No. 2 Seed Texas A&M Heads Into NCAA Tournament With Momentum

March 19, 2008

Forget the high school prom or the debutante ball, the eighth-ranked Texas A&M women?™s basketball team (26-7) is breaking out a new pair of dancing shoes for an even bigger and grander event in March. For the third-straight year, the Aggies will be a part of the Madness, but this time on the heels of a program-best No. 2 seed and high expectations from not only the media, but of themselves. There has been quite a lot of dancing for the Aggies since kicking off the season with hip-hop sensation Soulja Boy?™s appearance at A&M?™s version of Midnight Madness in October. However, nothing compares to the magnitude and the national presence the Aggies have accomplished in five short months since then. A veteran A&M squad is now standing in the same footing and laced-up shoes as the elite programs such as the Tennessee?™s, Connecticut?™s, North Carolina?™s, Duke?™s and Rutgers?™ of the world. The Aggies will head into postseason play with a lot of momentum having won 13 of its last 14 games en route to their first-ever Big 12 Tournament title and season-best nine-game winning streak. A&M will face 15th-seeded UTSA (23-9) in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division I Women?™s Basketball Championship on Saturday, March 22 at 11 a.m. (CT) in Baton Rouge, La. Both teams were placed in the Oklahoma City Regional with defending national champion Tennessee as the top seed to beat in the 64-team tournament field. The Aggies, who received their highest-ever national ranking in the final Associated Press Poll released on Monday, are out to prove why they are one of the hottest teams in the country and will have a national stage to showcase their talents. A&M is looking to notch its most victories in school history as the Aggies are currently tied with the 1978-79 squad (26-18) with 26 wins on the year. The winner of the first-round game will meet either seventh-seeded Syracuse (22-8) or 10th-seeded Hartford (27-5) in second-round action on Monday, March 24 at 7:00 or 9:30 p.m. (CT). Both games will be televised live from the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on ESPN2.

THE AGGIES?™ DANCE CARD

The Oklahoma City Regional not only boasts the third-ranked Lady Vols but a slew of potential top 25 dance partners in No. 9 Duke, No. 14 Oklahoma, No. 15 Notre Dame and No. 18 Utah. The Aggies, Blue Devils and Sooners round out the other top four seeds in the regional. The Baton Rouge first-and second-round site also includes No. 2 seed and host LSU (27-5) along with seventh-seeded Marist (31-2), 10th-seeded DePaul (20-11) and 15th-seeded Jackson State (18-13) who are playing in the opposite side of the bracket in the New Orleans Regional. Of the four OKC regional site schools, A&M is one of four teams who received NCAA automatic bids along with Southland Conference champion UTSA and America East champion Hartford. The Aggies will play in one of two early games to kick off March Madness and tournament coverage on Saturday. They have played in the PMAC on five previous occasions in the all-time series with LSU, pulling off a 67-61 road victory in their last trip to Baton Rouge in 1993. A&M also played two SWAIAW Regional Tournament games in the venue during the end of the 1979-80 season.

HOW THEY GOT THERE

With the seventh-toughest schedule in the nation according to CollegeRPI.com, A&M had four non-conference opponents earn NCAA Tournament berths including Conference USA champion SMU, Auburn (SEC at-large), George Washington (Atlantic 10 at-large) and Florida State (ACC at-large). The preseason favorites to win the Big 12 Conference, the Aggies turned a 1-4 league start into a dominating late-season run leading into the NCAA Tournament. Four of their last six contests include quality wins over top 25-ranked opponents and back-to-back high-scoring affairs and top 10 upsets of then-No. 8 Baylor (72-53) on March 1 and then-No. 10 Oklahoma (73-59) on March 6. The Aggies went 11-6 versus regular-season opponents who qualified for the tournament including 8-1 in its final 14-game stretch before NCAAs. A&M became the first No. 4 seed in league history to win the conference?™s postseason tournament title after tying OU and Oklahoma State for third-place in the regular-season standings with an 11-5 mark.

