Feb. 28, 2009
Kansas State Game Notes in PDF Format 
#12/9 TEXAS A&M (21-5, 9-4) vs. #20/15 KANSAS STATE (21-5, 8-5)
Game #27
March 1, 2009 • 12:00 p.m. (CT)
Bramlage Coliseum (12,528)
at Manhattan, Kan.
Television: Fox Sports Net
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network (KZNE 1150 AM)
Series History: Kansas State Leads 11-4
Internet: Live Audio and Statistics available on www.AggieAthletics.com
GAME PREVIEW
Some may say their toughest stretch is behind them, but the ninth-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (21-5, 9-4) knows there is still more basketball to play prior to the end of the regular season. The Aggies are coming off one of the biggest weekends in program history after sweeping in-state rival Texas (76-65) for the second-straight year on Feb. 21 and knocking off previously undefeated and second-ranked Oklahoma (57-56) on Feb. 23, all in a span of three days. A&M will take on its third consecutive top 25 opponent by traveling to No. 15 Kansas State (21-5, 8-5) for an early Sunday, March 1 tilt in Manhattan, Kan. Tipoff between the Aggies and Wildcats is set for noon at Bramlage Coliseum. A&M is 3-3 on the road this season in league play and has lost its last two attempts at Iowa State and Texas Tech. The Aggies look to start the month of March off anew and carry their recent success into their final three games of the regular season against the Wildcats, Oklahoma State and Baylor. Like several other Big 12 North venues, the Purple Palace has been a deterrent to the Aggies over the years. A&M has only won once in its six overall road trips to the Little Apple in 1999. The Aggies will look to their trademark defense to get them over the hump limiting opponents to a 35.7 percent accuracy from the floor and to 54.3 points a game which currently ranks 18th nationally as of Feb. 26. The Longhorns and Sooners both had their worst ball-handling performances of the season against A&M for a combined 58 turnovers in its last two outings. Kansas State, meanwhile, returns the services of its triple-double-waiting-to-happen point guard in Shalee Lehning who has missed three of the last four games for the Wildcats with mononucleosis and ranks second nationally in assists per game (7.7) and 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.17).
DON'T TOUCH THAT TV DIAL
A&M will make its third-straight appearance on national television over the course of nine days leading into March sweeps. Play-by-play announcer Brent Stover and color analyst Brenda VanLengen will call the action live from Bramlage Coliseum on Fox Sports Net. The game will be carried live on Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Midwest, FSN Rocky Mountain, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Houston, Comcast New England and SportSouth. Delayed broadcasts will be televised on Fox Sports North, FSN Pittsburgh, Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Wisconsin and Comcast Chicago.
WILDCAT PAUSE
Kansas State is looking to shake off two road losses in its last three games to unranked opponents in Missouri (52-43) on Feb. 18 and most recently Nebraska (52-47) on Feb. 25. The Wildcats were picked to finish seventh in the preseason Big 12 coaches poll despite returning eight players from its 2007-08 Big 12 regular-season championship squad. They are an undefeated 12-0 at home with an average of 4,580 fans per game at Bramlage Coliseum. K-State also ranks second nationally in scoring defense (51.7) and fifth in turnovers per game (13.3) which is tops in the league as of Feb. 26. They are 0-2 against teams ranked in the top 10 and 1-3 against top 25 competition. A whopping 67 percent of their lineup includes a player over six-feet tall with 6-foot-2 junior forward Ashley Sweat leading the way at 16.9 points per game and six-foot senior forward Marlies Gipson at 12.1 ppg.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#51 Sydney Colson, G, 5-8, So. (5.8 ppg, 3.1 apg)
#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Sr. (15.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
#22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Jr. (9.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg)
#55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Sr. (13.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Sr. (2.7 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
KANSAS STATE
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#5 Shalee Lehning, G, 5-8, Sr. (10.8 ppg, 7.7 apg)
#41 Kari Kincaid, G, 5-10, Jr. (7.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg)
#25 Danielle Zanotti, G/F, 6-2, Sr. (2.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg)
#4 Ashley Sweat, F, 6-2, Jr. (16.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg)
#51 Marlies Gipson, F, 6-0, Sr. (12.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
SERIES HISTORY
Kansas State leads 11-4 in the all-time series with Texas A&M. For the first time in three years, both teams will not open up the Big 12 season against each other, instead they will meet on the first of March. The Aggies have only won once in the last nine meetings between the two schools since claiming a 66-39 victory in College Station on Jan. 11, 2006 which snapped a six-game losing skid to the Wildcats in the series. A&M is 3-9 overall and 1-5 on the road at K-State since the league's inception in 1996-97. The Aggies' only win in Manhattan to date, was a 73-59 victory on Jan. 27, 1999, one of two Big 12 wins in the inaugural season of former head coach Peggie Gillom.
