Texas A&M
21-3, (9-2) #5/5
Baylor
24-1,(11-0) #1/1
No. 5 Texas A&M Falls to Top-Ranked Baylor, 67-58
Feb 14, 2011 | Women's Basketball
WACO, Texas (AP) - Brittney Griner scored 23 of her 26 points after halftime for top-ranked Baylor, including three consecutive baskets late to put the Lady Bears ahead for good as they survived another close call against No. 5 Texas A&M with a 67-58 victory Monday night.
The Lady Bears (24-1, 11-0 Big 12) have won 21 consecutive games. Only two of their victories this season have been by less than 11 points, and both have come in the past 16 days against the Aggies (21-3, 9-2).
Baylor, which trailed most of the game, finally went ahead to stay when Kimetria Hayden grabbed an A&M miss and got the ball to Griner for a layup and a 57-56 lead with 3 minutes left. After Big 12 scoring leader Danielle Adams missed for A&M, Griner scored again.
Texas A&M, which lost 63-60 at home to Baylor on Jan. 30, then had a turnover before Griner scored inside.
Adams, coming off an A&M-record 40 points Saturday against Kansas, had a season-low nine points on 5-of-16 shooting. She came into the game averaging 23.7 points, just more than Griner's 22.4 average.
Griner, the 6-foot-8 sophomore sensation, came up big when it counted most in a game matching the Big 12's top two teams and also had 11 rebounds for her 24th career double-double. Freshman Odyssey Sims added 22 points for the Lady Bears.
Tyra White had a career-high 29 points and was the only player in double figures for Texas A&M, which was held to a season-low 31 percent shooting (22 of 71).
White scored the first 13 points in the second half for the Aggies, including all their points in an 11-2 run she capped with a 3-pointer that made it 42-35 with just over 12 minutes left.
The Lady Bears started their comeback with two inside baskets by Griner that got them within 49-47. Then Hayden had a steal and a breakaway layup to tie the game at 49-49 with 5:46 left.
Adams scored on a drive to give the Aggies a 54-50 lead before a three-point play by Griner.
White then made two free throws before Destiny Williams had a layup and Griner followed with her game-deciding spurt.
Baylor trailed most of the first half, and didn't lead until a 12-2 run during which Sims scored the first 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Sims then had the assist on Griner's layup that capped the spurt and put the Lady Bears up 27-22 with just over 4 minutes before halftime.
Right before that, Griner dribbled inside and was immediately covered by defenders. She passed the ball to Sims on the left wing, for a 3-pointer that broke a 22-all tie and gave Baylor its first lead.
Texas A&M had a 16-8 lead midway through the first half after Sydney Carter made a 3-pointer and White had a three-point play.
Sims had 15 of her points by halftime, when the game was tied 29-all. She didn't score in the second half until a free throw with about 5 minutes left that made it 50-all.
Up next, A&M returns home for a pair of Big 12 games versus Oklahoma State on Saturday, Feb. 19 and against Texas Tech on Tuesday, Feb. 22. The Aggies tip off against the Cowgirls at 6 p.m. at Reed Arena.
POSTGAME NOTES
- For the 17th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Sydney Colson, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Danielle Adams. The Aggies are 14-3 with this starting lineup.
- The Aggies fell to 35-46 in the all-time series with Baylor.
- The Aggies held the Lady Bears to just 38.5 percent shooting (10-of-26) in the first half. BU ranks fifth in the nation and normally averages 47.9 percent from the floor.
- A&M grabbed 25 rebounds in the first half, the second-most it has all season.
- Tyra White's career-best 29 points came on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. She also pulled down eight rebounds.
- Karla Gilbert grabbed a career-high eight rebounds against Baylor.
- Danielle Adams was named Big 12 Player of the Week earlier today. It was her fourth award this season and the fifth of her career.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gary Blair
On the game…
"I'm proud of these young ladies and proud of this basketball team. The nation got to see the No. 1 and the No. 5 team in the country and we played like it. The national television audience got to see two teams that both have the capability of going to the Final Four and we did everything right until the last three-and-a-half minutes. We didn't make good decisions down the stretch. They did everything right for probably the last 10 minutes of the game. They did a great job of getting the ball down to (Brittney) Griner and she finished. What a great atmosphere and a great crowd. Give credit to Baylor. They did what they had to and had a great comeback."
On Danielle Adams guarding Brittney Griner with four fouls down the stretch…
"It wasn't a good situation. Danielle (Adams) and (Sydney) Colson both know they have to play better in the big games and they will because they've played great all year. This is the first time in 32 games that Danielle hasn't scored in double figures, but she still played her heart out. Baylor really contested her well."
On coming so close to defeating Baylor…
"It was the same story at our place and the same story for the last seven times we've played Baylor. Folks, I'm not giving up trying. I'm going to keep banging on that door until we get it done and that's how much respect I have for Baylor and how much respect I have for my team. We'll keep finding a way, but I can guarantee Baylor doesn't want to jump in and play us tomorrow or anything like that."
On Tyra White's performance…
"Just smooth. I was running out of plays to call for her, because we called everything we had for her. She's been our most consistent player all year, we just haven't needed her in the past couple games because we could go down low with Danielle (Adams). Tyra is like your silent assassin. She's one of the quietest kids we have on our team but I'm proud of her tonight."
SENIOR FORWARD/CENTER Danielle Adams
On the game…
"We played well the first half and held Brittney (Griner) to three points. Tyra (White) had a tremendous game tonight and (Sydney) Carter did her best on Odyssey (Sims). Our team gave a good effort and we did everything we could and just couldn't pull it out."
On what Baylor did to keep her contained offensively…
"They just played real aggressive defense. Destiny Williams and Brooklyn Pope played aggressive on me and when I was turning and trying to shoot, Brittney (Griner) was there to alter my shot. They are a great defensive team."
On what did A&M did to stop (Brittney) Griner in the first half…
"We played with her real aggressive and used our body to push her out. We contested every shot and then tried to box her out before she could get the offensive rebound."
JUNIOR GUARD Tyra White
On what was working well for her tonight…
"Really, just coming off of screens and looking for the open shot. Coach Blair always tells me to turn my shoulders so that's pretty much all I wanted to do. I also wanted to attack Griner and go in there and get rebounds."
On the team's and her offensive rebounds…
"It's what we work on every day in practice and we take pride in it day in and day out. We always want to get more offensive rebounds than the other team and we did that, but we just didn't capitalize."
JUNIOR GUARD Sydney Carter
On the last few minutes of the game…
"We just didn't capitalize. We didn't hit shots when we needed to and we turned the ball over unforced. We also weren't stopping them on defense."
On what to take away from this game…
"To work on our defensive effort and making sure we're putting pressure on the ball. We know who their go-to players are, so if we meet them again we know that we have to have more pressure on the ball so that they can't see to make those lobs in there. We need to give more, be smarter down the stretch and do enough to win the game."
