March 26, 2009
NCAA Sweet 16 Game Notes in PDF Format 
#2 TEXAS A&M (27-7) vs. #6 ARIZONA STATE (25-8)
Game #35
NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Sweet 16
March 29, 2009 • 1:30 p.m. (CT)
Sovereign Bank Arena (8,600)
at Trenton, N.J.
Television: ESPN2 and ESPN360.com
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network (KZNE 1150 AM)
Series History: Texas A&M Leads 3-0
Internet: Live statistics available on www.ncaa.com
TRENTON REGIONAL PREVIEW
Playing deep into March has become an annual occurrence for the second-seeded and ninth-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (27-7) and this year is no different as the Aggies are making back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances for the first time in program history after cruising to first-and second-round victories over 15th-seeded Evansville (80-45) on March 22 and 10th-seeded Minnesota (73-42) on March 24. A defensive clash with sixth-seeded and 19th-ranked Arizona State (25-8) awaits the Aggies in the regional semifinals of the 2009 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship to be played on Sunday, March 29 at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, N.J. Tipoff between the Aggies and Sun Devils is set for 1:30 p.m. (CT) on ESPN2. A&M has won nine of its last 11 games and forced the Purple Aces and Golden Gophers to season highs in turnovers with 62 combined for an average of 31.0 per NCAA game thus far. With their defense-first mentality, the Aggies currently lead all tournament teams with a +16.5 turnover margin and 19.0 steals per game. They are heading into the Trenton Regional looking to reverse their fortune from a year ago, when they lost to top-seeded Tennessee in the Elite Eight, in hopes of getting closer to their ultimate team goal of seeing the arches in St. Louis. A&M has held opponents to an NCAA Tournament-leading 43.5 points a game and may meet their match in the Sun Devils who also pride themselves in defense. The winner will have a date with top-seeded and top-ranked Connecticut (35-0) or fourth-seeded and 13th-ranked California (27-6) in the regional finals on Tuesday, March 31 at 6 p.m. (CT) on ESPN.
WATCH IT LIVE
Texas A&M will once again be in the ESPN2 spotlight for the fourth time this season where the Aggies have shined with a 3-0 record when playing on the deuce. Play-by-play announcer Pam Ward, color analyst Debbie Antonelli and sideline reporter Rebecca Lobo will call the action live from Sovereign Bank Arena.
THE SWEET 16 FIELD
A&M is one of only eight teams in this year's NCAA Sweet 16 tournament field to have reached the regional semifinals a year ago along with top-seeded Connecticut and Maryland, second-seeded Stanford, third-seeded Louisville, fourth-seeded Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh and seventh-seeded Rutgers. The Big 12 Conference, rated the toughest in the land, is well represented by the Aggies in addition to top-seeded Oklahoma, second-seeded Baylor and fourth-seeded Iowa State. It marked the third time in league history and first time since 2002 in which the Big 12 had four-or-more squads advance to the round of 16. The Big East Conference also tied the Big 12 with four teams still alive in the second week of March Madness.
A QUICK LOOK AT ARIZONA STATE
Arizona State is making its third trip to the Sweet 16 in the last five seasons under head coach Charli Turner Thorne who is the winningest women's basketball coach in program history. The Sun Devils advanced with a 63-58 second-round victory over third-seeded Florida State on March 23. They are currently without the services of leading scorer Dymond Simon who was contributing 13.8 points per game prior to tearing a ligament in her left knee in a 77-68 setback at Stanford on March 7 which ended a 15-game win streak for the Sun Devils. Last season, ASU was one game and five points shy of facing A&M in the Oklahoma City Regional semifinals with a 63-59 loss to third-seeded Duke in the second round. The Sun Devils finished tied for second with Cal in the final Pac-10 standings with a 15-3 mark. They have allowed only 55.2 points per game this season which ranks as the second-lowest per-game average for the Sun Devils in school history.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#51 Sydney Colson, G, 5-8, So. (6.6 ppg, 3.0 apg)
#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Sr. (15.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
#22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Jr. (10.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
#55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Sr. (14.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Sr. (2.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg)
ARIZONA STATE
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#20 Briann January, G, 5-8, Sr. (12.0 ppg, 4.8 apg)
#13 Danielle Orsillo, G, 5-9, RS-Jr. (8.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg)
#11 Kate Engelbrecht, G, 5-10, Sr. (3.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg)
#21 Kayli Murphy, F, 6-2, Jr. (4.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
#33 Sybil Dosty, C, 6-3, Sr. (8.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg)
SERIES HISTORY
Texas A&M is an undefeated 3-0 in the all-time series with Arizona State. Both teams last met in an 82-69 home-opening victory for the Aggies during the 1994-95 campaign. A&M went on to win the 1995 NWIT championship title that same year under former head coach Candi Harvey. The Aggies also defeated the Sun Devils on two other occasions in 1978 (74-71) on a neutral site and in 1993 (73-68) in Tempe, Ariz.
