March 11, 2009
Big 12 Championship Notes in PDF Format 
#4 TEXAS A&M (23-6) vs. #5 KANSAS STATE (24-6)
Game #30
Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship Quarterfinals
March 13, 2009 • 1:30 p.m. (CT)
Cox Convention Center (13,297)
at Oklahoma City, Okla.
Television: Fox Sports Net
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network (KZNE 1150 AM)
Series History: Kansas State Leads 11-5
Internet: Live statistics available on www.Big12Sports.com
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
Oklahoma City holds special memories for the ninth-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (23-6). A year ago, it was the setting for the program's first-ever appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight where the Aggies proved to the nation that they had arrived and could play with the best including a Candace Parker-led Tennessee squad in the regional final and a milestone victory over Duke in the regional semifinal. A&M will look to make more memories at this week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Championship to be held on March 12-15 at the Cox Convention Center. The Aggies enter postseason play as the defending tournament champions after defeating third-seeded Oklahoma State, 64-59, in the 2008 championship game in Kansas City. Last season, A&M became the first No. 4 seed in league history to win the postseason tournament title. The fourth-seeded Aggies will face fifth-seeded Kansas State (24-6) in the Big 12 Quarterfinals on Friday, March 13 at 1:30 p.m. (CT) with a spot in one of two semifinal matchups guaranteed to the winner on Saturday. The Aggies have won five out of their last six and punched their ticket as a top four tournament seed for the fourth-straight year. A&M is one of three league schools currently ranked among the top 10 teams in the country next to No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 7 Baylor, showing the strength and the depth of the Big 12 this season.
HOW THEY GOT THERE
The Aggies earned one of four top seeds along with Big 12 regular-season champion and top-seeded Oklahoma (27-3). second-seeded Baylor (24-5) and third-seeded Iowa State (23-7). A&M was the only league team to stop the Sooners' from their second perfect season in league play with a memorable 57-56 victory where fans stormed the court in celebration on Feb. 23 in College Station. The Aggies also won a string of games against ranked opponents in No. 21 Texas on Feb. 21 and Kansas State on March 1, but the Lady Bears would end their win streak with a 64-60 loss in both team's season finale on March 7 in Waco. A&M would go on to tie Iowa State with an 11-5 record for third place in the final league standings. However, the Cyclones held the tiebreaker in head-to-head competition with the Aggies and earned the No. 3 seed. A&M and OU are the only two Big 12 South schools in the top half of the tournament bracket along with K-State, Colorado, eighth-seeded Kansas (17-12) and ninth-seeded Nebraska (15-14).
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE
Texas A&M will be in the limelight once more as the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game will be aired before a nationally-televised audience exclusively on Fox Sports Net. Play-by-play announcer Kevin Eschenfelder and color analyst Debbie Antonelli will call A&M's quarterfinal game against Kansas State or Colorado live from the Cox Convention Center on FSN. Check your local listings.
SCOUTING KANSAS STATE
Kansas State responded to a 71-45 loss to A&M on March 1 in Manhattan, by closing out Big 12 regular-season action on a high note with victories over No. 15 Texas (66-50) on March 4 and Colorado (71-61) on March 7 for a 10-6 campaign. Senior point guard Shalee Lehning has played in four games since her return to the lineup after a bout with mononucleosis. In her last outing, she registered her fifth career triple-double and Big 12-record third of the season with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists against the Buffaloes. The All-Big 12 First Team selection currently ranks second in career assists (771) behind all-time leader Erin Grant of Texas Tech (844) in the league record books.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#51 Sydney Colson, G, 5-8, So. (6.3 ppg, 2.9 apg)
#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Sr. (15.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
#22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Jr. (9.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
#55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Sr. (13.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg)
#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Sr. (2.6 ppg, 6.5 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. (7.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg)
#25 Danielle Zanotti, G/F, 6-2, Sr. (2.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
#4 Ashley Sweat, F, 6-2, Jr. (16.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
#51 Marlies Gipson, F, 6-0, Sr. (12.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
SERIES HISTORY
Kansas State leads 11-5 in the all-time series with Texas A&M. The Aggies have never faced K-State in postseason tournament play in addition to Kansas and Texas Tech. A&M ended a two-game skid in the series with a 26-point rout of the Wildcats (71-45) in Manhattan on March 1.
WHERE THEY STACK UP
Undoubtedly, senior All-America candidates Takia Starks and Danielle Gant are among the best of the best to ever don the Maroon & White uniform. A&M was one of three Big 12 member schools to boast two-or-more players on the All-Big 12 First Team next to Oklahoma and Kansas State. Starks, a three-time first team selection, is 24 points shy of 1,900 career points (1,876) and recently became the 21st player in school history to gain entrance into the 500-Rebound Club (504). She and Gant, a triple award winner with her second nod on the All-Big 12 First Team, are one of only four players in school history to record 1,500 career points and 500 career rebounds next to former players Lisa Langston (1982-86) and Prissy Sharpe (1996-2000). Gant, who was also tabbed Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year as well as to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team for the third-straight year, is the only player in program history to record 1,500 career points (1,533), 800 rebounds (881), 200 steals (261) and 100 blocked shots (108).
ON THE NATIONAL FRONT
The Aggies rank among the top 20 leaders in five NCAA statistical categories as of March 8 including third in turnover margin (7.0), fourth in three-point field goal percentage defense (25.8), 10th in steals per game (11.9), 16th in scoring defense (54.2) and 20th in scoring margin (13.5). They are seven shy of turning in the fifth-most steals in program history with 345 on the season. Meanwhile, Danielle Gant ranks among the top 50 players in the country in field-goal percentage with a 50.3 accuracy from the floor which is sixth-best in the Big 12 through all games played.