TEXAS A&M IN NCAA TOURNAMENT PLAY

The Aggies are making their fifth all-time NCAA Tournament appearance next to 2007 (NCAA Second Round), 2006 (NCAA First Round), 1996 (NCAA First Round) and 1994 (NCAA Sweet 16). The Big 12 Tournament champions are 3-4 in postseason play and earned an automatic bid for the second time in school history next to winning the final Southwest Conference Tournament title in 1996. A&M?™s No. 2 seed is its highest to date and eclipsed a previous program-best No. 4 seed in last year?™s Dallas Regional. Historically, six No. 2 seeds have gone on to win a national championship including Tennessee in 1987, Louisiana Tech in 1988, Texas Tech in 1993, Connecticut in 2004, Baylor in 2005 and Maryland in 2006. Ironically, former A&M women?™s basketball head coach Lynn Hickey is in her ninth year as the Director of Athletics at UTSA and previously served as senior associate athletic director/senior woman administrator at A&M. She coached the Aggies from 1984-94 which is still the longest coaching tenure in 34 seasons of Aggie Basketball. In her final season, Hickey led A&M to its first and only Sweet 16 appearance as the Aggies became the first No. 13 seed in NCAA Tournament history to advance past the first and second rounds. They eventually lost to top-seeded Purdue (82-56) in the regional semifinals on March 24, 1994 in Palo Alto, Calif. The 1994 A&M squad and 2005 Liberty squad remain the only two Cinderella teams in tournament history to reach the regional semifinals as a No. 13 seed. Since the first 1982 NCAA Championship, both programs still remain the lowest-seeded teams to ever advance past the second round.

ON THE DEUCE

For a school-record 13th time this season, Texas A&M will appear on television as all 63 games of the 2008 NCAA Division I Women?™s Basketball Championship will be aired exclusively on ESPN Networks. The non-camera shy Aggies are used to playing in the limelight as they are 9-3 when playing on the tube this season and have won their last seven nationally-televised contests on ESPN2 or FSN. A&M will make its eighth all-time appearance on ESPN and its sister network ESPN2 on Saturday. Eric Collins (play-by-play), former college and WNBA coach Carolyn Peck (color analyst) who led Purdue to a National Championship crown in 1999 and Allen Hopkins (sideline reporter) will call A&M?™s first-round game live on ESPN2. Please note that in the home markets of competing teams, ESPN will primarily televise the game of local interest while fans outside of the state of Texas will experience the network?™s whip-around coverage in the first two rounds of the tournament. Check your local listings. Viewers who want to watch all early-round games in their entirety can receive them through ESPN FULL COURT, the out-of-market pay-per-view package which is available to cable and satellite customers. Call your local or satellite provider to subscribe.

MEEP MEEP!

It will be an all-?Blair? affair as eighth-year UTSA head coach and Oklahoma State grad Rae Rippetoe-Blair (no relation to Gary Blair) led the Roadrunners to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and school-record 23 victories this season. She becomes only the second Division I women?™s basketball coach with the sir name ?Blair? to reach the NCAA Tournament next to none other than A&M?™s head honcho. UTSA is one of nine schools in the field of 64 to get its first taste of March Madness. The Roadrunners defeated Lamar (65-56) in the Southland Conference championship game on March 15 to earn the league?™s automatic bid. UTSA?™s top three scorers are averaging double-digit numbers including a team-leading 14.0 points per game from Onika Anderson who was named to the SLC all-tournament team and notched a team individual season-high 27 points against Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 9. Local Bryan-College Station product Whitney York, who starred at nearby Bryan High School, is currently a freshman guard and is averaging 9.8 ppg in 32 consecutive starts for the Roadrunners.

