Texas A&M
16-3, 4-2
Texas
14-5, 2-3
No. 7 Aggies Cruise Past No. 16 Longhorns, 68-54
Jan 28, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas - Senior All-America candidate Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) was on fire all night as she scored 21 of her game-high 26 points in the second half to lead No. 7 Texas A&M to a 68-54 victory over No. 16 Texas on the road in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown held Wednesday night before a crowd of 5,998 at the Frank Erwin Center.
The Aggies (16-3, 4-2) earned their fifth-ever win in Austin and back-to-back road victories in the all-time series for the first time in school history. They also snapped the Longhorns (14-5, 2-3) 11-game home court winning streak in the process and earned a half point toward the State Farm Lone Star Showdown standings.
A&M led by 10 at halftime after a steal and layup by sophomore Sydney Colson (Houston, Texas) with three seconds remaining on the clock to go into the lockerroom, 38-28. Colson dished out five assists and had nine points against UT.
Starks scored seven of the Aggies' first nine points in the second half to break the game wide open, eventually pushing the lead to as many as 20 with 10:20 remaining in regulation. Senior center La Toya Micheaux (Missouri City, Texas) grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds in the winning cause, while Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year Tanisha Smith (Kansas City, Mo.) added 12.
The Aggies have now won six of the last seven meetings with the Longhorns. Kathleen Nash scored 13 points to lead Texas who shot a season-low 31.5 percent (17-of-54) from the floor against A&M's pressure defense.
A&M will host Big 12 North foe Kansas (12-6, 1-4) as part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 31 at Reed Arena in College Station. The Aggie men will take on Oklahoma State at 1 p.m. (CT), prior to the nightcap between the Aggie women and Jayhawks at 4 p.m. (CT).
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the fifth time this season, Texas A&M used the starting five of Takia Starks, La Toya Micheaux (4-1).
• With the victory, the Aggies claimed their fifth-ever win in Austin in the all-time series with rival Texas. They have won the last four-straight meetings between the two schools and claimed back-to-back road victories in the state capital for the first time in school history. Three of A&M's five wins on the road have been won in double figures including tonight's 68-54 win (+14) to go along with a +15 point victory in 2008 and a +20 point victory in 2006.
• The win also snapped UT's 11-game home court win streak at the Frank Erwin Center dating back to a 70-55 win over Texas Tech on March 5, 2008. They were 10-0 at home coming into Wednesday's State Farm Lone Star Showdown with the Aggies.
• Takia Starks reached double figures for the sixth-straight contest with a season-high 26 points including 21 in the second half of play versus the Longhorns. It marked her 23rd career 20-point game and seventh of the season. She also brought down a season-high eight boards. Starks also made a career-high tying two blocked shots.
• A&M has allowed only seven or fewer second-half field goals in back-to-back games on the road against No. 24 Oklahoma State (4-of-23) on Jan. 24 and No. 16 Texas (7-of-29) on Jan. 28.
• La Toya Micheaux turned in her fifth double-digit rebound game of the season with a career-and game-high 16 boards against UT. She became the 12th A&M player on 21 all-time occasions in school history to gain entrance into the Sweet 16 Rebound Club, the first player do so since Danielle Gant had 16 rebounds against Nebraska on March 8, 2006.
• For the third-straight game, Tanisha Smith was a spark plug for the Aggies scoring five of the team's first 14 points of the contest in a game-opening 14-3 run.
• Freshman Kelsey Assarian came off the bench and scored a career-high tying six points, all in the first half versus rival UT which marked a career-best for her in Big 12 play. She previously registered six points versus Penn State on Nov. 28.
• The A&M defense, ranked No. 2 in the nation in three-point field goal defense, held UT to its second fewest first-half points (28) next to their season low 19 first-half points at Purdue on Jan. 5. They also held the Longhorns to under their No. 6 nationally-ranked 39.2 shooting percentage from beyond the arc, with their third worst three-point outing of the season at 23.1 (3-of-13).
• In addition, the Aggies held the Longhorns to their fourth fewest points (54) in 74 all-time meetings between the two in-state rivals. UT also shot a season-low 31.5 percent from the floor (17-of-54).
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game and playing on the road at the Frank Erwin Center ...
"This place is 30 years old. I was here winning the state championship in '78 (with Dallas South Oak Cliff High School). Look at how far we have come? I would like to commend the Texas crowd. They did not get on their team. I cannot remember going to a place where they applauded the opponents when they were introduced before the ballgame. I thought that was very classy. But, this has always been one of my favorite places to play, just because it meant so much to me during my high school career. It was a hard fought ballgame, like it usually is. Takia Starks was just flat on fire. She just wants the ball. She was able to get her shot off against the shorter defenders."
On the team's defense ...
"Defensively, our job on (Brittainey) Raven and (Kathleen) Nash was pretty good. I thought we were very good on those two. Their free throw shooting helped us tonight, even though we kept fouling people. They are a 74 percent shooting team and they were not getting their misses. It is not too many times that we have gotten a start like that (in the first half). Credit our defense for getting us into transition."
On the gauntlet of playing four-straight top 25 teams in a row ...
"When you can steal a road win, it is always tough. I think we match up very well with Baylor. Oklahoma is playing better than everyone else and they have proven it against the Big 12 South. But, there is still a lot of basketball left. I just like this league. You have a lot of talented juniors and seniors this year (throughout the Big 12)."
Texas A&M Senior Guard Takia Starks
On her second half of play ...
"In the past couple of games, I have been starting off kind of slow in the first half, and it kind of went that way a little bit. Tonight, I did a lot more in the first half than I did in the last couple of games. The second half has been my half this whole season. I come out more aggressive and just basically adapted to the defense."
Texas A&M Sophomore Point Guard Sydney Colson
On the game ...
"We just felt that we needed to come out with a burst of energy in the beginning. We came out against Baylor and Oklahoma State with a lot of passion and fire, and it seemed to help us out in the end. We were getting excited over shots and we were able to get our bench into the game. It is really important for us to get good starts on the road, because it's tough to play on the road, especially at Texas and to get a lead."
On the team's defense ...
"Before Baylor and Oklahoma State, we hadn't been as intense on defense as we have been in the past, and we knew that was something we had to get back to. We got a lot of fire and energy off of the turnovers we were getting and we converted better than we had in the past few games. It gave us a tremendous spark and helped us finish the game out well and get the "W" tonight."
Texas A&M Senior Center La Toya Micheaux
On the game ...
"We have been working on rebounding in practice and I didn't even realize that I had 16 of them tonight. With the way Takia (Starks) and Tanisha (Smith) were shooting tonight, I was just going out there and playing hard. No one was putting a body on me, so I just decided to be a beast. My teammates know that when they are falling, I am there to pick them up."
Texas Head Coach Gail Goestenkors
On the game ...
"It was a very frustrating game for us. Congratulations to A&M. They came in really ready to play and took it to us early, and kind of got us back on our heels. Instead of being the aggressor, we were in reactionary mode and we don't play as well that way. Takia Starks is just a tremendous player and I thought she single-handily took it to us in the second half. That was tough for us and we were just trying to play catch-up the rest of the way. It was a very frustrating evening I think for all of us."
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