No. 9 Texas A&M Seeks Big 12 Championship Three-Peat Sunday
Mar 15, 2009 | Women's Basketball
March 15, 2009
Big 12 Championship Game Notes in PDF Format 
#4 TEXAS A&M (25-6) vs. #2 BAYLOR (26-5)
Game #32
Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship Game
March 15, 2009 • 12:30 p.m. (CT)
Cox Convention Center (13,297)
at Oklahoma City, Okla.
Television: Fox Sports Net
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network (KZNE 1150 AM)
Series History: Baylor Leads 41-35
Internet: Live statistics available on www.Big12Sports.com
GAME PREVIEW
Like the great championship teams of late in the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Major League Baseball's New York Yankees, the ninth-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (25-6) will seek a three-peat in arguably the nation's toughest conference from top-to-bottom. It is evident as the fourth-seeded Aggies will have faced three consecutive ranked opponents en route to their second-straight appearance in the title match of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Championship on Sunday, March 15 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. A&M will take on second-seeded and seventh-ranked Baylor (26-5) in a top 10 showdown scheduled to tip-off at 12:30 p.m. (CT) on Fox Sports Net. The trifecta has only happened twice in Big 12 women's basketball history with Texas Tech in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and Oklahoma in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Perhaps, three times the charm for the Aggies who have won seven out of their last eight games of the season in grand fashion. Five have come against top 25 competition in their current seven-game stretch including A&M's 74-62 upset of top-seeded and third-ranked Oklahoma in Saturday's semifinals. With only 90 miles that separate each schools' campuses in central Texas, the Aggies and Lady Bears are eight days removed from last facing each other on March 7 in Waco, Texas. Both teams' regular-season meetings were decided by four points or less in favor of BU. There will be familiarity on the court, as A&M faced all three of its Big 12 Championship opponents in its last four games leading up to the season finale.
WATCH IT LIVE
The Big 12 championship game between the Aggies and Lady Bears will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net. Play-by-play announcer Kevin Eschenfelder, color analyst Debbie Antonelli and sideline reporter Brenda VanLengen will call the action live from the Cox Convention Center. The broadcast will be carried live on Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Detroit (Plus), Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports North, FSN Northwest, Fox Sports Ohio, FSN Rocky Mountain, Fox Sports South (non-Grizzlies), Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Houston, Fox Sports West, Comcast Bay Area, Comcast Chicago and MSG Network. Delayed broadcasts will be aired on FSN Pittsburgh, Fox Sports Wisconsin, Comcast Mid Atlantic and Comcast Philadelphia.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
A win by either team could clinch them a No. 2 seed in the upcoming 2009 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship 64-team field set to be announced on Selection Monday on March 16 at 6 p.m. (CT) on ESPN. Texas A&M has played the fifth-and sixth-toughest schedule in the nation according to CollegeRPI.com and the Jeff Sagarin/CBN Women's College Basketball Ratings. The Aggies have been ranked among the top 10 teams in the country in both national polls for most of the balance of the season with an impressive 10-4 record against the top 25. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme projected A&M as a No. 3 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional playing the first-and-second rounds in Albuquerque, N.M., while CollegeRPI.com predicted a No. 3 seed in the Raleigh Regional playing in Albuquerque as well.
TRACKING THE LADY BEARS
Baylor is making its fourth all-time appearance in the Big 12 championship game after getting past third-seeded Iowa State, 63-57, in Saturday's semifinal nightcap. The Lady Bears finished second in the final conference standings with a 12-4 mark under ninth-year head coach Kim Mulkey, who starred for current BU assistant coach Leon Barmore and his former assistant, Gary Blair, at Louisiana Tech from 1980-84. Four years ago, Baylor defeated Kansas State in the title match of the 2005 Big 12 Championship which eventually led to the program's first-ever national championship title. BU is still without the services of leading scorer and rebounder Danielle Wilson who suffered a knee injury against rival Texas on Feb. 28. The Lady Bears are currently paced by senior forward Jessica Morrow who is averaging 10.3 points per game and had a season-best 23-point performance versus the Aggies on Senior Day on March 7 in Waco.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#51 Sydney Colson, G, 5-8, So. (6.6 ppg, 3.0 apg)
#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Sr. (15.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
#22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Jr. (9.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
#55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Sr. (13.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg)
#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Sr. (2.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg)
BAYLOR
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#21 Kelli Griffin, G, 5-8, So. (6.6 ppg, 3.7 apg)
#15 Jhasmin Player, G, 5-10, Sr. (10.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg)
#3 Jessica Morrow, F, 6-0, Sr. (11.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg)
#14 Rachel Allison, F, 6-1, Sr. (8.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
#24 Ashley Field, C, 6-2, Fr. (3.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg)
SERIES NOTES
Baylor holds a six-game advantage in the all-time series with Texas A&M at 41-35. The Lady Bears are 2-0 lifetime against the Aggies in Big 12 Championship games as well as on the season. The Aggies have won three out of the last six meetings between the two Brazos rivals dating back to a 60-52 (+8) road win on Jan. 13, 2007 in Waco, Texas, to a 72-53 (+19) victory over then No. 8-ranked Baylor on March 1, 2008 in College Station which is the Aggies' second largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent in school history.
