Texas A&M
2-0
Rice
0-2
No. 8 Aggies Cruise Past Rice, 86-50
Nov 18, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The eighth-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team cruised past Rice, 86-50, in non-conference action held Wednesday night before a midweek crowd of 3,834 at Reed Arena.
The Aggies (2-0) got off to a slow start against the Owls (0-2) and could not gain more than a three-point lead in the first six minutes of the ballgame. However, A&M only trailed once as Tara Watts hit a three-pointer to give Rice an early 3-2 advantage at the 18:12 minute mark. A three-pointer by sophomore Sydney Carter (DeSoto, Texas) with 7:33 remaining in the first half pushed the lead out to 16 and the Aggies never looked back.
Thirteen of the team's 16 players on the roster contributed in the scoring column. Preseason All-Big 12 Conference honorable mention selection Tanisha Smith (Kansas City, Mo.) scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half as the Aggies shot 55.9 percent from the floor prior to taking a 47-22 halftime lead.
Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Danielle Adams (Kansas City, Mo.) led all scorers with 15 in just 18 minutes of play. She also brought down four rebounds and dished out four assists in only her second game as an Aggie. Carter ended the night with seven points and sophomore Adaora Elonu (Houston, Texas) added eight.
Much like the Duke game three days prior, the Aggie defense proved too much for the visiting squad as Rice committed 29 turnovers in which A&M converted into 31 of its points. Jessica Goswitz had 10 points for the Owls, who shot 36.4 percent from the floor (16-of-44) for the ballgame against one of the nation's top scoring defenses.
Up next, the Aggies travel to Auburn (1-1), who reached the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, for a Big 12-SEC matchup on Sunday, Nov. 22 in Auburn, Ala.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the second-straight game, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Tanisha Smith, Damitria Buchanan (2-0).
• With the win, the Aggies extend their lead to 28-10 in the all-time series with Rice. A&M won by 36 points which was the largest margin of victory in the last five games in the series. Each game prior had been decided by 13 points or less. Coming into the game, the Aggies had lost three out of the last four contests between the two schools.
• A&M also extended its home-court win streak to eight-straight games at Reed Arena.
• Tanisha Smith and Danielle Adams turned in back-to-back games in double figures. Adams led the team in scoring for the second consecutive contest with 15 points. Smith turned in 14 points to mark her 10th consecutive game in double figures since scoring 18 points versus Oklahoma State in the team's regular-season home finale on March 5, 2009. She had an eight-game streak going prior to the Aggies' loss in the NCAA Sweet 16 a year ago.
• Junior reserve Maryann Baker (Dallas, Texas) tied career-bests in points (5), rebounds (3) and three-pointers made (1) and set a new personal best with three assists versus the Owls.
• A&M has dished out 20-or-more assists in back-to-back games against Rice (23) and No. 6 Duke (25).
• Sophomore Skylar Collins (Cedar Hill, Texas) recorded a career-high five points and freshman Kristi Bellock (St. Rose, La.) scored her first career bucket at the 9:41 minute mark of the second half and ended the night with six points. Freshmen Cierra Windham (Corona, Calif.) and Adrienne Pratcher (Memphis, Tenn.) also scored their first collegiate points with two apiece.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"It was a different type of game and different crowd tonight. Sometimes it's hard to duplicate the energy (from the Duke opener). I thought we played very well in certain spots in the first half. It took us a while to get started. Sometimes we were open too much and everyone was firing it up. We tried to get the ball inside more. This (Rice) team was pretty short. We will go up against 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-8 players at Auburn on Sunday. I thought Jessica Goswitz did a good job for Rice. She is an old-school gym rat who understands how to play the game. (Rice) Coach (Greg) Williams is obviously in a rebuilding mode. Everything cycles and he'll get it going again. His kids stayed with the offense the whole second half. Obviously, we wanted to play a lot of kids tonight. This was a game for our freshmen to get their feet wet and they played well."
Texas A&M Senior Guard/Forward Tanisha Smith
On the team's slow start and the game ...
"I don't think we went out motivated like we did for the Duke game - not that we were trying to take it easy out there. Their (Rice) guards were shorter than us. We had the advantage in the guard position just shooting over them and going to the rack. During the first timeout, our coaches talked to us and we got it going from there. We executed our plays a little better. We got the ball inside better in the second half. We worked on our press a little bit and we did a fairly good job."
Rice Head Coach Greg Williams
On the game ...
"They (Texas A&M) are an outstanding defensive team. That's their forte since Gary (Blair) has been here which resulted in 29 turnovers. Their defense keys their basketball team. They have put together a nice team here. They are big on the wings and they are well coached. We knew coming in that their defense was going to be one of the things we would be concerned about. We just have to try to get better. We are disappointed that we didn't follow our defensive game plan like we wanted to. We were able to stay in it the first eight-to-10 minutes of the game. We are a young team. I'm very proud of my freshman Jessica Goswitz, she was the only player in double figures for us tonight. They did a good job in the second half of attacking us inside. They have a nice inside-outside balance with their team this year and Sydney Colson is healthy and playing at a very high level at the point."
