Texas A&M
21-5, 9-4
Oklahoma
24-3, 12-1
No. 12 Texas A&M Snaps No. 2 Oklahoma's 20-Game Win Streak
Feb 23, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2009
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
| Game Highlights 
Oklahoma Box Score in PDF Format 
Post Game Audio [mp3]:
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
Texas A&M Players Starks, Smith, & Carter
Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale & Players
COLLEGE STATION (AP)--Takia Starks watched crowds rush the court after big wins by the Texas A&M men's team and dreamed it would happen at a women's game.
Starks made her dream a reality Monday night.
She hit a layup in the lane with 6 seconds left to lead No. 12 Texas A&M to a 57-56 win over second-ranked Oklahoma, ending the Sooners' 20-game winning streak.
It is the highest-ranked team A&M has ever beaten.
The Aggies (21-5, 9-4 Big 12) trailed by one before Starks got the ball at the top of the key and drove into the lane for the winner. She also had a long jumper with 2 minutes left to get Texas A&M within striking distance.
The majority of the crowd of 7,035 dashed to the court and jumped around wildly to celebrate with the Aggies as the Sooners slowly walked off hanging their heads.
"(I thought) that would be so crazy if that happened at Reed Arena to us," Starks said. "That's the shot I've been dreaming about and the win I've been dreaming about. That's crazy it came true."
Texas A&M coach Gary Blair took Starks aside before the winning play and implored her to put the game away.
"I told her: `You've got to make a shot,' because our whole team missed shots in the last five minutes that were great shots," Blair said.
Oklahoma (24-3, 12-1) led by 14 points in the second half before Texas A&M went on a run that gave the Aggies a seven-point lead with eight minutes left. The Sooners, who had a season-high 29 turnovers, scored 10 straight points to take a 56-53 lead with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.
It's Oklahoma's first loss since falling at No. 1 Connecticut on Nov. 30.
"That was a big-time play," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said of Starks' shot. "But the problem for us came way before that play. You don't give an opponent the basketball that many times and expect to win. ... You cannot give an opponent 29 extra offensive possessions."
Texas A&M got 18 points from Tanisha Smith and Starks finished with 12. Danielle Gant eight.
The Sooners were led by Danielle Robinson's 17 points and Courtney Paris added 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Aggies used a 25-4 run to erase a 14-point deficit and take a 53-46 lead with about eight minutes left. The Sooners had six consecutive turnovers at the end of that span, which left Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale standing with her hands on her hips staring at the court in disbelief.
Oklahoma didn't score for almost seven minutes during A&M's run. The Sooners finally broke the drought with a jump shot by Paris with about 7 1/2 minutes remaining.
"Hopefully we learn from this and we're better tomorrow because of this," Paris said.
It was Oklahoma's first game without guard Whitney Hand, who had surgery on a broken left index finger and is expected to be out for four weeks.
Coale thinks Hand's absence contributed to her team's turnover problem Monday.
"When Whitney Hand gets well we'll be a lot better," Coale said. "She steadies them. She's good with the basketball in her hand. She's such a threat that they have to guard her differently than they do other players. I think that makes a significant difference."
The Sooners scored nine straight points to open the second half and stretch their lead to 42-28.
Texas A&M took advantage of four turnovers by Oklahoma to score the next eight points and cut the lead to 42-36 with about 15 minutes left.
Oklahoma led by a dozen after seven minutes as the Aggies made just two of their first 12 shots. Texas A&M then went on a 14-4 run to cut the lead to 20-18 about 6 1/2 minutes before halftime. A four-point play by Starks highlighted that run.
The Aggies tied it three times after that, but never took the lead. Oklahoma scored five straight points to end the half and led 33-28 at halftime.
POSTGAME NOTES
• A&M snapped Oklahoma's 20-game winning streak and handed the Sooners their first conference loss of the season. Oklahoma's last loss was a 106-78 loss to No. 1 Connecticut in Storrs on Nov. 30.
• This isn't the first time the Aggies have snapped a big Oklahoma win streak. A&M beat the Sooners, 54-52, on Jan. 27, 2007 in Norman. It snapped OU's 24-game winning streak versus the Big 12 in one of the most memorable games in Aggie Basketball history.
• No. 2 Oklahoma is the highest-ranked opponent for the Aggies to defeat in program history. The previous highest-ranked team the Aggies had beaten was No. 4 Texas Tech, 78-73, in College Station on Feb. 8, 1995.
• A&M has beaten Oklahoma in four of the last six meetings between the two schools.
