Texas A&M
25-6, 11-5
Oklahoma
28-4, 15-1
No. 9 Aggies Hand Top-Seeded Sooners 74-62 Upset In Big 12 Semifinals
Mar 14, 2009 | Women's Basketball
March 14, 2009
Box Score 
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Box Score |
Photo Gallery 1 
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Photo Gallery 2
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - No. 9 Texas A&M handed top-seeded and third-ranked Oklahoma a 74-62 upset in the semifinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship held Saturday afternoon at the Cox Convention Center.
The fourth-seeded Aggies (25-6) will face second-seeded and seventh-ranked Baylor (26-5) in their second consecutive and second-ever Big 12 championship game appearance in program history on Sunday, March 15 at 12:30 p.m. (CT). The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the upcoming 2009 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship field of 64. The Lady Bears defeated third-seeded Iowa State (24-8) in the second semifinal game, 63-57.
For the second-straight contest, senior All-America candidate Danielle Gant (Oklahoma City, Okla.) came up big with 17 of her game-high 22 points in the second half of play. Gant shot 7-of-8 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the free throw line to lead the Aggies past the Sooners (28-4) in back-to-back games for the third time in the all-time series.
Sophomore point guard Sydney Colson (Houston, Texas) also knocked down a career-and season-high 15 points along with five assists, two steals and a trio of three-pointers which extended A&M's lead into double figures versus OU. The Aggies were the only league team to deny the Sooners a perfect regular season at 15-1 and account for two of the team's four losses this year.
Junior Tanisha Smith (Kansas City, Mo.) and senior All-America candidate Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) rounded out A&M's double-figure scorers with 13 and 12 respectively.
The A&M defense caused havoc for the Sooners throughout the ballgame with 17 turnovers which the Aggies converted into 18 points. OU senior All-American Courtney Paris was called with her third foul and played only 12 minutes in the first half as A&M took a 29-21 lead into halftime. They were never able to regain the lead in the second half. Paris fouled out of the game with 3:23 remaining in regulation, but ended with a team-high 15 points and 15 rebounds. Danielle Robinson added 11 for the Sooners.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the 14th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Danielle Gant and La Toya Micheaux (11-3).
• With the win, the Aggies claimed their second-straight and 13th overall win in the Oklahoma series. A&M has now posted back-to-back victories against the Sooners in the series on three all-time occasions in 1989-90 and 2006-07. The Aggies have won the last five out of seven meetings between the two Big 12 South rivals. A&M also posted its 25th victory of the season to tie for the third-most wins in school history.
• A&M improved its all-time record to 8-11 in Big 12 Championship games and won its fifth-straight in postseason tournament play including last year's 3-0 title run and 2-0 start in this year's championship. The Aggies also picked up their first-ever win against OU in the Big 12 Championship (1-2).
• The Aggies is among a select few league schools who have made back-to-back Big 12 championship game appearances since the league's inception in 1996-97 on seven all-time occasions including Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas, Iowa State and Texas Tech. The Cyclones are the only school to make it three in a row in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
• A&M has appeared in two all-time conference championship games in 2008 and in the final Southwest Conference Tournament championship game in 1996. The Aggies won both and earn an NCAA automatic bid.
• No. 3 Oklahoma is the second highest-ranked opponent for the Aggies to defeat in program history. A&M surprised the then No. 2-ranked Sooners in a 57-56 victory on Feb. 23 in College Station. The Aggies have beaten a top five ranked team twice this season and 12th over a top 10 opponent in the A&M record books.
• Danielle Gant and Tanisha Smith each turned in their fourth-straight game in double figures with a game-high 22 points and 13 points respectively against Oklahoma. Three of the Aggies' last four matchups have been against ranked opponents in No. 5 Baylor on March 7, No. 16 Kansas State on March 13 and No. 3 Oklahoma on March 14.
• Takia Starks became the second player in school history next to former All-American Lisa Branch (1,939) to record 1,900 career points with her 12-point effort against the Sooners. She ranks second all-time in career scoring behind Branch with 1,901 points to date.
• Sydney Colson recorded a career-and season-high 15 points with three key three-pointers and a season-high 38 minutes of action versus the Sooners.
• A&M took a 31-19 rebounding advantage in the first half and finished the game with 43 behind a team-high seven from Starks, six from La Toya Micheaux and five apiece from Smith, Damitria Buchanan and Tyra White.
• The Aggies, who rank No. 4 nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense (.254), held OU to just two of 14 attempts from beyond the arc (14.3 percent).
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"Defense, rebounding percentage shots, great point guard play, our bench coming in, being able to rest (La Toya) Micheaux while Courtney (Paris) was in foul trouble where she could come in and play the whole second half. Give (Adaora) Elonu and (Damitria) Buchanan a lot of credit, because they held the fort down, until we could get Micheaux in the second half. I'm proud of the effort and the stamina we had against OU. We have to do it one more time. Remember, we haven't won anything yet. They don't give any consolation prizes. The last time we beat Oklahoma at our place, our fans though we had won the national championship. We haven't won a thing yet. We'll keep it in perspective and we'll go back to work and we'll start teaching again and go over the film. My assistants had a great game plan for them. We mixed up zone, zone-to-man, and straight man and pressed a couple of possessions."
On the team's defense and OU having more turnovers than field goals in the last minute of the game ...
"We were forcing them into things. They were not able to run those picks and screens and isolate Courtney (Paris) in there. You play Courtney by fronting her, ball pressure and praying for help. That's the only way you can guard her. If you are going to stay behind, you are going see who's who in America like you did yesterday, because she's too good. You have to take chances. Our style of defense, that's how we do it. If other teams want to copy us, they need to come watch Coach (Vic) Schaefer teach practice every day on the defensive end. It works."
Texas A&M Senior Guard/Forward Danielle Gant
On the game ...
"It feels good to beat Oklahoma. Not just Oklahoma, but any team. It would have been great to beat any team here at home knowing we have a chance for the Big 12 title tomorrow."
Texas A&M Sophomore Guard Sydney Colson
On the team's intensity and play ...
"We were just mentally prepared this time to go out there and defend anybody. We know that at Texas A&M, our style of play is just to come after them hard, get steals and get out in transition. We just wanted to do the best job we could, whether she was in there or not."
