Texas A&M
Mercer
No. 10 Aggies Too Much For Mercer In Season-Opening 73-45 Rout
Nov 14, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2008
Mercer Box Score in PDF Format 
Post Game Audio [mp3]:
Tanisha Smith and Sydney Colson
Associate Head Coach Vic Schaefer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - In its season opener, No. 10 Texas A&M was too much for Mercer with a 73-45 rout Friday night before a crowd of 3,387 fans at Reed Arena.
The Aggies went on a 26-5 run through the first 12 minutes of the contest as Mercer turned over the ball 19 times in the first half alone. A&M took advantage of a 41-15 lead at halftime. It marked the fourth-fewest points scored by an A&M opponent in a half.
Preseason Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) was the only other player to score in doubles figures with 12 to catapult her into the top 10 all-time in career scoring at A&M.
Senior All-America candidate Tanisha Smith (Kansas City, Mo.) added nine apiece, while freshman Adaora Elonu (Houston, Texas) was the team's leading rebounder with eight boards to go along with eight points in her official Aggie debut.
Mercer (0-1) made a comeback in the second half by improving their shooting from the floor to 34.8 percent which resulted in 30 of the team's final 45 points. The Bears were led by Oklahoma State senior transfer Natasha Doh who registered a game-high 15 points.
The Aggies (1-0) take their game on the road for the next six contests and will make their first-ever appearance in the State Farm Women's Tip-Off Classic against No. 23-ranked Pittsburgh (0-0) on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. (CT). The game will be televised live on ESPN2.
POSTGAME NOTES
• Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Tanisha Smith, Danielle Gant, La Toya Micheaux. It marked Starks' 95th of her career, Micheaux her 93rd and Gant her 56th.
• It was the first official career start for Smith and Elonu who both started against the Houston Jaguars in exhibition play on Nov. 7. Smith, the preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, led all scorers in the first half with nine points, followed by preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year Tyra White who added seven off the bench. White, a redshirt freshman, was returning to the lineup after suffering an ACL injury in her first game as an Aggie at SMU in the team's season opener on Nov. 9, 2007.
• All 15 players on the A&M roster saw action in the game including six of the team's newcomers in junior college All-American Smith and freshmen Elonu, Taniqua Hollis (one point).
• Prior to the game, the Aggies were presented with their 2008 NCAA Elite Eight and Big 12 Championship rings by their selected academic advisors, instructors and professors in their field of study at A&M.
• With her 12 points tonight, senior Danielle Gant moved into the top 10 all-time in career scoring (1,160). She moved past former A&M player Jenni Edgar (1,149) to join Takia Starks as two current Aggies ranked in the top 10. Gant also had one block to move into the top 5 in the career charts to tie former player Jaynetta Saunders (82) in the category.
• Sophomore point guard Sydney Colson entered the game at the five minute mark of the first half. She suffered a torn ACL in her right knee over the summer and had surgery performed in June. Colson, who was cleared for drills and workouts on Nov. 9, connected on a three-pointer with 4:15 remaining in the half.
• A&M improved to an undefeated 2-0 versus Mercer in the all-time series between the two schools.
• The Aggies had their second-largest crowd for a season opener with 3,387 in attendance versus Mercer. It was the second most next to 6,443 fans against Pepperdine (doubleheader with men) in the 2006-07 season opener.
• The A&M defense held Mercer to the fourth-fewest all-time points in a half by an opponent with 15.
• The Aggies made 15 blocks in the game which was more than the team's season-high of nine versus UT Arlington and New Orleans in 2007-08.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Associate Head Coach Vic Schaefer
On the game and the opening night crowd ...
"It was a tale of two halves. You have to give credit to Mercer and their Coach (Janell) Jones, who is a two-time national coach of the year. She did a great job at halftime of getting her players to come out with a whole different level of play. Their kids played really well in the second half and played with a lot of intensity. You have to give them credit. We really appreciated our fans tonight. It was a great opening night crowd. They were able to see a different team out there. It is a different year and a different team and hopefully, they will be back."
On the younger players on the team in their first game of the year ...
"We have players like Tanisha Smith and Patrice Reado. She stepped in tonight and took over that role really well in the first half."
On Sydney Colson seeing minutes against Mercer ...
"I have been with Sydney a lot during her rehab and I have seen her fight through it all. Dr. J.P. Bramhall has been incredible with her. She has really come on the last two weeks. She is a hardworking kid and deserves a lot of the credit. Sydney has a lot of good people around her in Dr. Bramhall, (rehabilitation therapist) Matt Kee and (athletic trainer) Radar Ricke, who have spent countless hours with her."
Texas A&M Junior Guard/Forward Tanisha Smith
On her first game as an Aggie and the slow pace of the second half ...
"For my first game, I was a little nervous at the beginning. It was a good start for us. We still have some things that we need to work on. Hopefully, we will get them right before we play against Pittsburgh. That will be a big game for us. It was a team effort on my teammates part for me to be able to hit those four shots. But, give Mercer credit. They came out more aggressive and started to go on the boards a lot harder. Their all-around game changed in the second half of play."
Texas A&M Sophomore Point Guard Sydney Colson
On how her knee feels and how fast she thinks it will take her to fully recover from her ACL injury ...
"It was a little sore when I first came out, because I wasn't used to doing any full court stuff. I have only been in practice for two days. I was released on Nov. 9 and saw the doctor on Wednesday. I don't want to set a date. I feel like I am about 80 percent right now. There is no telling how long it will be. It could be a few weeks. You just never know."
On the game and looking ahead ...
"I just wanted to get in there and make stuff happen for the team. Hitting a three gave me a boost of confidence as well as getting some assists and not having any turnovers. We will have it ready by Sunday, since it is a big game for us. My recovery is nothing I can't fight through. This was just a first game to give me a few minutes, get me in and not come into the next game without any experience. I felt good out there and did not have too many mistakes. It felt good to get out there and run. I'm back now and happy."
Mercer Head Coach Janell Jones
On the game ...
"Texas A&M has a lot of depth, great shooters and played really aggressively tonight. They are very well-coached and forced us to make a lot of turnovers in the first half. We shot the ball very poorly and dug ourselves into a hole. But, we kept on competing in the second half. There is a reason why they have the honor of being Big 12 Champs and have a lot of shooters who can score the ball. We had a lot of fans come down to see us play (from Oklahoma and Texas) and it was great to see Danielle (Gant) and Natasha (Doh) plays against each other after playing together in high school."