AGAINST THE PAC-10
The Aggies went 1-0 against Pac-10 Conference opponents en route to posting a program-best 12-1 mark in non-conference play this season. A&M, who at the time reached its highest national ranking of the season at No. 3, defeated Arizona (54-44) on Nov. 25 in Tucson, Ariz. Historically, the Aggies are 10-13 lifetime versus schools hailing from the Pac-10 including Arizona (2-2), ASU (3-0), Cal (0-1), Oregon (1-1), Oregon State (1-1), Stanford (0-1), UCLA (1-2), USC (0-2), Washington (1-1) and Washington State (1-2).
W2W4
• Senior All-America candidate Danielle Gant is eight rebounds short of setting the school record for career rebounding with 913 to date. She is currently averaging a team-leading 6.8 boards per game and ranks second behind all-time leader Prissy Sharpe (920) who set the record during her senior season in 1999-2000.
• A&M and its senior class comprised of Takia Starks, Danielle Gant will play an NCAA Tournament game in Sovereign Bank Arena for the second time in the last four years in Trenton, N.J. The trio, then bright-eyed freshmen for the sixth-seeded Aggies, were pitted against 11th-seeded TCU after a 10-year absence from the NCAA Tournament. A&M fell to the Lady Frogs, 69-65, in the opening round on March 19, 2006. A&M still holds the arena record for most steals in an NCAA women's game with 16 versus TCU. Former player Morenike Atunrase had six steals in the contest which remains tied for the second-most by an NCAA women's basketball player in the arena record book.
• Should A&M advance past the regional semifinal, it would mark its second consecutive and second-ever trip to the NCAA Elite Eight. The Aggies have never faced Connecticut in the 35-year history of Aggie Basketball and met Cal only once in 1982 (0-1) under former head coach Cherri Rapp.
THE THREE AMIGOS
Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé! Takia Starks, Tanisha Smith have provided Texas A&M with a powerful one-two-three scoring punch in postseason play. The trio, tabbed "The Three Amigos" by Coach Blair, have reached double figures over the last five Big 12 and NCAA Tournament games combined. Gant is currently tied for 19th nationally among NCAA Tournament leaders averaging 20.5 points per game and is seventh-best in field-goal percentage with a 79.2 percent accuracy from the floor (19-of-24). She has turned in four 20-point outbursts in her last five outings. Meanwhile, Starks is second on the team in scoring and rebounding averaging 18.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while Smith knocked down a career-high 20 points against Evansville in the first round and is averaging 16.5 ppg.
FAMILIAR FACES
Texas A&M associate head coach La Toya Micheaux was also a member of the bronze-medal winning team which went 4-2 in tournament pool play with victories over Japan, New Zealand, Korea and Chinese Taipei. In fact, six players on Schaefer's Athletes In Action-sponsored squad competed in this year's NCAA Tournament field and four out of the five are still in play in the Sweet 16. They include Jhasmin Player and Rachel Allison of Baylor, Heather Ezell of Iowa State and Brittanie Taylor-James of North Carolina A&T.
