January 25, 2008
The 20th-ranked Texas A&M women?â„¢s basketball team (13-6, 1-4) continues its two-game road swing through the Heartland of America with a Saturday, Jan. 26 road tilt at Kansas (12-6, 1-4) in Lawrence, Kan. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. at historic Allen Fieldhouse. A&M is looking to rebound from a 73-60 loss at Nebraska on Jan. 23, while KU is hoping to do the same. Both the Aggies and Jayhawks have mirror-image schedules and are searching for their second Big 12 Conference win of the season. A&M?â„¢s four losses in league play have come against the top four teams in the league in Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Nebraska, while KU has lost to Baylor, OSU, Nebraska and Colorado. Both teams will rely on its back court with two of the league?â„¢s top scorers and top point guards on hand in Texas A&M?â„¢s Takia Starks (17.3 ppg) and A?â„¢Quonesia Franklin (4.7 apg) and Kansas?â„¢ Danielle McCray (14.9 ppg) and Ivana Catic (3.8 apg). The Aggies carry a four-game winning streak in the series and have defeated KU by an average margin of 7.8 points in that stretch.
CHALK TALK ON THE JAYHAWKS
Picked to finish 10th in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll, Kansas looks to improve on its 4-12 mark in conference play a year ago. It will be a tough task as KU has won only 10 of its last 27 games spanning over three seasons of league play. The Jayhawks recently turned the corner as they picked up their first win of the season against border rival Missouri (66-60) on Jan. 19. A&M will be the Jayhawks?â„¢ fourth top 25 test with a non-conference loss at No. 12 Cal (74-41) on Dec. 21, prior to facing their three ranked Big 12 foes in Baylor and OSU. Fourth-year head coach Bonnie Henrickson leads one of the league?â„¢s youngest squads with nine underclassmen on the 14-player roster including sophomore guard Sade Morris who is one of two KU players averaging double figures in scoring (11.6 ppg).
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2007-08 Stats)
#10 A?â„¢Quonesia Franklin, G, 5-3, Sr. (8.2 ppg, 4.7 apg)
#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Jr. (17.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg)
#21 Morenike Atunrase, G/F, 5-10, Sr. (8.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
#55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Jr. (14.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg)
#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Jr. (4.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
KANSAS
No. Name (2007-08 Stats)
#3 Ivana Catic, G, 5-8, Jr. (4.8 ppg, 3.8 apg)
#20 Sade Morris, G, 5-11, So. (11.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
#4 Danielle McCray, G/F, 5-11, So. (14.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg)
#13 Taylor McIntosh, F, 5-11, Sr. (7.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
#14 Krstyen Boogaard, C, 6-5, Fr. (8.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
INSIDE THE SERIES
Kansas holds a 7-5 advantage in the all-time series. However, A&M has won the last five out of six contests between the two schools including the last four straight. All but one of the Aggies?â„¢ and Jayhawks?â„¢ 12 all-time meetings has occurred outside of Big 12 Conference play dating back to the series opener (L, 55-72) on Dec. 29, 1987. A&M lost its first five meetings with KU upon the league?â„¢s inception in 1996-97 and claimed its first-ever win in Lawrence (58-51) on Jan. 5, 2002. The Aggies are 3-2 all-time at Allen Fieldhouse.
A LOOK BACK
Patrice Reado scored 18 points and Danielle Gant had 15 points and 10 rebounds in No. 18 Texas A&M?â„¢s 64-53 victory over Kansas on Feb. 3, 2007, at Reed Arena. The Aggies 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, which lost its fifth in a row and 12 of 13. Danielle McCray had 11 points and Shaquina Mosley added 10 points and 10 assists. Mosley?â„¢s layup tied the game at 36 with 15:39 remaining in regulation. But, the Aggies went on a 13-0 run to take control. Gant started the spurt with a basket and A?â„¢Quonesia Franklin hit a three-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?â„¢s tip-in, before the Aggies finished the first half with a 14-6 surge to take the lead.
DID YOU KNOW?
?* Head coach Gary Blair is an undefeated 7-0 all-time versus Kansas in his 23 years as a Division I head coach. In fact, KU remains winless in the series between the two schools in the Gary Blair Era (2003-Present).
?* There will be an international flair to Saturday?â„¢s game as three players on both rosters combined hail from Eastern Europe. Texas A&M sophomore forward Katrina Limbaha hails from Riga, Latvia, while Kansas?â„¢ Ivana Catic and Marija Zinic are both natives of Serbia. Limbaha came to the United States as an exchange student during the 2004-05 school year. With only a year and a half of basketball experience, she led Lake Country Christian High School in Fort Worth, Texas, to a state championship title as a junior. Her host family, John and Michal Dedwyler, are both A&M graduates.
?* The Aggies will have played five out of their six Big 12 North foes in the month of January with a two-game road swing at Nebraska on Jan. 23 in Lincoln, Neb., and Kansas on Jan. 26 in Lawrence, Kan. A&M will close out the month with a home date scheduled versus Missouri on Jan. 29. Last season, A&M went 4-2 against the Big 12 North and 9-1 in the Big 12 South.
