Texas A&M
19-7, 7-5
Iowa State
16-9, 5-7
Blair Picks Up Career No. 500 With Win Over ISU
Feb 20, 2008 | Women's Basketball
February 20, 2008
Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) scored 22 points to lead No. 19 Texas A&M to a 60-46 victory over Iowa State to give head coach Gary Blair his 500th career victory Wednesday night at Reed Arena.
The Aggies have won six of seven leading up to this weekend?™s meeting with rival Texas (16-10, 4-8) in Austin. A&M will look to earn another half point in the second edition of the State Farm Lone Star Showdown on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. on ESPN2.
Texas A&M (19-7, 7-5) took a commanding lead midway through the first half and led by double-digits through most of the game.
Iowa State cut the lead to 10 points on a layup by Heather Ezell with about nine minutes left. A&M went on an 8-2 run sparked by a pair of 3-pointers by senior Morenike Atunrase (Shreveport, La.) to push the lead to 54-38 with less than five minutes to go. Iowa State did not threaten again.
The Cyclones (16-9, 5-7) were coming off an upset of then-No. 15 Oklahoma State and meet ninth-ranked Baylor on Saturday.
The win makes Blair, who is in his fifth season at Texas A&M, the 36th Division I women?™s coach to reach 500 wins.
Blair?™s overall record is 500-220 and the victory is his 92nd with the Aggies. Before taking over in College Station, Blair spent 10 years at Arkansas where he was 198-120. His first head coaching job was at Stephen F. Austin, where he was 210-43 in eight seasons. His teams have finished with a losing record just once in his 22 seasons as a head coach.
The Aggies led by 17 points with about 17 minutes left before Iowa State got consecutive 3-pointers from Ezell and Kelsey Bolte to cut the lead to 38-27. Gant hit a jump shot for Texas A&M before Iowa State scored four quick points to cut the lead to single digits for the first time since midway through the first half.
Texas A&M scored the next four points to stretch its lead back to 44-31 with about 12 minutes left. Ezell led Iowa State with 14 points and Alison Lacey had 11.
The Cyclones were ahead 5-4 early before the Aggies scored 26 of the next 30 points to take a 30-9 lead about three minutes before halftime. Freshman Sydney Colson (Houston, Texas) made two 3-pointers in that span for the Aggies. The Cyclones went on a 10-4 run to close out the half and cut A&M?™s lead to 34-19 at halftime.
The Cyclones shot poorly in the first half and didn?™t get any offensive rebounds. They finished with six offensive rebounds. Texas A&M had a season-low four turnovers while Iowa State had 12.
Postgame Notes?...For the 11th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of A?™Quonesia Franklin, Takia Starks, Danielle Gant, Patrice Reado and La Toya Micheaux (7-4)?...A&M led by 15 at the half to mark its fourth-largest lead over an opponent at halftime this season?...Gant recorded a game-high 22 points to mark her 10th 20-point game of her career?...She is now eight points away from becoming the 21st player in school history to reach 1,000 career points (992)?...Only 13 known teams in NCAA women?™s basketball history have had four 1,000 point scorers on their roster in a single season?...Reado grabbed six of the team?™s 33 rebounds against Iowa State to become the 19th player in school history to gain entrance into the 500 Rebound Club with 503 to date?...The Aggies made a season-low four turnovers in the ballgame, the fewest in the last nine years?...Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair became the 36th all-time Division I coach in women?™s basketball history to reach 500 career victories?...He has compiled a 500-220 (.694) career record at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and Texas A&M combined over a span of 23 years?...With the victory, the Aggies snapped a two-game losing skid in the all-time series with Iowa State?...It also marked the program?™s third-ever win against the Cyclones in 16 all-time meetings between the two schools?...All three A&M victories in the series have happened in College Station in 2002 and 2006?...The Aggies went 4-2 versus Big 12 North foes this year in regular season play?...A video tribute at the end of the game included congratulatory messages from several current and former women?™s basketball coaches across the country?...The list included Hall of Famer, mentor and legendary Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Barmore, George Washington head coach and best friend Joe McKeown, Hall of Famer, Three-Time WNBA Coach of the Year and current LSU head coach Van Chancellor, TCU head coach and golf buddy Jeff Mittie, former assistant coach and current Arkansas head coach Tom Collen, U.S. Olympic head coach, former assistant coach and current Auburn head coach Nell Fortner, Georgia head coach Andy Landers, Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale, former player and current Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey, Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly and Texas Tech head coach Kristy Curry.
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
On his 500th career victory ?...
?Right now, I?™m just a little bit speechless. This 500th win ... I really would like to thank Coach (Vic) Schaefer for staying with us for 11 years. He could have been a head coach at a lot of other places right now. He has so much Aggie in him that it?™s going to take a great good job to get him out of here. He?™s been so instrumental in my success over the years, because we think a lot alike because of the pressure. I wasn?™t that good of a defensive coach, until I got him. I really should share a lot of this with him for all that he has done.?
On A&M?™s defensive pressure in the first half ?...
?I thought we were just doing a great job of playing pressure defense. You are not going to force a lot of turnovers off of Iowa State. You are going to force an atmosphere. The atmosphere starts with the press and it finishes with the crowd. The press gets the crowd going and when the shot clock goes down, you just hear the excitement, the bench is yelling and all of sudden they are taking poor shots in the end. That?™s just because of our defensive pressure. They were going to hit a couple of threes. We made our mind up that we were not going to let them shoot 23 threes like they did against Oklahoma State. Our kids did a good job.?
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR GUARD/FORWARD DANIELLE GANT
On Coach Blair?™s 500th career victory ?...
?We knew how important it was for him to get this win and we just wanted to come out and get that win for him.?
