Texas A&M
17-4, 7-2
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Kansas
6-16, 0-9
Texas A&M 64, Kansas 53
Feb 03, 2007 | Women's Basketball
February 03, 2007
Junior Patrice Reado (Houston, Texas) scored 18 points and sophomore Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) had 15 points and 10 rebounds in No. 18 Texas A&M's 64-53 victory over Kansas Saturday night at Reed Arena.
The Aggies (17-4, 7-2) won their fourth-straight Big 12 game for the first time in school history. Reado, who came in averaging 7.5 points per game, was 8-of-10 from the floor with eight rebounds.
Taylor McIntosh had 12 points for Kansas (6-16, 0-9), which has lost five in a row and 12 of 13. Dating to last season, the Jayhawks have lost 11-straight Big 12 games. Danielle McCray had 11 points, and Shaquina Mosley added 10 points and 10 assists. Mosley?™s layup tied the game at 36 with 15:39 remaining.
But, the Aggies went on a 13-0 run to take control. Gant started the spurt with a basket and junior A?™Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) hit a 3-pointer to give Texas A&M a 49-36 cushion with 8:48 left.
In that stretch, Kansas missed seven consecutive shots and turned the ball over three times. The Jayhawks took a 22-18 lead on McIntosh?™s tip-in, before the Aggies finished the first half with a 14-6 surge to take the lead.
A&M next travels to Missouri (14-7, 2-6) for a Big 12 matchup scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in Columbia, Mo.
Postgame Notes?...With the victory, Texas A&M now owns a share of first-place in the Big 12 Conference standings with Oklahoma and Nebraska with a 7-2 mark in league play?...The Aggies had their ninth-largest crowd in school history witness the 11-point win over Kansas with 5,543 fans in attendance at Reed Arena?...Sophomore Danielle Gant recorded her fifth career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds versus the Jayhawks?...She has brought down double-digit boards six times this season?...Junior Patrice Reado scored a season-high 18 points and blocked three of the team?™s 10 blocked shots?...The Aggies?™ blocked shot total was the second-most and the most in conference play this season?...Junior A?™Quonesia Franklin dished out five assists against KU to become the third player in school history to record three 100+ assist seasons?...She has distributed 100 career assists to date and joins former A&M standouts Toccara Williams (2000-04) and All-American Lisa Branch (1992-96)?...Franklin also added 10 points and has now scored in double figures in six out of the team?™s last seven outings?...The Aggies shot an improved 49.0 percent (24-of-49) for the game, their best shooting percentage this season in Big 12 play?...A&M has now won four-straight Big 12 games for the first time since the league?™s inception in 1996-97?...They previously won a program-best three Big 12 games twice in 2005-06?...The Aggies went inside against KU and scored 30 of their 64 overall points in the paint?...A&M extends its home court winning streak to 14-straight games which ranks second-longest in school history?...They remain an undefeated 13-0 at Reed Arena?...Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair hosted his old Stephen F. Austin team who were among the 5,000+ fans in attendance at the game?...Blair coached at SFA from 1985-93.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
On the game ?...
?We had great balance tonight. We felt we could hurt them inside, because they were young inside. The game was so fast and so physical that I didn?™t think we could press them like we typically do against Big 12 North teams. I think we played a solid game. We took control when it went from four-to-four (point leads) in the second half and we finally got it to six. We stretched it out and the key players did a good job. We didn?™t get any easy baskets, because they got back into transition very well. I?™m going to take this game. Overall, I think we did a lot of good things. Our bench came in and did a great job. I would have loved to get everyone in on Parents Night, but that?™s impossible in conference play. There are not going to be any blowouts. Our team is tied for first (in the Big 12), but our team has a long way to go.?
On Kansas ?...
?This was a great, great basketball game played by both teams. Can you imagine they (Kansas) haven?™t won a conference game? That?™s how strong this league is. They continually kept hitting a shot in the first half as the shot clock was going down to five seconds. We told our players that they run their stuff and never give up. If it?™s not working, they stay in it. Overall, we gave (Shaquina) Mosley two or three layups in the second half, but other than that, I thought we did as good as anyone else could do. (Taylor) McIntosh was the difference in the first half with her offensive boards, but we were able to get three fouls on her. We had great balance tonight. We felt we could hurt them inside, because they were young. They were physical, but young. Bonnie (Henrickson) is going to have a great team next year and she has good recruits coming in. Mosley is definitely an All-Big 12 performer and the rest we are going to see the next three years.?
On the team?™s defense ?...
?We were pretty solid defensively the whole ball game. We were pretty solid offensively. That?™s the best shooting percentage we have had all year in conference play. We are going to take you deep into the shot clock, because we are going to make you play every possession.?
SOPHOMORE GUARD/FORWARD DANIELLE GANT
On the game ?...
?Coach (Blair) told us earlier in the week that this game wasn?™t going to be easy. In the Big 12 right now, it?™s anyone?™s game right now. He told us just to come out and play our game. In practice, all we really practice is defense, defense, defense. Defense is what we do best. Coach Schaefer told us that we should come out and play our defense that we played last year for this game against Kansas and that?™s what we did.?
JUNIOR FORWARD PATRICE READO
On the game ?...
?When Danielle and I (and the rest of the team) come out on the court, the first thing on our mind is defense. We think about our offense second. Danielle and I hooked up and got ready to go on defense and the team followed us and that?™s how we get through the game. The team just did really well on helping each other out tonight.?
On what sparked her second half play and season-high 18 points for the game ?...
?The easy buckets, that?™s what gets me going. I?™ve been struggling the last couple of games with bunny shots as Coach (Blair) would call them. I?™ve been working hard in practice to work on finishing those bunny shots (right at the rim shots). Today, it really helped that I worked so hard in practice on those.?
KANSAS HEAD COACH BONNIE HENRICKSON
On the game ?...
?On our end, the most glaring thing on the stat sheet obviously is our defensive field-goal percentage between (Patrice) Reado and (Danielle) Gant. If we gave them 18 of the same shots, they would probably go 15-for-18. They are going to make those shots. I thought we defended (Takia) Starks and (A?™Quonesia) Franklin pretty well. For all that traffic in the paint, we needed to be able to take more than one charge. Reado did a nice job and we just got sat on inside. We have some young kids right now who do not have enough confidence to get away from somebody who wants to get to the line. We were like Velcro in there. We have some young kids who are starting to step-up and knock down some shots. This is a difficult stretch that we?™ve been in. We?™ve been able to find enough positives, but not enough to get it done. You just can?™t let people shoot 50 percent in this league, because they are going to beat you.?