?* Texas A&M continues to make its mark as a basketball powerhouse as one of only six schools in the country to have both its men?â„¢s and women?â„¢s basketball teams ranked in the top 25 polls. The Aggie women are ranked No. 20 and No. 21, while the Aggie men are ranked No. 16 and No. 18 and are led by former Kansas point guard Mark Turgeon (1984-87). A&M is among the likes of traditional basketball powers North Carolina, Duke, Tennessee, Stanford and Baylor.
THERE?â„¢S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Freshman Tyra White returns home to the Kansas City area where she starred at Hickman Hills High School and was named Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Missouri. White, the second McDonald?â„¢s High School All-American to ever sign with A&M, suffered a season-ending ACL injury to her right knee in four minutes of play in the team?â„¢s season opener at SMU on Nov. 9. Tabbed as Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year, she was rated the No. 17 overall prospect in the nation by HoopGurlz.com and the fourth-best shooting guard by the All-Star Girls Basketball Report.
TOP 10-CHART TOPPERS
Colorado may have the duet of Brittany Spears and Whitney Houston, but Texas A&M has its own top 10-chart stoppers in Takia Starks and Morenike Atunrase. Starks (1,148) and Atunrase (1,111) currently rank ninth and 10th respectively in career scoring in the A&M record books. The All-Big 12 performers continue to climb the scoring charts this season along with senior A?â„¢Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) who is closing in on 1,000 with 977 career points to date. Atunrase and Franklin are currently averaging 8.1 and 8.2 points per game respectively. Franklin also needs 11 more assists to record her fourth-straight 100+ assist season (89).
ON THE REBOUND
For the first time in four-straight games, the Aggies won the battle of the boards at Nebraska, 38-32, behind a team-leading nine rebounds by junior La Toya Micheaux (Missouri City, Texas). Micheaux is eight boards away from becoming the 18th player in school history to gain entrance into A&M?â„¢s 500-Rebound Club with 492 to date. Junior Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) already surpassed the 500 career rebound mark earlier this season (552) and is currently the team?â„¢s leading rebounder averaging 7.1 boards per game which ranks 16th in the Big 12. Senior Patrice Reado (Houston, Texas) also looks to gain entrance into the elite club with 467 to date.
AGGIELAND 1,000
The Aggies are approaching their 1,000th game in school history and will reach the milestone against Missouri on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at Reed Arena. A&M played its first official game with a 59-56 win over Prairie View A&M (exact date unknown) to open up the 1974-75 season. They own a 512-486 (.513) record in 34 seasons of basketball in Aggieland and currently have played 998 games to date.
NEBRASKA RECAP
Danielle Page recorded a game-high 25 points to lead Nebraska to its 11th-straight home victory of the season with a 73-60 win over No. 20 Texas A&M on Jan. 23 at the Devaney Center. The Cornhuskers ended a three-game losing skid in the all-time series versus the Aggies. A&M was led in scoring with 18 points from Takia Starks and 16 points from Danielle Gant. Gant had seven of A&M?â„¢s first points of the contest as the Aggies took a 14-6 lead with 12:11 to go on the first-half clock. Page helped Nebraska regain the lead by scoring 15 of her 25 points in the first half alone to give the Huskers a 42-29 halftime edge. In the second half of play, the Aggies inched closer and got within five points on a jumper by Gant at the 9:45 minute mark. A&M, however, couldn?â„¢t shake off Nebraska?â„¢s defensive pressure as the Huskers led by as many as 19 points down the stretch. Kelsey Griffin turned in a double-double performance with 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskers who converted 25-of-33 attempts from the free throw line. For the game, the Aggies shot 46.6 percent from the floor (27-of-58) in comparison to Nebraska?â„¢s 41.1 percent. The Husker defense forced A&M to commit a season-high 30 turnovers in which they converted into 25 of their opponent season-high 73 points. Morenike Atunrase contributed eight points and six rebounds in only her second start of the season after recovering from surgery in October to correct a non-healing stress fracture in her right tibia.
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women?â„¢s basketball games can be heard via a radio broadcast on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Play-by-play announcer Tom Turbiville will call the action live from Allen Fieldhouse alongside Katy Pounds on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.
CONFERENCE ROUNDUP
Texas A&M?â„¢s first two opponents of the Big 12 season, Baylor and Kansas State, remain an undefeated 5-0 with a one-game lead in the early-going of the conference race. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State and Nebraska round out the top four spots with 4-1 records in the latest league standings followed by Oklahoma in fifth at 3-2. Texas and Colorado are tied for sixth at 2-3, while A&M is situated in a five-way tie for eighth along with Texas Tech, Iowa State, Kansas and Missouri at 1-4.
BIG 12 CONFERENCE STANDINGS
1T. Baylor (17-1, 5-0)
1T. Kansas State (13-5, 5-0)
3T. Oklahoma State (16-2, 4-1)
3T. Nebraska (15-4, 4-1)
5. Oklahoma (12-4, 3-2)
6T. Texas (14-5, 2-3)
6T. Colorado (13-5, 2-3)
8T. Texas A&M (13-6, 1-4)
8T. Texas Tech (13-6, 1-4)
8T. Iowa State (12-6, 1-4)
8T. Kansas (12-6, 1-4)
8T. Missouri (8-10, 1-4)