Texas A&M
15-3 (3-2) 8/8
Baylor
15-4 (2-3) 14/16
No. 8 Aggies Drop Road Decision at Baylor, 61-53
Jan 27, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2010
Baylor Box Score in PDF Format 
The Lady Bears (15-4, 2-3) had fallen out of the Top 10 without Jones, losing three of the four games their junior guard missed because of a right leg injury described as a precursor to a stress fracture. Though Jones still appeared a bit gimpy at times, she was driving to the basket and diving to the floor after loose balls.
Brittney Griner, the 6-foot-8 freshman sensation, added 20 points and Kelli Griffin 13 for Baylor.
Tyra White had 19 points for Texas A&M (15-3, 3-2), which was held 28 points below its season average.
Baylor made 10-of-10 free throws in the final minute, including six by Griffin and two by Jones to counter a pair of 3-pointers by Texas A&M that got the Aggies within 55-50.
Jones didn't start, but the crowd at the Ferrell Center erupted in cheers when she got off the bench and went to the scorer's table less than a minute into the game.
On Baylor's next possession, Jones tied the game at 2-all--and the Lady Bears never trailed again--when she passed up a 3-pointer and stepped up for a short baseline jumper on her first shot since Jan. 2. Then she forced a turnover by White, who traveled trying to get away from Jones, and that set up a go-ahead free throw by Griffin.
Jones, the emotional fireplug for the Lady Bears, and senior forward Morghan Medlock are the only Baylor players who have been in the Lady Bears program more than two years. Medlock had 10 rebounds.
Baylor peaked at No. 5 in the AP poll the first week of January, the last poll before Jones missed her first game. The Lady Bears slipped from 10th to 14th after a surprising loss at Missouri last week.
After Jones had a steal that got Baylor the ball back with about 11 minutes left in the first half, she was fouled and knocked to the ground while driving the lane. She made the first free throw to make it 11-6.
There was then a lengthy delay while officials resolved a problem with the scorekeeper concerning A&M's roster that resulted in a technical foul. Frustrated Baylor coach Kim Mulkey was twirling her fingers as to hurry everything up and when Jones finally got to shoot free throws, she made both of them for a 17-6 lead.
White scored six points in a 22-second span for Texas A&M. She hit a 3-pointer and, following a Baylor miss, had a breakaway layup and a free throw to make it 17-12. But the Aggies never got closer than that.
Baylor had a three-on-one break after another steal by Jones. Shanay Washington drove, dished off to the left to Jones, who then passed the ball to Kelli Griffin for an easy layup.
Jones had 10 points and five rebounds by halftime, when Baylor led 30-18.
The Aggies will host No. 15/17 Oklahoma State (17-3, 5-1) on Sunday, Jan. 31 at noon (CT) at Reed Arena. The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the first time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Tanisha Smith, Adaora Elonu, Danielle Adams (0-1). Adams made her fifth career start and second in Big 12 Conference play.
• Tyra White scored a career-and team-high 19 points which marked her 11th game this season in double figures. She has now reached double digits in the last three-straight contests versus Big 12 competition including Texas Tech (11) and Oklahoma (18). It was the fourth time this year in which she led the team in scoring. White also reset a career best in field goals made (8) and tied a career-best with two steals against the Lady Bears.
• The Aggies trailed their opponent at halftime for only the second time this season. Both have been against league and nationally-ranked foes including a 74-65 loss at No. 13 Oklahoma on Jan. 17 in Norman, Okla.
• A&M's 18 first-half points were its fewest since trailing 28-18 at halftime against rival Texas on Jan. 21, 2007 in Austin, Texas.
• Tanisha Smith grabbed a career-high tying 10 of the team's 41 rebounds in the ballgame. A&M outboarded Baylor, 41-35. The Lady Bears came into the contest with a +12.7 rebounding margin over their opponents.
• The Aggies shot a season-low 34.4 percent (21-of-61) from the floor and season-low 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from beyond the arc versus the Lady Bears. A&M also scored a season-low 53 points for the game one point less than a 56-54 road loss at TCU on Dec. 12.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"Give Baylor a lot of credit. They didn't do anything special. They just executed a lot better than we did particularly on the offensive end in the first half. They were running their sets. We had some great shots in the first half. We work against a 6-foot-6 guy every day in practice who jumps just as high as Brittney (Griner). We just didn't get it done. Once you play her for the first time, it didn't bother Missouri and some other teams, but it bothered us tonight. Her presence was very good. Her alternating and blocking shots. That's why she is who she is. She's a great player. The difference in the ballgame was Melissa Jones. Her attitude makes everybody else on that team play hard. I have kids who play hard as well. They (Baylor) would not be 1-3, if Jones was there for the first four ballgames. Maybe, it's growing pains. Maybe, it's good for Kim's (Mulkey) freshmen to grow up and learn how to take responsibility. It's a long season. But, Jones looked like she was playing hurt out there with one leg and just gutted it out and kept going. That's shows a lot of class. They only got 10 offensive boards, but it seemed like 20. Our defense did an adequate job, as good as you can do. But, my offense, we just didn't hit shots until late in the second half, and by then, you have to have a balance. You have to have inside and outside (scoring), no matter who is in the middle for the other team. The shots that we had, we just didn't knock down."
Texas A&M Sophomore Guard Tyra White
On her team-high 19 points in the ballgame ...
"I basically wanted to step up for my team. In the beginning of the game, we were rushing our shots and were affected by Brittney's (Griner) presence. After halftime, we finally started to take it all in and tried to get some fouls and get to the free throw line."
Texas A&M Junior Point Guard Sydney Colson
On the team cutting at the lead in the second half ...
"In this game, we were doing a much better job trying to dig into the lead - the most at any point was five or six. We were down at Oklahoma by 16 and we didn't do a good job like this. This time around, I saw a lot more fight in my team. In the huddle, we were ready to go. I could see the intensity in my teammate's eyes. But, we didn't come up with the big stops, when we needed them. If we did a get a stop, we didn't convert on the other end. We did a much better job in the second half defensively and offensively and executing the offense, but it was too little, too late. We picked it up a little more in the second half. We were knocking down shots and we were being a little more aggressive. The turnovers in the first half were a big problem for us. The fouling killed us and the turnovers. It wasn't enough in the end, even though we fought hard."
Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey
On the game ...
"I thought we did a good job early on in not letting A&M do what they do well - getting in the passing lanes and being aggressive. We took it to the basket. Consequently, we got some fouls and went to the free throw line."