• Texas A&M had 7,035 fans in attendance to mark its seventh-largest crowd in school history. It was the sixth-best crowd overall for a non-men's and women's doubleheader game. Of the total, 780 were made up of A&M students in the crowd.
• Tanisha Smith led the Aggies in the first half with nine points which tied as her second-most first-half points of the season behind 12 first-half points against Baylor on Jan. 21 and George Washington on Jan. 3. She also had nine first-half points at Texas on Jan. 28.
• The A&M defense forced OU to a season-high 29 turnovers, the exact same number they forced against the 12th-ranked Longhorns on Saturday. It was a team season-high for OU in turnovers surpassing 24 miscues against Texas on Jan. 25.
• The Aggies were out-rebounded 51-22, including 34-13 on the defensive glass, however the Aggies held Oklahoma to only 45 shots while taking 62 themselves.
• A&M's bench outscored the Sooner bench 19-0.
• The Aggies scored 26 points off turnovers compared to only 10 by Oklahoma.
• Oklahoma made three more free throws (15) than the Aggies shot (12). Oklahoma shot 24 free throws while A&M made just six.
• A&M improves to 12-1 at home. The Aggies' only home loss this season was to No.5 Baylor, 64-61, on Jan. 21.
• The Aggies earned 16 steals, their second-highest total of the season.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"What a game. What a game. I really don't know where to start. We needed a signature win. To be able to play with heart and soul...to be able to finish it off without Gant for two straight games...we were playing out of position, trying to hodgepodge it together. That last play we hadn't run the whole game. We ran that play at Louisiana Tech. It's an old Leon Barmore play. It's a play we used ran for Anne Donovan. You come off the double screen, kick the ball back to T.K. to look for the jumper and if the lane is open, take it. I told her you got to make a shot because our whole team missed shots. The last five minutes those were great shots we were taking but the body wears out with the energy we put in on the defensive end. We forced turnovers so we did our normal job there but Oklahoma has been here before. We told the team that when we had a seven-point lead. They came back against Tech, they did it against Baylor. They have composure and the confidence. That's why they are the #2 team in nation and should remain the #2 team in the nation."
On the crowd's impact ...
"The crowd was great once they got there. When it was early and I was throwing candy, I think I threw to everybody in there. A lot of people aren't used to a 6:30 game. If the band wagon starts now, let it start. The crowd was tremendous. They knew what it was all about. They were fighting out there with us. This might have been more of a signature win for our fans than our team. I've never seen our fans be as emotional and into the game like that."
Texas A&M Junior Forward/Guard Tanisha Smith
On the game ...
"We were missing the easy shots and hitting the hard ones. The momentum brought us back in the game. Our defensive pressure brought us back into the game. It helped us make the big shots gave us the momentum to create on offense."
Texas A&M Freshman Guard Sydney Carter
On the game ...
"The momentum was great. I don't think we've ever had that kind of momentum before. It was important to get the fans involved. It helped spark us."
Texas A&M Senior Guard Takia Starks
On the game ...
"Basically, Coach (Blair) was like `T.K. any way you can get your shot, do it. I came off the double team and read it. I wanted to drive and it cleared out so I went in and took it. I felt like I hit the hard shots and missed the easy ones. We knew it was going to be a fight to come out with the win."
On her game-winning shot against Oklahoma ...
"I was watching UConn-Maryland, I think it was, not too long ago and saw the fans rush the court. I thought it would be cool for something like that to happen to us. That was a shot I've been dreaming about. It's crazy that it came true. I wanted to drive to the hole and get the foul or the and-one but it cleared out and I hit it."
Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
On the game ...
"Give credit to Takia Starks. She made the play of the game. We made ours a little too soon. We gave the ball up 29 times. I do not care how good you are. You can not give the other team 29 extra possessions and expect to win the game. We cam out in the second half and were able to score, and we got into a rhythm. They called a time out, and came out and turned up the pressure like we knew they could. We have been working on developing our bench, and this is a good opportunity for them to learn with Whitney (Hand) in the game.
Oklahoma Junior Guard/Forward Nyeshia Stevenson
On the game ...
"We did not play poised enough to score when we had opportunities, or to make the opportunities."
Oklahoma Sophomore Guard Danielle Robinson
On A&M's pressure defense ...
"There was a lot of pressure out there tonight. We just didn't respond the way we needed to."
Oklahoma Senior Center Courtney Paris
On the game ...
"We know that they have always had a fast athletic defense. They really know how to slow you down, which makes us try and force things to speed up. They really stick with you and force you into positions you aren't comfortable in."