KANSAS STATE REPLAY
In its Big 12 Conference opener, No. 12 Texas A&M battled to keep its nation-leading consecutive home court winning streak alive but could not catch up to a hot-shooting Kansas State squad with a 67-54 loss at Reed Arena on Jan. 9, 2008. It was A&M's first loss at home since a 73-54 setback to ninth-ranked Oklahoma on Feb. 18, 2006. Three players scored in double figures for the Aggies including a team-high 17 points by Takia Starks. The game may have started with of string of errors by both squads, but the momentum shifted as the offense picked up and K-State built a 19-9 lead with 11:43 remaining in the first half. A&M came within four on eight consecutive points in a span of 43 seconds by Starks including two three-pointers. Danielle Gant made a jumper under the basket at the start of the second half to give A&M its first lead of the game, 39-38. It sparked a 15-5 run by the Aggies, but K-State countered with its own scoring spurt as A&M was held without a basket for a 10-minute stretch until a jumper by Starks with 3:39 remaining. K-State built its largest lead of 14 points on a Shalee Lehning layup with 53 seconds remaining in regulation to seal the upset.
JUST THE 10 OF US
Both teams will be shooting for its 10th win of the season in Big 12 Conference play. For the Aggies, it would mark their fourth-straight 10-win campaign and fourth overall since the league's inception in 1996-97. They have a compiled an unprecedented four-year league record of 44-17 (.721) to date. With a win, A&M would join only a select few who have turned in four consecutive 10-win seasons since 2006 including Oklahoma (52-9) and Baylor (45-16). With this in mind, A&M seniors Takia Starks, Danielle Gant and La Toya Micheaux have led their team to the third-most wins in the last four years against league foes, behind OU seniors Courtney Paris, Ashley Paris and Carolyn Winchester and BU seniors Rachel Allison, Jhasmin Player and Jessica Morrow.
AGGIES' LAST FOUR YEARS IN BIG 12
11-5 in 2006 (3rd)
13-3 in 2007 (T1st)
11-5 in 2008 (T3rd)
9-4 in 2009 (???)
THE CHAMPS ARE HERE
Texas A&M and Kansas State each won its program's second-ever Big 12 Championship trophy a year ago as the Wildcats hoisted up the regular-season title with a 13-3 mark through league play and the Aggies won the postseason title with a 65-59 victory over third-seeded Oklahoma State on March 15, 2008 in Kansas City. It marked back-to-back championships for the Aggies who tied Oklahoma for first-place in the regular season with a school-record 13-3 campaign in 2007. K-State previously won its first regular-season title during the Nicole Ohlde, Kendra Wecker, Laurie Koehn and Megan Mahoney era in 2003-04 at 14-2 to tie Texas for top honors.
THE KANSAS CITY CONNECTION
Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Tanisha Smith and preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year Tyra White return in close proximity to their hometown of Kansas City for the second time this season. Smith, a graduate of Lincoln Prep in KCMO, scored a game-high 18 points in Texas A&M's 57-56 victory over No. 2 Oklahoma on Feb. 23. She currently ranks third on the team in scoring at 9.2 points per game and boasts the second-best accuracy from beyond the three-point arc this season at 40.4 percent (21-of-52) behind the marksmanship of Sydney Carter (40.5 percent). Smith has scored in double figures in 11 of 25 games played this season including game-highs against OU, Florida State on Jan. 5 and Baylor on Jan. 21. White, a McDonald's High School All-American out of Hickman Mills High School, is fourth on the team in scoring at 6.1 points per game. The Kansas City connection of Smith and White combine for 22 percent of A&M's offensive production this year.
AGGIE SIDEBARS
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 2-5 lifetime versus Kansas State in his 24 years as a Division I head coach. Of Blair's two all-time wins, A&M handed the Wildcats' their second-fewest points ever scored in a Big 12 game in a 66-39 rout on Jan. 11, 2006 in College Station. The other was during his Stephen F. Austin days, an 82-59 victory in Dallas on Dec. 11, 1987 over a K-State squad coached by Matilda Mossman. He has never won in Manhattan in three tries including a 82-68 loss to the Wildcats in the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional while at Arkansas on March 17, 2002.
• Not only do they share back-to-back time slots in the tri-yearly Big 12 coaches media teleconferences, Blair and Kansas State head coach Deb Patterson have been honored in back-to-back years as Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008 respectively for two defending league championship teams.
• Former Texas A&M women's basketball head coach and Hall of Famer Lynn Hickey, who is currently the director of athletics at UTSA, is also a former Kansas State women's basketball head coach and Hall of Famer. She still holds the K-State record for career winning percentage (76.2) during her five-year tenure with the Wildcats from 1979-84. She left Manhattan for an extensive 10-year career at A&M from 1984-94 where she remains the all-time winningest coach in school history in career victories (154). Hickey previously led the Aggies to their first-ever Sweet 16 appearance in 1994, prior to A&M's historic NCAA Elite Eight run in 2008.
• Texas A&M associate head coach Vic Schaefer (Class of '84) will be one of three coaches on the sidelines who are currently coaching at their alma mater in the Big 12 Conference. Schaefer is joined by Kansas State assistant coaches Kelly Moylan ('94) and Andria Jones ('97) who played for the Wildcats in the 90's. They are one of six coaches who graduated from a Big 12 school, but are the only ones to currently coach at their alma mater. Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is a 1972 and 1974 graduate of Texas Tech, Texas Tech assistant coach Kelly Curry is a Class of '90 graduate of Texas A&M and Kansas State associate head coach Kamie Ethridge is a 1987 graduate of Texas.
