Texas A&M
23-7, 10-6
Texas
22-10, 10-6
No. 11 Aggies Advance To Big 12 Semis With 77-64 Win Over Texas
Mar 12, 2010 | Women's Basketball
March 12, 2010
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Aggies' big three came through again.
Tanisha Smith scored 21 points and Danielle Adams and Tyra White added 18 apiece as No. 11 Texas A&M used a big second-half run for a 77-64 victory over No. 15 Texas in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal Friday.
Smith, White and Adams entered the game accounting for 54 percent of Texas A&M's scoring this season. But in their first game of the Big 12 tournament, the trio from the Kansas City area one-upped themselves by providing 74 percent of the Aggies' offense.
"These Kansas City kids - 57 points between the three of them - it's very special to be able to bring them back home," Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.
The Aggies advanced to a semifinal Saturday against undefeated and third-ranked Nebraska, which got 24 points from Kelsey Griffin in a 63-46 victory over Kansas State.
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Tanisha Smith [mp3] |
Smith, White and Adams sparked a 20-2 run to build a double-digit lead midway through the second half that put Texas A&M in control.
The Aggies (23-7) shot only 40 percent, but were picked up by timely scoring and efficient guard play. The trio accounted for 35 of the Aggies' first 40 points, including the final 27 of the first half.
"It was like a home game for us," Adams said.
After Ashleigh Fontenette's two free throws gave Texas a 40-38 lead early in the second half, the Aggies responded with their run to build a 16-point lead with 9 minutes left. Smith, White and Adams combined for 13 of the 20 points.
Sydney Colson hit a big 3-pointer during the Aggies' 20-2 run before getting a steal and converting a layup to give Texas A&M a 62-45 lead with 8:07 left.
The Aggies had 20 assists on 29 field goals.
"We have outstanding guards," Blair said. "And you win with outstanding guards. They made great decisions tonight."
Texas, meanwhile, went nearly six minutes without a point during Texas A&M's spurt.
Fontenette scored 21 points for Texas (22-10), but the Longhorns committed 26 turnovers and struggled to score against the Aggies' aggressive defense.
"That was the name of the game," Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said. "You can't score if you don't have the ball. We just gave them too many opportunities and they took advantage of it."
For 24 minutes stretching from the first half into the second, only Smith, White and Adams scored for the Aggies. They combined for 29 of Texas A&M's 34 first-half points.
The trio propelled fourth-seeded Texas A&M past the fifth-seeded Longhorns for the eighth consecutive time, including three meetings this season.
"Every time we play A&M they give us their best game and we give them our worst," said Texas' Brittainey Raven.
The Longhorns, who had pulled away from 12th-seed Missouri in the final minutes on Thursday, routinely turned the ball over and never appeared comfortable offensively against A&M.
The Longhorns actually a higher shooting percentage than the Aggies, but they took 19 fewer shots because of their turnovers.
"We tightened up our defense," Smith said. "We had a couple of steals and looked up in transition. That's basically where our points came from."
The Aggies last won the Big 12 championship in 2008, the last time the tournament was played in Kansas City.
"If Nebraska is going to lose," Goestenkors said, "I think it's going to be tomorrow."
The Aggies will face third-ranked, top-seeded and undefeated Nebraska (30-0) in the first of two semifinal games on Saturday, March 13 at noon (CT). The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the seventh time this season and seventh consecutive game, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Tanisha Smith, Damitria Buchanan (6-1). The Aggies are on a roll and have now won seven of their last eight games of the season.
• With the victory, A&M continues to dominate the all-time series with Texas winning eight-straight including 10 out of the last 11 meetings between the two in-state rivals. The last six consecutive games have been won in double digits. The Aggies improve to 2-1 in all-time Big 12 Championship games played versus the Longhorns.
• The win also marked the third time in school history in which A&M beat a conference opponent three times in a season next to Baylor as members of the old Southwest Conference during the 1993-94 season and Houston as members of the SWC in 1988-89.
• The Aggies will make their fifth consecutive appearance (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) in the Big 12 Championship semifinals since the 2006 tournament was held in Dallas. A&M is only the second league school to make five-straight semifinal appearances next to Iowa State (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002).
• Adaora Elonu brought down a career-high 11 rebounds against the Longhorns. She has led the Aggies in the rebounding column on six occasions this season and for the third-straight game.
• Tanisha Smith turned in her seventh 20-point game of her career with a game-high tying 21 points versus Texas.
• Tanisha Smith (106) and Sydney Colson (112) to give A&M three players reach 100+ assists in a single season for the first time in the Gary Blair Era and in program history.
• A&M's Kansas City natives Tanisha Smith (21), Danielle Adams (18) and Tyra White (18) combined for 57 of the team's 77 points versus the Longhorns. It matched a season-high 57 points the trio contributed in a 106-56 blowout of Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2, 2009.
• The Aggie defense forced Texas to commit a season-high 26 turnovers in the ballgame.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"We have outstanding guards. You win with guards and they made great decisions the whole night. Again the turnover battle, 26-14, was the huge key. We were just trying to stay even with them on the boards and we did a pretty good job. Their bigs did not hurt us as much as they could have. Cokie Reed is a monster in there and Ashley Gayle is a great defensive player. I thought we made good decisions. We picked the right times to run set plays. We struggled in the first half with our zone offense and we didn't have a transition game in the first half. We thought we were going to run into problems, but I thought we did well against their press. We made about one forced turnover, and other than that, we handled the ball well. These Kansas City kids, 57 points between the three of them. It's special to be able to bring them back home and they're the most unselfish kids you've ever seen in your life. They will pass the ball and they will defend. When you look at Tanisha's line with five steals, most of them in the first half, those were big steals along with her assists. Sydney Colson came in off the bench and gave us the spark that we had to have, because we were standing around the perimeter against their zone. I wanted to push the ball and I wanted her to create offense off of the dribble which she did. We're not on a mission. We're just taking this thing one game at a time. That's all we can do. I just like my basketball team right now."
Texas A&M Senior Guard/Forward Tanisha Smith
On playing back home in Kansas City ...
"Well, it was exciting playing here. I haven't played here in years. At the same time, we're here in Kansas City, but we're representing the team on the front of our jersey. So, it doesn't matter if we were in Oklahoma City. We still had to execute and do what we did today."
Texas A&M Junior Forward/Center Danielle Adams
On playing against Texas' zone and going on a 13-0 run in the second half ...
"We tightened up our defense. We had a couple of steals and looked up in transition and that's basically where our points came from - transition and knowing where each other were going to be. Tyra (White) is a good shooter and just finding her, that's it."