SEEING ORANGE

Syracuse earned its first NCAA Tournament berth in six years and third all-time by way of a 10-6 record in Big East Conference play. The Orange are one of a handful of tradition-rich men?™s basketball powerhouses and annual NCAA Tournament contenders next to LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma State making a flip-flop as their male counterparts remain home with the women gaining ground in the national spotlight. SU has beaten two top 25 teams this season including then No. 23-ranked DePaul (69-66) on Jan. 29 and then No. 14-ranked West Virginia in its regular-season finale (73-51) on March 3. They have one player on their roster with Texas roots in sophomore guard Anne Marie Boidock of Dallas. Both of her siblings participated in athletics at a Big 12 school including her brother Billy (basketball) at Colorado and brother Stephen (baseball) at Kansas State. The Orange have won three of their last five and have four players averaging double figures with All-Big 12 Second Team selection Chandrea Jones leading the way at 15.2 points per game. Syracuse boasts the nation?™s second-best turnaround behind Winthrop (14) this season, winning 13 more games than it did last year (9).

PLAYING WITH HEART-FORD

Led by one of the greatest point guards in NCAA women?™s basketball history, the University of Hartford earned an NCAA automatic bid after defeating Boston University (61-45) on March 16 to lay claim to its third America East Championship title in four years under former Connecticut All-American Jennifer Rizzotti. The ninth-year head coach has built a mid-major basketball power in Connecticut?™s state capital just 40 miles west of Storrs where she led the Huskies to a National Championship in 1995. She also spent some time in Houston playing professional ball with the WNBA?™s Comets and won a World Championship in 1999 alongside Cynthia Cooper who now coaches Prairie View A&M, a team the Aggies defeated 73-54 on Nov. 15. Like A&M, the Hawks pride themselves for their defense and rank ninth nationally holding opponents to 53.5 points per game. They have held six of their last seven opponents to under 46 points. Hartford opened the season at Big 12 North rival Kansas on Nov. 11 and were edged 76-72 by the Jayhawks who finished tied for 10th in the league and are WNIT bound. The Hawks finished five places out of the top 25 receiving 16 votes in the final AP Poll. Four-time America East Player of the Week selection and leading scorer Danielle Hood is averaging 16.1 points per game.

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

TEXAS A&M

No. Name (2007-08 Stats)

#10 A?™Quonesia Franklin, G, 5-3, Sr. (7.7 ppg, 4.8 apg)

#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Jr. (16.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg)

#55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Jr. (14.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg)

#24 Patrice Reado, F, 6-0, Sr. (8.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg)

#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Jr. (3.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg)

UTSA

No. Name (2007-08 Stats)

#33 Monica Gibbs, G, 5-9, Jr. (11.1 ppg, 5.9 apg)

#21 Terrie Davis, G, 5-8, Sr. (11.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg)

#23 Whitney York, G, 5-5, Fr. (9.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg)

#31 Onika Anderson, F, 5-10, Jr. (14.0 ppg, 8.9 rpg)

#24 Amanda Foster, F, 6-3, Sr. (8.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg)

SYRACUSE

No. Name (2007-08 Stats)

#11 Tasha Harris, G, 5-9, Fr. (2.9 ppg, 3.8 apg)

#21 Erica Morrow, G, 5-8, Fr. (13.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg)

#32 Nicole Michael, F, 6-2, So. (12.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg)

#24 Chandrea Jones, F, 5-9, Jr. (15.2 ppg, 7.7 rpg)

#14 Vaida Sipaviciute, C, 6-4, Sr. (4.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg)

HARTFORD

No. Name (2007-08 Stats)

#23 Lisa Etienne, G, 5-6, Jr. (6.6 ppg, 3.5 apg)

#33 MaryLynne Schaefer, G, 5-10, Jr. (7.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg)

#4 Jamie McCabe, G, 5-10, Sr. (5.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg)

#24 Danielle Hood, F/C, 6-1, Sr. (16.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg)

#32 Erica Beverly, F, 6-0, So. (8.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg)

SERIES HISTORY

A&M leads 9-4 in the all-time series versus UTSA and last met the Roadrunners three and a half years ago during the senior class?™ freshmen campaign in 2004-05 in College Station. The Aggies prevailed with a 74-48 victory on Nov. 30, 2004 and have won three-straight in the 13-game series which dates back to the 1981-82 season. A&M has won the last three meetings between the two schools by a margin of 23.0 points per game including a 30-point rout of UTSA (78-48) on Dec. 3, 1999. A&M has never met Syracuse or Hartford in 34 seasons of Aggie Basketball, but they are 4-2 all-time against Big East schools with wins over West Virginia in 2006, Seton Hall in 2003, Notre Dame in 1995 and Cincinnati in 1993. Their two losses were to DePaul in 2005 and South Florida in 2004. The Aggies are also 1-1 all-time versus America East schools having only met Boston University in 1979 and 2003.