OKLAHOMA RECAP
Texas A&M 57, Oklahoma 56
• A&M snapped Oklahoma's 20-game winning streak and handed the Sooners their first conference loss of the season. Oklahoma's last loss was a 106-78 loss to No. 1 Connecticut in Storrs on Nov. 30.
• It wasn't the first time the Aggies have snapped a big Oklahoma win streak. A&M beat the Sooners, 54-52, on Jan. 27, 2007 in Norman. It snapped OU's 24-game winning streak versus the Big 12 in one of the most memorable games in Aggie Basketball history.
• No. 2 Oklahoma is the highest-ranked opponent for the Aggies to defeat in program history. The previous highest-ranked team the Aggies had beaten was No. 4 Texas Tech, 78-73, in College Station on Feb. 8, 1995.
• A&M has beaten Oklahoma in four of the last six meetings between the two schools.
• Texas A&M had 7,035 fans in attendance to mark its seventh-largest crowd in school history. It was the sixth-best crowd overall for a non-men's and women's doubleheader game. Of the total, 780 were made up of A&M students in the crowd.
• The A&M defense forced OU to a season-high 29 turnovers, the exact same number they forced against the 12th-ranked Longhorns on Saturday. It was a team season-high for OU in turnovers surpassing 24 miscues against Texas on Jan. 25.
• A&M's bench outscored the Sooner bench 19-0. The Aggies also scored 26 points off turnovers compared to only 10 by Oklahoma.
• Oklahoma made three more free throws (15) than the Aggies shot (12). OU shot 24 free throws while A&M made just six.
AGGIE NOTABLE QUOTABLES
"They have found a way to handle us (over the years), because of their style of play. They want the game in the 50's. They do not have a lot of depth. They have kids who are going to play over 30 minutes a game. They just want to hold the ball like there is no shot clock and they eventually want you to make a mistake. On the defensive end, they are going to zone you a lot. They are going to do a tremendous job of blocking out and are going to shoot percentage shots. When you are looking at (Marlies) Gipson inside, I think she is one of the top 10 players in our league. Shalee Lehning is one of the top five players in our league. When you have two of the top 10 players in the league, you are going to be good just like we have (Danielle) Gant and (Takia) Starks who I think fit in that same mold. They (Kansas State) are tough, because they never beat themselves. They are not going to turn over the ball very much. We are going to have to make shots and make stops. They are also good, because they are well coached. They utilize their personnel as good as any team in this league." - Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair on Kansas State
"Execution with our plays and completing our defensive game plan. That's the most important thing when playing on the road. We need to get stops, get steals and turnovers and convert it into offense for us. They (Kansas State) always have a great crowd kind of like the Iowa State crowd. For our freshmen, this is another tough road game. We have to stay poised, don't get nervous and just go out and play the game. K-State is going to make runs and it is going to get loud. We have to come right back and have an answer for it." - Senior All-America candidate Takia Starks on what needs to change for the team on the road
"She is smart and very talented. She can get her team the ball wherever the ball needs to be on the court. She can score and is very quick off the dribble. She is just a great all-around player and a great leader." - Starks on Kansas State point guard Shalee Lehning
"It's always a tough crowd and a tough team. I remember us losing there two years ago and it was close. We had the opportunities to win. Hopefully, that won't happen again and we can stay hungry. Their point guard play is great. They are patient. They are going to take their time to set-up their offense and do all of the little things that are right. We know they'll hold the ball for 25 seconds and our last five-second defense is where we will need to come together as a team. We are hoping to remain focused and we know that the last 10 seconds on the shot clock are going to matter. Hopefully, we can have the underclassmen understand how important this game is. They are just like another Oklahoma to us." - Senior center La Toya Micheaux on Kansas State
LOOKING AROUND THE BIG 12
Texas A&M remains in the hunt for one of three top four seeds in the upcoming Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship on March 12-15 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. The Aggies are currently in third place with a 9-4 record, while Oklahoma (12-1) still remains in front of the pack with a two-game lead over Baylor (10-3) in second. Kansas State is in a three-way tie for fourth with Iowa State and Texas at 8-5 to round out the top half of the latest league standings.
1. Oklahoma (24-3, 12-1)
2. Baylor (22-4, 10-3)
3. Texas A&M (21-5, 9-4)
4T. Kansas State (21-5, 8-5)
4T. Iowa State (20-7, 8-5)
4T. Texas (20-7, 8-5)
7. Texas Tech (15-12, 5-8)
8T. Kansas (15-11, 4-9)
8T. Oklahoma State (15-11, 4-9)
8T. Nebraska (13-13, 4-9)
11T. Missouri (12-14, 3-10)
11T. Colorado (11-14, 3-10)
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women's basketball games can be heard via a radio broadcast on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Play-by-play announcer Mike Wright will call the action live from Bramlage Coliseum alongside color analyst and former player Katy Pounds on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.