AMONG NCAA TOURNAMENT LEADERS
It is not a surprise that Texas A&M ranks among the top 10 leaders in eight statistical categories through the first two games played in the NCAA Tournament including tied for seventh in scoring offense (76.5), second only to Connecticut (+33.5) in scoring margin (+33.0), fourth in free throw percentage (88.0), 10th in field-goal percentage (47.4), 10th in field-goal percentage defense (33.7) and first in steals (19.0). Individually, sophomore point guard Tanisha Smith (3.0 avg) in a tie for 12th.
DEEP IN THE HEART OF MARCH
The Aggies may be located deep in the heart of Texas, but they also go deep in the heart of March. A&M is an impressive 6-1 during March Madness over the last three years (not counting its 53-45 loss to eventual national champion Tennessee in the NCAA Elite Eight on April 1, 2008). If you include Big 12 regular-season and postseason tournament games over the last two seasons, the Aggies boast a 14-2 (.875) mark in the month of March to date. The stars are big and bright in the Lone Star State as 64 percent of the Aggies' 14-player roster is made up of native Texans including Starks (Houston), Micheaux (Missouri City), Colson (Houston), Damitria Buchanan (Houston), Kiley Finstad (Cranfills Gap).
AGGIE SIDEBARS
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair has never faced Arizona State or California in his 24-year head coaching career, but he is 6-4 lifetime against Pac-10 schools including unblemished records versus Stanford (1-0), UCLA (1-0) and USC (1-0). Blair's first and only head-to-head meeting with Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma was in 1999 when his 18th-ranked Arkansas Lady Razorbacks met the third-ranked Huskies in the championship game of the Four In The Fall Tournament held on Nov. 14, 1998, in San Jose, Calif. There, Blair coined the phrase, "The Law Firm" to describe Connecticut's trio of Swin Cash, Tamika Williams and Asjha Jones. Arkansas would fall to UConn, 100-64. The Lady Backs were fresh off of their first-ever Final Four appearance and were one of the top returning teams in the country playing in the four-team tournament along with Virginia and Stanford. Cal head coach Joanne Boyle was on the coaching staff at Duke when Arkansas beat the Blue Devils in the NCAA West Regional finals held in Oakland, Calif., for a spot in the '98 Final Four.
• Coach Blair used to coach high school volleyball against current Arizona State Director of Athletics Lisa Love in the late 70's while he was at Dallas South Oak Cliff High School and Love was at Arlington James Bowie High School. Blair and Love are both graduates of Texas Tech. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1972 and 1974, while Love earned her bachelor's degree in 1978. "She has really turned herself into a great administrator and was an outstanding volleyball coach at USC," said Blair who coached volleyball, basketball, cross country, golf and track and field at SOC from 1973-80.
• Arizona State was one of the main finalists for Texas A&M fall signee Cierra Windham, a six-foot combination guard/forward out of Norco (Calif.) High School who draws comparisons to Danielle Gant. She chose the Aggies over ASU, Cal and Northwestern. Windham is a member of A&M's highest-ever rated signing classes which includes Diamond Ashmore out of Midwest City (Okla.) High School, Kristi Bellock out of John Curtis Christian School in Louisiana and Adrienne Pratcher out of East High School in Memphis, Tenn. The four-member class was rated No. 4 in the country by Dan Olson's Collegiate Girls Basketball Report and No. 5 by the All-Star Girls Basketball Report.
MINNESOTA RECAP
Texas A&M 73, Minnesota 42
• For the 17th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Takia Starks, Tanisha Smith, Danielle Gant and La Toya Micheaux (13-4).
• With the victory, A&M evens the all-time series record to 3-3 versus Minnesota. The Aggies advanced to their second-straight NCAA Sweet 16 appearance and third overall in program history next to 1994 and 2008. A&M is now 2-1 all-time when facing the No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Aggies claimed their 27th overall victory of the season which now stands alone as the second-most wins in school history behind its 29-8 run to the NCAA Elite Eight a year ago.
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair has now led seven all-time squads to the Sweet 16 in his 24-year coaching career at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and A&M combined. He also picked up his 20th all-time NCAA Tournament game victory versus the Golden Gophers.