STAR POWER

Two reigning conference tournament MVPs will be on hand in Saturday?™s contest including Texas A&M?™s Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) who was named Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player on March 15 and UTSA?™s Monica Gibbs who selected as Southland Conference Tournament MVP on March 15. Starks is averaging a team-leading 16.9 points per game which ranks among the top five scoring outputs in the Big 12 this season. One of the conference?™s and nation?™s top two-guards, Starks has also turned up her defensive game and grabbed a total of 18 rebounds (6.0 rpg) in three games of the conference tourney including a team-high nine against Missouri in the quarterfinals on March 12. She and teammate Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) were recently honored as State Farm All-America regional finalists and will be in the running for selection to the prestigious 10-member State Farm Coaches?™ All-America Team. Meanwhile, Gibbs leads the SLC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.92), much like Texas A&M point guard A?™Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) who ranks tops in the league and 12th nationally with a 2.08 assist-to-turnover ratio. She has led in the category all four years of her career and scored a season-high 19 points in the Big 12 title game on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor.

THE BLAIR 100

Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair continues to reach coaching milestones after milestones. He is one win away from his 100th career victory in Aggieland. Blair currently ranks second all-time among A&M women?™s basketball coaches in victories (99) behind former head coach and current UTSA AD Lynn Hickey (154). Blair has compiled a 507-220 (.697) career record and became the 36th all-time Division I coach in NCAA women?™s basketball history to reach the milestone. Blair describes himself as a ?late bloomer? as he began his head coaching career at the age of 40 at Stephen F. Austin. In fact, 21 of the 25 active Division I coaches with 500-or-more career victories started their head coaching career at age 30 or younger. In a special video tribute played after his 500th career victory in a 60-46 win over Iowa State on Feb. 20, LSU head coach Van Chancellor said Blair has been ?so good for women?™s basketball? and his ?passion for the game is unbelievable.?

AN ALL-TEXAS AFFAIR

Usually, the Lone Star state is known for producing some of the top football recruits in the nation, but it has been a girl?™s basketball hotbed for years as six D-I programs are benefiting with rosters filled with some of the state?™s finest high school products. The state of Texas sent six teams to the NCAA Tournament with representation from A&M, UTSA, Baylor, Texas, SMU and UTEP. Homegrown Texans comprise 67 percent of the Aggies?™ roster, while 62 percent of the Roadrunners?™ roster. Behind the efforts of A&M associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Kelly Bond and the rest of the coaching staff, three of A&M?™s four early NLI signees last fall hail from the state of Texas including DeSoto?™s Sydney Carter, Cedar Hill?™s Skylar Collins and Houston Alief Elsik?™s Adaora Elonu whose brother Chinemelu Elonu is a sophomore forward/center on the NCAA Tournament-bound men?™s basketball team. The Aggies?™ 2008 recruiting class was ranked 12th in the country by the All-Star Girls Basketball Report.

DID YOU KNOW?

?* Head coach Gary Blair is an undefeated 7-0 all-time versus UTSA and has never faced a squad from Hartford or Syracuse in his 23 years as a Division I head coach. He is all too familiar with the Southland Conference having previously coached at Stephen F. Austin from 1985-93 and receiving SLC Coach of the Year honors five times in 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993. Associated head coach Vic Schaefer was also honored as SLC Coach of the Year in 1996 while the head coach at Sam Houston State. Blair followed in the footsteps of the late Hall of Fame coach Sue Gunter who is best known for her coaching legacy at LSU. Gunter and Blair are SFA?™s all-time winningest coaches with 266 and 210 victories respectively.

