Jan. 12, 2010
Iowa State Game Notes in PDF Format 
#8/8 TEXAS A&M (13-1, 1-0) vs. #RV/20 IOWA STATE (12-2, 0-1)
Game #15
January 13, 2010 • 7:00 p.m. (CT)
Reed Arena (12,989)
at College Station, Texas
Television: None
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network (KZNE 1150 AM)
Series History: Iowa State Leads 14-4
Internet: Free Live Statistics and Live Video at www.AggieAthletics.com
GAME PREVIEW
The eighth-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (13-1, 1-0) carries a six-game winning streak into its second consecutive top 25 matchup in as many as five days with the likes of 20th-ranked Iowa State (12-2, 0-1) on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at Reed Arena. The Aggies and Cyclones will tipoff the team's Big 12 Conference home opener at 7 p.m. (CT). A&M opened up league play on a high note with a 21-point victory at then-No. 15 Texas (91-70) on Jan. 9 in Austin. The Aggies, who are usually known for their pressure defense, currently boast the fourth-best scoring offense (83.9) and third-best field goal percentage (49.0) in the country. It may be too early in the season, but historically, no other A&M squad has averaged more than 79.7 points per game or 47.4 percent from the floor in 36 years of Aggie Basketball. A&M is one of seven conference schools who remain undefeated at home this season with a perfect 6-0 mark showing just how tough it is to play on the road in the Big 12. The Aggies were one of only two teams next to Nebraska to travel and come away with season-opening victories over the weekend.
HALF-PRICE HOLIDAY HOOPS PROMOTION
Texas A&M Athletics is pleased to offer the Half-Price Holiday Hoops ticket promotion for Aggie women's basketball games during the holiday season at Reed Arena. The special holiday hoops ticket concludes with the team's Big 12 Conference home opener versus Iowa State on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Tickets start as low as $2.50. Fans can purchase Half-Price Holiday Hoops tickets online at: http://tickets.12thmanfoundation.com.
EYEING THE CYCLONES
Iowa State is coming off a 27-9 NCAA Elite Eight campaign, one of only three teams in the Big 12 along with Texas A&M and Oklahoma to reach the regional finals in the last two years. The Cyclones are paced by preseason All-Big 12 performer Alison Lacey who currently leads the nation with an impressive 4.08 assist-to-turnover ratio and ranks sixth nationally in assists per game (7.0). She recently registered 23 points in a 57-49 loss to Nebraska on Jan. 9 in Ames which snapped an 11-game ISU winning streak dating back to a 78-38 win versus Penn on Nov. 27. As a team, the Cyclones' zone defense has held opponents to just 51.1 points per game which ranks eighth nationally.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2009-10 Stats)
#51 Sydney Colson, G, 5-8, Jr. (7.4 ppg, 5.1 apg)
#20 Tyra White, G, 6-0, RS-So. (10.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg)
#22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Sr. (17.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg)
#21 Adaora Elonu, F, 6-1, So. (9.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
#2 Damitria Buchanan, F, 6-2, Sr. (3.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg)
IOWA STATE
No. Name (2009-10 Stats)
#4 Alison Lacey, G, 6-0, Sr. (17.6 ppg, 7.0 apg)
#10 Denae Stuckey, G, 5-8, Sr. (5.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
#11 Kelsey Bolte, G, 6-1, Jr. (11.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg)
#23 Chassidy Cole, G, 5-8, So. (3.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg)
#33 Chelsea Poppens, F, 6-2, Fr. (9.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
SERIES HISTORY
Iowa State leads 14-4 in the all-time series against Texas A&M. The Aggies, however, have won two out of the last three meetings between the two schools including their last victory in the series, a 65-53 rout of the Cyclones in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament held on March 13, 2008 in Kansas City. Three of A&M's victories in the 18-game series have been won at home in College Station in 2008 (60-46), 2006 (64-53) and 2002 (88-71).
