Texas A&M
Oklahoma City
No. 6 Aggies Down OCU in Exhibition Opener
Nov 06, 2011 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS - Adaora Elonu scored 16 points, Tyra White and Kelsey Bone added 11 and No. 6 Texas A&M beat Oklahoma City University 84-63 in exhibition play Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 4,109 at Reed Arena.
Elonu, a senior forward from Houston, was 6-of-8 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe while adding three blocks. Also a product of Houston, Big 12 Conference Preseason Newcomer of the Year Bone grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and Preseason All-Big 12 selection White (Kansas City, Mo.) added a game-high four steals.
All 14 players on the A&M roster saw action in the preseason victory and everyone contributed at least a basket.
A layup by Elonu 1:38 into the game put A&M ahead to say. The Aggies only added to their lead behind their signature defense, forcing 20 OCU turnovers and limiting the Stars to just 32 percent shooting.
OCU hit four of its first seven shots, before defensive adjustments by the Aggies held the Stars to just one field goal over the next 11 minutes. During that stretch, A&M increased to its largest lead of the half, 32-16.
The Aggies went into the locker room with a 38-28 halftime lead.
OCU made only two baskets in the first 8-and-a-half minutes of the second half and Texas A&M bumped up its lead to 70-44 with a layup by sophomore Karla Gilbert with just under 8 minutes remaining in the game.
The Aggies shot 56 percent on the afternoon with 12 blocks, 23 assists and 40 points in the paint. OCU was led in scoring by Lauren Gober, who tallied 18 points.
Also for the Aggies, Big 12 Preseason Co-Freshman of the Year Alexia Standish contributed 8 points and four assists. Sharing point guard duties with Standish was junior Adrienne Pratcher who dished out six assists. Senior Sydney Carter added seven points while junior Kristi Bellock pulled down six rebounds.
A&M officially commences the 2011-12 season against Lamar on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena. Tickets are available now by visiting tickets.12thmanfoundation.com or by calling 1-888-99-AGGIE.
POSTGAME NOTES
Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Adrienne Pratcher, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Kelsey Bone...The Aggie bench combined for 36 of the team's 84 points and outscored OCU's bench 36-12...A&M converted 20 OCU turnovers into 21 points...The Aggies shot 61 percent from the floor and committed just three turnovers in the second half.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
Opening statement
"I was able to play 14 players against about seven or eight most of the time, but I made up my mind I didn't want to play anyone over 20 minutes. I ended up having Adaora (Elonu) and Tyra (White) have to play 22. I needed to see who's going to be ready to help me with Lamar and with Louisville.
"This was the perfect team to play because it was a dribble-drive team that showed and exploited a lot of our weaknesses on defense. We may run drills, but drill don't get it done like a live situation. Our kids came out in the second half and did what we were supposed to and as a result we ended up shooting 56 percent. It's a starting point and now we're going to go to work. Boy was I pleased with that crowd. I cannot wait until next Saturday night against Lamar."
On Alexia Standish's play:
"Outstanding. (Adrienne) Pratcher was having trouble stopping penetration, and when you have trouble stopping penetration, you're going to foul. I could've stopped all of that by putting (Sydney) Carter on the point guard, but I can't have her guard everyone on the court. It was a great learning experience for Pratcher and Standish. Standish shot the ball very well and played within herself. I really liked her poise more than anything. I run a lot of stuff on offense and the majority of the time she had the team where they needed to be."
On Kelsey Bone's play:
"Offensively in the first half, she didn't know how to score in a crowd and was missing some bunnies. Near the end, I think she realized the game's going to pass you by if you don't play both ends of the court. Her and Karla (Gilbert) both have to learn how to guard a 5'10 or 5'11' kids who are going to drive the ball. You can't slouch on them and you have to be ready to guard on the drive."
On getting outrebounded:
"It's horrible, absolutely horrible and all of the sudden in the second half we only turned it over three times. That was a positive, but the offensive rebounding the whole night was a negative. I guarantee we'll be in a whole lot of rebounding drills, but you also have to understand that they shot 31 percent so they're going to have more opportunities. Sometimes they were just throwing it up trying to draw fouls, but we were contesting and blocking shots pretty well."
SENIOR FORWARD ADAORA ELONU
On the exhibition game:
"I thought it was exciting. You get tired of playing the same people and knowing what they're running. It's a little less predictable. I think we started out a little shaky. We didn't communicate well, but those were nerves. Once we got settled in we started playing how we were supposed to."
On forcing 20 OCU turnovers:
"Our pressure was okay, which is probably why they got so many boards everywhere. I thought our pressure was good, contesting shots and making them drive to the lane.
On matching last year's season high in blocks (12) in the first exhibition game:
"I think it goes back to the defense - feeding them (OCU) into the paint and the secondary defense coming up to help. The height was great and helped a lot. Karla (Gilbert) is a great secondary defender, but the secondary defense helped a lot."
On getting to play multiple players off the bench:
"It just adds depth for Coach (Blair) to put players in and let them know they can score and get good looks."
SENIOR GUARD TYRA WHITE
On the exhibition game:
"It gave everyone a lot of confidence. Alexia came in on fire and I think Tori (Scott) and the rest of my teammates came in and did well. I think for them (the younger players) to get their feet wet and get some experience is really good for our team. Our secondary defense did really well with Adaora and Kelsey (Assarian) taking charges, so that helped us a lot."
FRESHMAN GUARD ALEXIA STANDISH
On her first exhibition game:
"It was kind of nerve-wracking, but I got a lot of my nerves out in the Maroon and White game, so I was a bit more prepared for this game."