?* Talk about a lot of Gatorade to quench a hoops junkie?™s thirst with so much talent on the court in this year?™s first-and second-round site in the Bayou. Texas A&M?™s Takia Starks, Danielle Gant and Tyra White share a commonality with Hartford head coach Jennifer Rizzotti. All four were named Gatorade Player of the Year selections in their respective states out of high school. Starks was the Lone Star State?™s top choice in 2005, Gant the state of Oklahoma?™s in 2005 and White the state of Missouri?™s in 2007. Rizzotti was selected as Gatorade POTY in the state of Connecticut in 1992.

?* Texas A&M sophomore reserve forward Katrina Limbaha and fellow countrywoman Lina Lisnere of Syracuse both hail from Riga, Latvia. Limbaha previously attended Lake Country Christian High School in Fort Worth, Texas. With only one year of basketball under her belt, she led her high school to a state championship title and was named Class 3A Newcomer of the Year as a junior. Her father and maternal grandmother played basketball professionally and were members of Latvia?™s junior national team. Prior to her move to New York, Lisnere guided the Latvian U-20 junior national team to a bronze-medal finish at the European Championship. She and Limbaha were members of the Latvian U-18 junior national team and actually grew up on the same street in Riga.

?* The selection committee seems to pit A&M in regional battles outside of the state of Texas. For the third-straight year, the Aggies will face a Lone Star State school in the NCAA First Round on non-Texas soil next to TCU (Lost 69-65 in Trenton, N.J.) in 2006, UT Arlington (Won 58-50 in Los Angeles, Calif.) in 2007 and now UTSA in 2008 (in Baton Rouge, La.). Perhaps, the A&M coaching staff prepared its non-conference schedule well for the event of taking on yet another Texas school in the opening round of postseason play. This season, the Aggies played eight schools from the Lone Star State 11 times including SMU, Prairie View A&M, TCU, UT Arlington, Stephen F. Austin, Baylor, Texas Tech and Texas. They posted a 10-1 record against them.

ONE LAST HURRAH

Seniors Morenike Atunrase, A?™Quonesia Franklin, Patrice Reado, Katy Pounds and LaToya Gulley will be making every game and moment count in postseason play. Franklin and Reado make up the starting five, while the duo and Atunrase are among the team?™s top five leading scorers. As members of Coach Blair and his staff?™s first recruiting class at A&M, they have laid the foundation for many future Aggies who aspire to achieve the same greatness in years to come. Since their arrival, the senior class has contributed to exactly 90 victories over a four-year span. Pounds (degenerative knees) and Gulley (torn ACL) both suffered career-ending injuries and will be cheering on their Class of ?'08 teammates from the sidelines of the tourney. The five-member senior class has led A&M to back-to-back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back conference titles. They will finish out their Aggie careers as one of the greatest senior classes of all-time. Atunrase, Franklin, Reado and Pounds have played in all three previous NCAA Tournament games in the Gary Blair era.

BUILDING A BASKETBALL POWER IN AGGIELAND

It?™s such a great time to be an Aggie! College Station has become a field of dreams of sorts for the top college prospects in the nation in men?™s and women?™s basketball. The greatest example is Texas A&M being one of only 16 BCS-member schools to have both its men?™s and women?™s basketball programs qualify for the NCAA Tournament along with UConn, Stanford, Duke, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Purdue, Notre Dame, Texas, West Virginia, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Baylor, Oklahoma, Louisville and Kansas State. Big 12 schools made up 38 percent of the elite membership. Additionally, six mid-major or small private schools sent men?™s and women?™s teams to the field of 64 or 65 including Cornell, San Diego, Coppin State, Xavier, Western Kentucky and Oral Roberts. The Aggies await completion of the $22 million Cox-McFerrin Center for Aggie Basketball which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2008 and continue the championship vision of first-year men?™s basketball coach Mark Turgeon and women?™s coach Gary Blair.