AGGIE TOURNAMENT TIDBITS
• Texas A&M is 6-11 all-time in Big 12 Championship games. The Aggies may be tied for the fewest tournament wins with Missouri (6), but are one of only two member schools with an under .500 record in postseason play to have added Big 12 hardware to their trophy case. A&M won it all in 2008, while Colorado (8) hoisted the inaugural trophy in 1997. Only one league school, Oklahoma (17), has turned 10-or-more overall tournament victories into more than two championship titles. Iowa State (20) and Texas (15) hold the most and third-most postseason tourney wins, but only combine for three titles with the Cyclones in 2000 and 2001 and the Longhorns in 2003.
• The Aggies earned a first-round bye for the fourth consecutive season under head coach Gary Blair and the veteran leadership of Starks, Gant and Micheaux. They are one of only two league schools and senior classes to earn one of four top seeds over the last four years next to Baylor. Also of note, A&M is the only Big 12 team to make consecutive semifinal appearances over the last three years, looking to make it a fourth in Oklahoma City.
• The Aggies have beaten the No. 3, No. 6, No. 7, No. 8 (twice) and No. 12 seeds all-time in the tournament. Of their six overall victories, two were against Big 12 South opponents in third-seeded Oklahoma State (2008) and seventh-seed Texas (1998) and the remaining four versus the Big 12 North in sixth-seeded Nebraska (2006), eighth-seeded Colorado (2007), 12th-seeded Missouri (2008) and eighth-seeded Iowa State (2008). A&M has faced eight of the 11 member schools in postseason play and have appeared once in the championship game since the league's formation.
BAYLOR RECAP
Baylor 64, Texas A&M 60
• For the 12th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Takia Starks, Tanisha Smith, Danielle Gant and La Toya Micheaux (9-3).
• For the second consecutive season, the Aggies tie for third place in the final Big 12 Conference standings and receives the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City. The 2009 Senior Class has now led A&M to a third-place finish or higher in all four years of their careers in Aggieland.
• Four of the last five meetings between A&M and Baylor have now been decided by five points or less in the all-time series.
• Danielle Gant recorded her 18th career double-double and sixth of the season with a team-high 16 points and season-high tying 13 rebounds against Baylor. She also turned in her seventh double-digit rebounding game of the season which marked the 23rd of her career. Gant had a career-high tying and season-high six steals in the ballgame.
• Tanisha Smith registered her 13th game this season in double figures with 14 against the Lady Bears. It marked the second time of her career to reach double-digits versus BU next to a team-and career-high 19 points on Jan. 21.
AGGIE NOTABLE QUOTABLES
"Instead of looking at the Baylor tape, we looked at last year's Big 12 Tournament highlights of all three ballgames. I wanted our kids to realize that we are playing the best basketball we've played all year, even if we lost our last game at Baylor. Not many teams were going to win in that situation (Senior Day on the road). We gave it our best shot. I told our team, that we are more talented than last year's team throughout the lineup. We might not have the experience we had at the point guard position, but that's about it. I like our team. I think we have a chance to go as far or further than we did last year, if we can get hot, get a few breaks, be consistent and work on end-of-game situations better than we have this year. This team is playing very good basketball right now and is ready for the playoffs. This team wants to go to the Big 12 Tournament. We are trying to improve our seeding and we are trying to improve our basketball team. We are not trying to hold on, but go on." - Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair on last year's team going into the Big 12 Tournament without a loss to this year's team going in with a loss
"I take a little bit of pride in always finishing higher than what we were supposed to. The only year that we didn't was last year when we were picked first and we finished tied for third with the fourth seed." - Coach Blair on being picked fifth and finishing tied for third in the final league standings
"Whoever our next opponent is. We are good enough, but we are not dominant enough to look past anyone. Last year, a five lost to a 12 seed with Oklahoma and that was a pretty darn good five seed. We can't look past anyone. The only team who can be caught looking past is Oklahoma. They have the most to lose (with a one seed on the line). Everyone else No. 2 through No. 6 is pretty well set in the NCAA Tournament. It just depends on how well they play and if they can move up a little (in seeding)." - Coach Blair on who he thinks A&M's toughest competition will be at the Big 12 Tournament
"It's huge, because once every 15 years its going to happen where someone comes in and wins four-straight games in the Big 12 Tournament, men or women. It's happened once in the women's game with Oklahoma (in 2004). It's tough to do and particularly, if you go in and end up playing four great teams. People tend to forget the Big 12 Tournament is a championship which guarantees you a spot (in the NCAA Tournament). Last year, it moved us up from a third seed to a two seed." - Coach Blair on having a first-round bye at the Big 12 Tournament
"I'm always excited about the Big 12 Tournament. We are looking forward to it and catching some of the early first-round games. Having a first-round bye, takes away some of the pressure for us. We are playing well as a team right now and hopefully, we will keep it up in the tournament." - Senior All-America candidate Takia Starks on heading to the Big 12 Tournament
"It's always exciting to go back home and play in Oklahoma City. A lot of my family and friends will be there to support us. As far as the matchups are concerned, every team is going to bring their best game to the Big 12 Tournament, even in the first round. A lot of people may think we should upset Kansas State or Colorado (because we are the higher seed), but you never know what can happen. Last year, OU, Baylor and K-State were upset, so we know every game is going to be a hard game and we just take it one game at a time." - Senior All-America candidate Danielle Gant on the upcoming Big 12 Championship in her hometown of Oklahoma City
"It was very special, because our seniors last year were able to finish out their careers with another Big 12 Championship. We always see the Big 12 Tournament as an opportunity to better ourselves and hopefully, we can go out there and win." - Gant on last year's Big 12 postseason championship title
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women's basketball games at the Big 12 Championship 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 the Cox Convention Center alongside color analyst and former player Katy Pounds on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.