BAYLOR REWIND
A valiant second-half rally by No. 8 Texas A&M fell short as No. 5 Baylor held on for a 64-60 victory before a sellout crowd of 10,118 at the Ferrell Center on March 7 in Waco. A&M trailed by double digits at halftime, 34-24, but a furious second-half comeback led by Tanisha Smith and Danielle Gant tied the game at 44-44 with 11:23 remaining in regulation. For the final 11 minutes of the game, neither team led by more than five points, but Baylor's Jessica Morrow hit three field goals, including a pair of threes and was a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line over the final 3:15 to hold off the Aggies. Morrow led the Lady Bears with a season-high 23 points followed by 13 from fellow senior Jhasmin Player. Gant scored 11 points in the second half and finished with a team-high 16 points. She also had a career-and game-high six steals and pulled down 13 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season and the 18th of her career. Smith scored 12 in the second half, including 10 in the first seven minutes, and finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and a team-best six assists with one turnover.
AGGIE TOURNAMENT TIDBITS
• With its win over Oklahoma in the Big 12 semifinals, Texas A&M (7-2) tied OU (7-2) and Iowa State (7-3) for the most Big 12 postseason victories over the last four years. The Aggies improved their 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.
• A&M is among a select few league schools that have made back-to-back Big 12 championship game appearances seven times since the league's inception in 1996-97 including Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas, Iowa State and Texas Tech. The Cyclones are the only school to make it three championship game appearances in a row in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
• The Aggies have appeared in two all-time conference championship games prior to Sunday. A&M last defeated third-seeded Oklahoma State (64-59) in the 2008 title match to become the first No. 4 seed in Big 12 Conference women's basketball history to do so. The Aggies also appeared in the final Southwest Conference Tournament championship game in 1996. A&M won both and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. A&M's additional Big 12 hardware includes a shared regular-season title with Oklahoma in 2007. Both team's posted a 13-3 league record with the Aggies earning the No. 1 seed for the first time in program history.
OKLAHOMA RECAP
Texas A&M 74, Oklahoma 62
• For the 14th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Takia Starks, Tanisha Smith, 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. They also picked up their first-ever win against OU in the Big 12 Championship (1-2).
• A&M also posted its 25th victory of the season to tie for the third-most wins in school history.
• 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.
• 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).
AGGIE NOTEABLE QUOTABLES
"Danielle Gant just wants to win and isn't it a shame she is not on all of those All-America lists? All-America lists are about reputation and how many points you score. That's not how the game of basketball is played. It is about doing all of the little things. Gant does the little things and she's hard to guard. She's going to shoot free throws well. She wants the ball. She is going to guard everybody's best player. The most important thing is probably what she had done off the court academically by turning herself into a great academic student as well." - Texas A&M head coach Danielle Gant all-around game
"Don't y'all leave town tomorrow okay? I want to see all of the Oklahoma fans back in here tomorrow, because whoever wins this next game, it's going to be a shootout." - Coach Blair on an exciting Big 12 championship game to come
"The second time we played Baylor, we didn't play well on defense. We plan to come out with the same intensity that we did against OU on both the offensive and defensive ends. This may be the last time I get to play in Oklahoma City in front of my friends and family, so I'm really excited about playing in the championship game on Sunday." - Senior All-America candidate Danielle Gant on moving on to the Big 12 championship game against Baylor in her hometown of Oklahoma City
"I feel excited about our chances. We have worked very hard to get to this point. It is time for us to go out there and play hard. We lost to both teams (Iowa State and Baylor) in the regular season and we feel like we owe them. We have to do a much better job defensively and execute our offense to come out with the `W'. We just need to continue to help each other out on defense like we did against OU. When we have team chemistry like we do right now, it is hard to stop us." - Sophomore point guard Sydney Colson on reaching the Big 12 championship game for the second year in a row and what the team needs to tend to against Baylor
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women's basketball games at the Big 12 Championship can be heard via a radio broadcast on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Play-by-play announcer Mike Wright will call the action live from the Cox Convention Center alongside color analyst and former player Katy Pounds on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.
