough league to play in. We are still tied for first place and are very happy. A couple of years ago, we couldn?™t have imagined this. We will look ahead to the next game (Oklahoma State) and do a lot better job.?
JUNIOR POINT GUARD A?™QUONESIA FRANKLIN
On playing against Iowa State?™s zone ?...
?They (Iowa State) did a good job on zone (defense). We could not penetrate it and execute on the offensive end. When they were on offense, they penetrated the ball. With their zone, they push you out more and the only thing to do is penetrate the zone, which we didn?™t do. We didn?™t execute our plays and dissect the zone well. They stepped up and made great shots.?