DEFENSIVE-MINDED AGGIES

Texas A&M annually ranks among the top teams in the Big 12 and nation in scoring defense. This season is no different as the Aggies have held opponents to a scorching 55.2 points per game which ranks 16th nationally and tops in the league as of March 16. Historically, A&M has held the opposition to under 58 points for the season in 2007 (53.6), 2006 (57.5) and 1981 (45.8). Led by one of the top defensive minds in the women?™s game in A&M associate head coach Vic Schaefer, the Aggies have held all but one opponent of the season under 68 points. Only Nebraska (73), Oklahoma (68) and Colorado (68) have scored 68 points or more against the Aggie defense. In fact, A&M has held opponents to under 60 points on 23 occasions this season including its last nine. Wichita State fell victim to the Aggies with an opponent season-low 36 points on Nov. 22. The Aggies are not the only NCAA Tournament team to put a lot of focus into its defensive game. Potential second-round opponent Hartford ranks ninth in the category at 53.5 ppg, while site host LSU is tops at 50.6 ppg.

NCAA DIVISION I TOP 20 LEADERS IN SCORING DEFENSE

1. LSU (50.6)

2. UConn (51.1)

3. Rutgers (51.3)

4. Arkansas-Little Rock (51.5)

5. New Mexico (52.8)

6. Lehigh (52.9)

7. Wyoming (53.1)

8. Delaware State (53.4)

9. Hartford (53.5)

10. Utah (53.6)

11. Liberty (54.0)

12. California (54.1)

13. Drexel (54.6)

14. Long Island (54.8)

15. Stanford (54.8)

16. Texas A&M (55.2)

17. Army (55.5)

18. VCU (55.5)

19. Iowa State (55.6)

20. Coastal Carolina (55.8)

COACHING TIES

Head coach Gary Blair has made quite a number of coaching pals over the years as well as tutored former players who have risen in the ranks. In fact, after A&M won the Big 12 Tournament title last Saturday, Blair?™s e-mail, voice mail and actual mailbox overflowed with congratulatory messages and letters from across the country. Known as one of the ultimate good guys in the coaching profession, Blair coached Hartford head coach Jennifer Rizzotti while serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. Jones Cup Team in 1996. Their gold-medal winning squad became the first in USA Basketball history to go undefeated at the Jones Cup tournament held annually in Taipei, Taiwan. During his days in the Southeastern Conference, Blair was buddies with former Alabama head coach and current Syracuse assistant coach Rick Moody who came out of retirement to help his former aide Quentin ?Coach Q? Hillsman turn the Orange around from a 9-20 season in 2006-07 to a major program rebuild (22-8) in 2007-08.

STREAKING AGGIES

A&M?™s current season-best nine-game win streak ranks as the third-longest in school history. The Aggies won a school-record 11 straight from Feb. 14 through March 6 during the program?™s inaugural season in 1974-75 and 10 straight from Dec. 4 through Jan. 4 in Blair?™s third season in 2005-06. In addition, A&M?™s 13-of-14 stretch in a span of nearly two months ties a 13-of-14 stretch in a span of a day short of a month during the 1974-75 season. Last year, the Aggies got hot and won 10 of their last 11 games en route to their first-ever Big 12 regular season title in 2006-07.

?BIG? TIME BASKETBALL

Both Texas A&M out of the ?Big? 12 and Syracuse out of the ?Big? East hail from two power conferences which sent an unprecedented eight teams each to the ?Big? Dance. The ?Big? 12 was rated the No. 1 league in the land for most of the season as 11 of its 12-member schools advanced to postseason play in either the NCAA (8) or WNIT (3) tournaments. Meanwhile, the ?Big? East had eight schools receive eight NCAA bids for the third time in league history. The month of March definitely came in like a lion for the Aggies as they are playing ?big? time basketball which has translated into an undefeated 5-0 mark thus far. There is no hotter team in the country than the Aggies who fought through a league-filled with juggernauts from top-to-bottom, to an NCAA Tournament field loaded with hungry teams looking to be the next ?big? thing in women?™s college basketball.

