Texas A&M
18-5/6-4
Texas Tech
14-9/4-5
No. 8 Aggies Drop 60-53 Decision at Texas Tech
Feb 11, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2009
Texas Tech Box Score in PDF Format 
LUBBOCK, Texas - No. 8 Texas A&M fought back in the final seconds but it wasn't enough to overcome a 60-53 decision to Texas Tech on the road Wednesday night before a raucous crowd of 8,587 at United Spirit Arena.
It marked the Aggies' (18-5, 6-4) first loss in the last seven games in the series and their first in the last two years in Lubbock. Texas Tech (14-9, 4-5) avenged a 67-56 setback on Jan. 13 in College Station and ended a two-game skid in Big 12 Conference play.
Senior All-America candidate Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) scored a game-high 20 points and was joined in double figures by senior All-America candidate Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) who returned to the game with four fouls and knocked down six-straight points to get the Aggies within four with under seven minutes left on the clock, 44-40. Gant ended the night with 12 points, all in the second half of play.
The Lady Raiders converted 19-of-26 attempts from the charity stripe as A&M was called for 24 fouls in the game with post players La Toya Micheaux (Missouri City, Texas), Damitria Buchanan (Houston, Texas) and Gant with three or more fouls apiece with under 11 minutes to go in regulation. Kierra Mallard paced five Tech players in double digits with 15 points, followed by Jordan Murphree and Tilmila Martin with 12 each.
Starks hit a jumper with 13 seconds left to go as A&M used all of its timeouts to close the gap to 58-53. The Aggies had no choice but to foul as Tech held off their last-second attempts with free throws to seal the victory. The Lady Raiders led throughout the ballgame with A&M's only lead coming in the opening minutes of play.
A&M returns home to take on Big 12 North foe Colorado (10-11, 2-7) in a Valentine's Day matchup on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. (CT) in College Station. The third-annual BTHO Breast Cancer campaign kicks off against the Buffaloes as fans are encouraged to pink-out Reed Arena.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the 13th time this year, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Danielle Gant, La Toya Micheaux (10-3).
• Texas Tech snapped a six-game losing skid to the Aggies in the all-time series. It was also the Lady Raiders' first win on their home court in two years.
• Takia Starks turned in her 10th-straight contest in double figures with a game-high 20 points against Tech. It marked her fourth consecutive game to knock down 20-or-more points versus the Lady Raiders.
• Sydney Colson had three steals against Tech and has had at least one steal in 22-of-23 games played this season. She has turned in back-to-back games with three or more steals with a career-high tying five in the team's last outing against Nebraska on Feb. 8. She played a career-high tying 32 minutes against Tech to mark the third time in league play with over 25 minutes of action at the point.
• Gant reached double figures for the first time in two ballgames with 12 against the Lady Raiders. All of her points were in the second half of play.
• Kelsey Assarian saw a career-and league-high 18 minutes of action versus Tech. She turned in four of the team's first 14 points of the game and ended the night with six.
• The A&M defense forced Tech to 20 turnovers in the game and converted 16 points off of the Lady Raiders' mistakes. It marked the 17th time this season that an opponent has had 20-or-more miscues against the Aggies.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"Texas Tech deserves a lot of credit. They played with more energy and made the majority of the hustle plays all night. The basket that killed us at the end was when (Kierra) Mallard wheeled it in and we didn't foul her (when it was a four-point game). That's why she is one of the best freshmen in the league. Being down three at the half, we felt pretty good. In the first half, we had to switch to the zone, because we couldn't stop (Maria) Moore's penetration and we were in foul trouble. After that, I thought we did a decent job on her. She just breaks you down. She goes left, she goes left again and goes left again. If you can't stop it, why go to the right? (Dominic) Seals is just a weapon. She is just so long. When we put (Danielle) Gant back in there with her foul situation, we had to go with her and she was able to shoot over (Jordan) Murphree. When we got her back on Seals, we had trouble getting her the shot that she wanted. Both of these kids (Starks and Gant) were guarded tough tonight. You can't win a ballgame with two players in double figures. We have to have balance and score inside. Give credit to (Kelsey) Assarian. She came in and was active. She wanted the ball on offense."
On tonight's game being more physical instead of the last between the two schools ...
"Both teams played very well in the last game in College Station. We made a run at the end, because you have to protect your home court. They made a run at the end tonight, to protect their home court. There is not a lot of difference between both of our teams. I would like to think that I have the better team. When you are on the road in front of a big crowd in the Big 12, you are the underdog. Kristy (Curry) deserves more people in the seats. She is working her butt off and people need to be here to support her."
On bringing Danielle Gant back into the game with four fouls ...
"The game would have been over (if we didn't bring back Gant with her foul situation). We either had to stay in the game or the game was over. I had no scoring punch except for (Takia) Starks. Usually, Gant isn't in foul trouble. We made a lot of dumb fouls in this ballgame. A lot of it was not being in the right position or getting outhustled. They went to the foul line 26 times, because they were the more aggressive team tonight."
Texas A&M Senior Guard Takia Starks
On the team's mentality to get quick points in the final seconds ...
"First off, to keep playing hard and don't give up. Coach Blair said in our last timeout, `don't worry about what the score is, just go out and play hard.' That's what we tried to do; get some quick shots and get some steals."
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