Texas A&M
Kansas State
No. 9 Aggies Knock Out Kansas State In 65-63 Thriller
Mar 13, 2009 | Women's Basketball
March 13, 2009
Post Game Press Conference Video
Kansas State Box Score in PDF Format 
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Four players scored in double figures to lead No. 9 Texas A&M to a 65-63 thriller over No. 16 Kansas State in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship held Friday afternoon at the Cox Convention Center.
The fourth-seeded Aggies (24-6) move on to their fourth-straight semifinal appearance against the likes of top-seeded and third-ranked Oklahoma (28-3) on Saturday, March 14 at noon (CT) on Fox Sports Net. A&M is the only league team to reach four consecutive semifinals over the last four years.
Senior All-America candidate and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) felt right at home turning in her second consecutive game with a double-double against the Wildcats (24-7). Gant knocked down a game-high tying 22 points and a season-high 14 rebounds including the game-winning play with 25.3 seconds left in regulation to send A&M past K-State for the second time this season.
The Aggies were also paced by 13 points from senior All-America candidate and All-Big 12 First Teamer Takia Starks (Houston, Texas), 10 points from Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Tanisha Smith (Kansas City, Mo.) and 10 points off the bench from freshman Adaora Elonu (Houston, Texas).
After Gant's jumper, Kansas State quickly pushed the ball up the court and Ashley Sweat made a last-second shot from the top of the free throw line, but it bounced off the rim as time expired. Sweat had 19 points, while Marlies Gipson had a game-high tying 22 for the Wildcats.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the 13th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting five of Danielle Gant and La Toya Micheaux (10-3).
• The Aggies move on to the semifinals for the fourth-consecutive year. They are the only team to make four consecutive semifinal appearances in the last four years of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. It marked only the third time in league history in which a member school reached four-or-more semifinal appearances in a row next to five-straight by Iowa State in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and four-straight by Baylor in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
• Danielle Gant turned in her seventh double-double of the season and 19th of her career with a game-high tying 22 points and a season-high 14 rebounds versus Kansas State. Her points marked the most of her career against the Wildcats. It also marked her 17th career and fifth 20-point game of the season. She is also five rebounds away from her 900th career rebound and would become the third player to do so in school history.
• Gant's points and rebounds were the most of her career games played in her hometown of Oklahoma City surpassing a previous high of 10 points against Tennessee in the NCAA Elite Eight on April 1, 2008 at the Ford Center, and eight rebounds versus Iowa State in the Big 12 Semifinals on March 8, 2007 at the Cox Convention Center.
• Takia Starks reached double figures in the first half for the ninth time this season with 11 of her 13 points against Kansas State. She is now 11 points away from recording her 1,900th career point with 1,889 to date.
• Tanisha Smith has now reached double digits in 14 games of the season with 10 versus K-State. She has also distributed five-or-more assists in each of the last four games with one or no turnovers per game. Smith dished out a team-high five with one turnover against the Wildcats. Her last four-game total is 25 assists with three turnovers for an impressive 8.33 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• La Toya Micheaux brought down seven rebounds against the Wildcats to move into fourth all-time in career rebounding with 787 to date. She surpassed former player Susan Kimbro who had 782 from 1977-80.
• Freshman Adaora Elonu came off the bench and contributed a career-high tying six first-half points. She also had six points in the first half of play at Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2 and at Arizona on Nov. 25. Her 10 total points for the game tied a career-best against a Big 12 opponent with 10 versus Texas Tech on Jan. 13 and 10 against rival Texas on Jan. 21.
• The Aggies made a season-low seven turnovers versus the Wildcats' defense. Their previous season low was eight miscues against No. 25 New Mexico on Dec. 30. It marked the third-straight contest and sixth overall of the season that A&M has turned over the ball less than 10 times in a game. They had 10 at fifth-ranked Baylor in the regular-season finale on March 7 and 10 against Oklahoma State on Senior Day on March 5.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"It was a great game for Big 12 basketball. People look and say, why do we play conference tournaments? This is why you play conference tournaments. Look what happened in the men's game with Syracuse and Connecticut. You have championships to win. I think there's an opportunity to get better as a basketball team and improve your seed and improve our thinking process as we go. When you have 10 turnovers by one team and seven turnovers by the other team, you have a well-played ballgame."
On Kansas State and the last seconds of the game ...
"Kansas State shot 62 percent or so in the second half. Give them a lot of credit. I voted for (Marlies) Gipson for first team (All-Big 12). I think she is one of the best in the league. (Sydney) Colson hitting that big three when we had to have it when we missed a couple down the stretch. I can't believe (Ashley) Sweat missed the last shot. We defended very well on the play."
Texas A&M Senior Guard/Forward Danielle Gant
On the thrill of getting the last shot in her hometown of Oklahoma City ...
"I knew they were going to play good defense. Coach (Blair) wanted the ball in my hands and knew that I could get to the hole. He wanted Adaora (Elonu) to set the screen, so they could switch and I could go to the hole. The last couple of seconds, I knew I had to score unless we were going into overtime or they were going to win the game."
Texas A&M Freshman Forward Adaora Elonu
On the last time playing Kansas State on their home court ...
"The first time we played each other, we were hitting every shot we put up. We had a lot of fast-break points. Today, it seemed to be more of a defensive game and slowed down a little bit. But, we have to execute a little bit more. It was just different from the first game, where we won by 26 (points). We had to fight a little bit more this game."