CYCLONE REWIND
No. 4 Texas A&M had a season-low scoring effort which contributed to a 67-50 loss at No. 21 Iowa State, 67-50, before a crowd of 10,278 at Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 4, 2009 in Ames, Iowa. Tanisha Smith at the 15:39 minute mark of the first half. Three Iowa State players reached double digits including a game-high 25 points by Heather Ezell who connected on 7-of-13 three-pointers from downtown including four-straight threes to open up the second half of play which would hamper any comeback made by A&M. The Cyclones would go on to win the battle of the boards with an opponent season-high 43. Kelsey Bolte had 13 of the Cyclones' 33 first-half points and ended the night with 17, while Amanda Nisleit added 10. With less than six seconds on the game clock, Alison Lacey pushed the ball up the court and heaved a last-second three to send ISU into the locker room with a 33-21 lead. Though the Cyclones shot just 37.5 percent from the field in the first half, they beat the Aggies 11-0 on the offensive glass and scored 12 second-chance points. A&M had a short run courtesy of Starks, Danielle Gant and Sydney Colson after the break, but could not erase its 12-point halftime deficit to any fewer than 10 in the second half. Colson and Gant contributed six points in the road loss.
ASK THE MAGIC THREE-BALL
A downtown party will most likely erupt on Wednesday as both the Aggies and Cyclones rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation and in the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage. A&M is knocking down the three-ball with a 43.7 percent accuracy, while Iowa State comes in at a close second at 43.2 percent. Five players have drained 10-or-more threes this season and the Aggies can credit their successful marksmanship to team-leader Tanisha Smith (42.9%).
FROM THE SIDELINES
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 4-5 lifetime versus Iowa State in his 25 years as a Division I head coach. All of his four career victories against the Cyclones have been won at home or in Big 12 Tournament play with the Aggies. He and Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly are known as the friendliest and ultimate good guys in the coaching profession. Blair (550) and Fennelly (485), who is in his 22nd year as a Division I head coach, rank No. 1 and No. 2 among current Big 12 coaches in overall career victories - more than a 1,000 combined wins by the two deans of the league.
• The Aggies are 5-8 all-time in their Big 12 home openers. Last season, they defeated Texas Tech (67-56) on Jan. 13, 2009 in College Station after picking up a 62-56 road win at Missouri in Columbia, Mo., to open up the 2009 league campaign. It marked the team's first-ever 2-0 start in Big 12 play since the league's inception in 1996-97.
• A&M went 5-1 against Big 12 North schools a year ago, its second best record versus the North behind a perfect 6-0 mark under Blair in 2005-06. Iowa State was the only Northern counterpart to elude the Aggies in 2008-09.
TEXAS RECAP
Texas A&M 91, Texas 70
• With the win, the Aggies have now won eight out of the last nine meetings and sixth-straight contest between the two in-state rivals. It marked only their 18th victory over the Longhorns in the all-time series and only the sixth time to win on the road in Austin. The 21-point margin of victory was the third-largest overall win by A&M in the series behind a 24-point win (98-74) on March 3, 1998 at the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City and a 22-point win (86-68) on Feb. 18, 1998 in College Station. It marked the fourth time to beat Texas by 20-or-more points in the series including a 20-point win (73-53) on Feb. 8, 2006 in Austin.
• The Aggies have now won their Big 12 opener for the fifth time in league history and fourth time on the road.
• A&M's 91 points versus Texas tied for the third-most points scored against a Big 12 Conference opponent all-time in the 14-year history of the league. The Aggies previously scored 91 points versus Oklahoma on Jan. 21, 1998 in College Station. It was tied for the second-most points in regular-season action. A&M ironically knocked down a league-high 98 points versus UT on March 3, 1998 in league tournament play and 94 points in an overtime regular-season game at Oklahoma State on Feb. 15, 1997.
• Tanisha Smith registered a game-high 28 points which marked her fourth 20-point game this season and fifth of her career. It marked her best performance in three career games played against Texas and her best career outing in Big 12 play to date. She also tied her career best in assists (7) versus the Longhorns. Her 28 points were the second-most points scored by an Aggie in a Big 12 game behind 29 points by former great Takia Starks against Texas Tech on Feb. 17, 2008.