HOMEWARD BOUND

One of the main storylines of the season was getting senior combination guard/forward Morenike Atunrase back ready and healthy after she underwent surgery in October to correct a non-healing stress fracture in her right tibia (shin bone). A steel rod was placed in her right leg and she missed the first nine games of the season while in recovery. Atunrase, formerly an All-Big 12 First Team performer in 2006 and Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2005, has been hampered by injuries as a junior (missed five games of the season due to a left foot fracture) and senior. However, she has returned to the Morenike of old and has been hitting on all cylinders ever since, averaging 13.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.4 steals per game over the last seven contests for the Aggies. Atunrase is also knocking down three-pointers at a 39.3 percent clip leading A&M to a season-high nine against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 championship game on March 15. Originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, Atunrase returns home to the Pelican State and will play in front of her family and friends for the first time in her four-year career at A&M. She led Southwood High School to two state championships in 2002 and 2003 which is the same alma mater as former Duke All-American Alana Beard.

GB = BIG 12 CHAMPS SQUARED

Gary Blair still holds the distinction of being one of only four coaches in NCAA women?™s basketball history to take three schools to the NCAA Tournament including Rutgers?™ C. Vivian Stringer, Ohio State?™s Jim Foster and Marianne Stanley who is now an assistant coach at Rutgers after leading Old Dominion to three national championships. He has led the Aggies to three-straight 20-win seasons, three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back Big 12 Conference Championship titles (regular season in 2007 and postseason in 2008). Blair credits his six core starters playing together over the last three years aiding in A&M?™s rise to the top in recent years. He is one of the top 30 all-time winningest active Division I women?™s basketball coaches and has led 14 different teams to a combined 15-13 record in the Big Dance during his illustrious 23-year coaching career which included stops at Stephen F. Austin (1985-93) and Arkansas (1993-03).

BLAIR?™S NCAA TOURNAMENT RESUME

1: NCAA Final Four Appearances (1998)

4: NCAA Sweet 16 Appearances (1989, 1990, 1992, 1993)

14: NCAA Tournament Appearances (15-13)

17: 20-Win Seasons

8: 10-Win Conference Seasons

19: Postseason Appearances

22: Winning Seasons In 23 Years

THREE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS IN NCAAs

*Gary Blair (Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M)

*C. Vivian Stringer (Cheyney State, Iowa, Rutgers)

*Jim Foster (Saint Joseph?™s, Vanderbilt, Ohio State)

Marianne Stanley (Old Dominion, USC, Stanford)

*denotes current active head coach

TEXAS A&M HOLD?™EM

In its last seven games, A&M?™s trademark defense has held four of the five Big 12 leaders in scoring offense under its normal average. Of the seven opponents, Texas (50), Iowa State (46), Baylor (53) and Oklahoma (59), were held to either its fewest or second-fewest points of the season. The Aggies have held opponents to 52.6 points per game in its current 13-of-14 winning stretch in comparison to 65.6 points per game in their 1-4 Big 12 start. Defensively speaking, A&M also ranks tops in the league in three-point field goal percentage defense (.260) and turnover margin (+5.79). The Aggies also rank fourth in steals per game (9.9 avg) behind Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection Danielle Gant who is averaging 2.3 steals per game which ranks third-best in the league. A&M held No. 3 NCAA Tournament seed Oklahoma State to -17.1 under its scoring average (76.1) which currently ranks 10th nationally as of March 16.

Last Seven Opponents (Points Allowed) and Points Below Scoring Average

Texas (50) - 20.2

Iowa State (46) - 16.4

Baylor (53) - 19.3

Oklahoma (59) - 13.9

Missouri (39) - 19.4

Iowa State (53) - 9.4

Oklahoma State (59) - 17.1

AGGIES ON THE RADIO

All Texas A&M women?™s basketball NCAA Tournament 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 the Pete Maravich Assembly Center alongside Steve Miller on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.