• Danielle Gant moved into second all-time in career rebounding with 913 boards to date. She surpassed former player Lisa Jordon (911) on the all-time list. Gant also turned in her seventh 20-point game of the season with a game-high 20 versus the Golden Gophers.
• Freshman Sydney Carter dished out five assists with one turnover in 19 minutes of play off the bench and also made a career-and season-high four steals against Minnesota.
• A&M shot 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from the floor in the first half, its third-best percentage in the first half this season behind a 9-of-12 performance from Gant and a 6-of-11 performance by Tanisha Smith. Gant, Smith and Starks have reached double figures in all postseason games thus far. Gant and Smith are both seven-game double-digit scoring streaks.
• The Aggie defense forced its second-straight NCAA Tournament opponent to 30-or-more turnovers as Minnesota turned over the ball an opponent season-high 32 times in the ballgame. The previous opponent-high was 30 by 15th-seeded Evansville in the NCAA First Round on March 22. It was the most by the Golden Gophers this season next to 26 turnovers at fellow Big 12 rival Iowa State on Dec. 21 in Ames, Iowa. A&M also made a season-high 20 steals in the contest.
• On their way to the Joyce Center, A&M host bus driver John Meisner put together a special video with movie clips from Hoosiers, Coach Carter and Glory Road, to pump up and inspire the Aggies prior to their second-round game versus Minnesota.
AGGIE NOTEABLE QUOTABLES
"I think it is a good matchup for us. Both of us are very similar. They are a very aggressive defensive and up-tempo team. They shoot the ball extremely well and that is something we are going to have to defend. Their percentages are outstanding. They are close to the Connecticut and probably more so in the Oklahoma range in field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage and three-point field goal percentage. They like to force turnovers and that is what a Sweet 16 team is supposed to look like as far as percentages go. She (Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne) has built that program from nothing out there and has been able to sustain a top 25 program. Give her a lot of credit. They have been in the top three of their league over the last six or seven years and have been to the Elite Eight." - Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair on the Arizona State matchup
"All three of us are trying to make that next step and make that first Final Four with our program. I hope one of us can get there, because we plan on dancing a little bit longer this year. (California head coach) Joanne Boyle turned down a chance to go back to (her alma mater) Duke, but is content there and is getting the job done at Cal. Those two programs are the class of the Pac-10 along with Stanford. It will remain that way until USC and UCLA can catch up to what they both are doing on the recruiting end." - Coach Blair on ASU and Cal building their programs into national powers similar to Texas A&M
"Briann is a tremendous competitor. She's a very smart and heady player. She is doing a great job of stepping up and moving from the two to the one (position) and getting the rest of her team involved. That's just her unselfish nature. She is a great player who can see the floor well and can shoot at a tremendous range. She is a real steadying influence on her basketball team. She doesn't get rattled. She did a great job for me in Taiwan and for our team. We have our work cut out for us in dealing with her." - Texas A&M associate head coach Vic Schaefer on Arizona State point guard Briann January who played for him on the U.S. Women's Jones Cup Team in 2007
"We don't take any games for granted. I've seen Arizona State play in the NCAA Tournament in the past. We know their point guard is really good. They are very similar to us in the way that they play. They are really aggressive and like to play defense. We are definitely not overlooking them and know we have to take care of business on Sunday. We have to go out there and execute and play hard." - Sophomore point guard Sydney Colson on Arizona State
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women's basketball NCAA Championship games can be heard via a radio broadcast on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Play-by-play announcer Mike Wright will call Trenton Regional games live from Sovereign Bank Arena alongside color analyst and former player Katy Pounds on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.
DON'T MISS OUT ON 2009-10 SEASON TICKETS!!
Aggie women's basketball fans who have enjoyed watching A&M's rise among the nation's elite and don't want to miss a single piece of the action next season can now reserve new season ticket orders with a $100 deposit. For more information, please contact the 12th Man Foundation Ticket Office at 1-888-99-AGGIE or go online at www.12thmanfoundation.com.