• Danielle Adams turned in her first career double-double with a career-high 10 rebounds and 18 points in her Big 12 debut. Adams is currently on a six-game double-digit scoring streak.
• Adaora Elonu scored all eight of A&M's first points of the ballgame in the first three minutes of regulation. It was the second best half for Elonu (10 points) of her career and the best this season. She ended the night with 14.
• With one of the nation's and league's top scoring offenses (83.3), the Aggies have now scored 80-or-more points against two top 25 opponents this season including 95 versus No. 6 Duke to open up the season on Nov. 15. It also marked the fifth time this season to knock down 90-or-more points in a contest. A&M has now beaten back-to-back opponents by 90-or-more points along with Lamar (90) in its non-conference closer on Jan. 4.
• The A&M defense held Texas' top two leading scorers to two points or less in the first half of play in Brittainey Raven (2) and Kathleen Nash (0). The Aggies' pressure also caused the Longhorns to shoot just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from the floor which marked the worst shooting percentage in the first half by an opponent this season.
• Offensively, the Aggies scored the second most points this season against the Longhorns in the first half (44) behind defending national champion Connecticut (48). Only four total opponents this season have done so including Tennessee (41) and Oral Roberts (40).
AGGIE NOTABLE QUOTABLES
"We know that our crowd is going to give us a ton of energy. We are excited knowing that it's our first Big 12 game at home. This is going to be a game that we have to win. Beating Texas in Austin has given us momentum going into this home game and the road games we have to play. I know we are going to come out hard and execute offensively. We have to do a good job of handling their three-point shooters. They are a team that's not going to foul us a lot. We are not going to be able to settle for threes in their zone. We will have to try to penetrate and do everything to get our shots up. We have to contest their shots and not foul them like we put the team to the line 43 times at Texas. We are very excited about this game. It will be a good test for us and we are ready." - Texas A&M junior point guard Sydney Colson on the team's Big 12 home opener versus Iowa State
"We know that Iowa State's point guard (Alison Lacey) likes to keep the ball in her hands up until the last few seconds on the clock and she'll drive it on us, dish it or try to find a way to score. We are doing a good job in practice. We are starting to fix our weaknesses and getting on the same page defensive wise. Offensively, we are out there scoring a larger amount of points, but it's our defense that has to start clicking. We are doing well in first halves of games, but we have to be a better closing team." - Texas A&M senior guard/forward Tanisha Smith on defending Iowa State
ON THE MOVE
Texas A&M moved up two spots to No. 8 in both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches Top 25 Poll this week. The Aggies have been ranked as high as No. 5 this season and are 4-0 against ranked opponents this season. They are the highest-ranked team in the Big 12 Conference followed by preseason favorite and No. 9 Baylor, No. 11/9 Nebraska, No. 13 Oklahoma, No. 15/19 Oklahoma State, No. 19/21 Texas and No. 20 Iowa State.
2009-10 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 POLL
1. Connecticut (40)
2. Stanford
3. Notre Dame
4. Tennessee
5. Ohio State
6. Georgia
7. Duke
8. Texas A&M
9. Baylor
10. North Carolina
11. Nebraska
12. LSU
13. Oklahoma
14. Xavier
15. Oklahoma State
16. Florida State
17. UW-Green Bay
18. West Virginia
19. Texas
20. Michigan State
21. Georgia Tech
22. TCU
23. Virginia
24. Georgetown
25. Miami (Fla.)
2009-10 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES TOP 25 POLL
1. Connecticut (31)
2. Stanford
3. Notre Dame
4. Tennessee
5. Ohio State
6. Georgia
7. Duke
8. Texas A&M
9T. Nebraska
9T. Baylor
11. North Carolina
12. Xavier
13. West Virginia
13. Oklahoma
15. LSU
16. Florida State
17. Wisconsin-Green Bay
18. Georgetown
19. Oklahoma State
20. Iowa State
21. Texas
22. Vanderbilt
23. Michigan State
24. Virginia
25. Syracuse
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women's basketball games 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 Reed Arena alongside color analyst Tap Bentz on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.