Texas A&M
28-5
McNeese State
26-7
Texas A&M Rolls to 87-47 First-Round Victory
Mar 20, 2011 | Women's Basketball
BOSSIER CITY, La. (AP) - When Texas A&M coach Gary Blair talks about bulky 6-foot-1 center Danielle Adams, he smiles and jokes that she thinks she's open "when she walks into the gym."
Certainly, Adams wasted little time dashing McNeese State's hopes of being among a select few teams who are tough enough to stop the Aggies star from dominating inside.
Adams scored 18 points and Texas A&M rolled to an 87-47 victory over McNeese on Sunday in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
"I just had to come in and play my game, just play aggressive and be that dominant player that I am," Adams said. "I know my teammates are going to give me the ball, so I just have to go to work."
Kelsey Assarian and Tyra White each added 12 points for second-seeded Texas A&M (28-5), which raced to a 22-3 lead and led by 39 when Adams scored inside while being fouled five minutes into the second half. The victory moved Texas A&M into the second round at the Shreveport site and marked the fifth straight year the Aggies have gotten through the first round.
The Aggies will face the winner of Sunday night's game between seventh seed Rutgers and No. 10 seed Louisiana Tech.
Caitlyn Baggett scored 22 for McNeese State (26-7), which had a size disadvantage and struggled to stop the Aggies in the paint or in transition. Texas A&M scored 54 points inside, including 18 fast-break points.
Baggett's twin sister, Ashlyn, struggled more than usual, however, going 3 of 17 from the field and finishing with seven points, 10 below her team-leading average.
The Aggies also outrebounded McNeese State 45-25.
"Was there a size advantage?" McNeese State coach Brooks Donald Williams joked. "They're really tough. Not only are they bigger, but their strength is such mismatch. We certainly would have had to play our very best game defensively to be able to match them and we didn't. ... It certainly was a huge mismatch."
Adams was the main reason, hitting 6 of 11 shots despite being double and sometimes triple-teamed. She hit all six of her free throws, grabbed six rebounds and an assist.
"Danielle Adams is one of best players in the country hands down," Williams said. "We scouted a lot of games film and nobody stopped her and I'm not sure anybody can. She's a very versatile player. She can play in, play out ... she is very, very talented and she's gotten better, even from last year."
Ten Aggies players assisted on at least one basket as Texas A&M racked up a season-high 26 assists, also their most in a tournament game.
By contrast, McNeese State had only three assists as a team, tying a tournament record low set by Vanderbilt in a win over Stephen F. Austin in 1993.
Making its first NCAA tournament appearance on the heels of its first Southland Conference tournament championship, McNeese State struggled mightily in the opening minutes against an Aggies' squad known for its all-court defensive pressure. The Cowgirls hit only one of their first 21 shots and turned the ball over six times in that span.
"Their on-the-ball defenders were so fast," Caitlyn Baggett said. "It kind of pushed us into taking shots we're not used to taking."
While McNeese struggled, it all looked too easy for the tournament savvy Aggies, who opened the game 14 of 27, with 28 of their first 30 points in the paint - including 12 on fast breaks - en route to a 30-6 lead.
"We always want to come out and attack (with) our defense and kind of put the pedal down," White said. "That's what we did with our full-court defense and I think that caused us to get out on the break a lot and get the runs we had."
Even when McNeese began to settle into a rhythm and score with more regularity, A&M was still too much.
After Ashlyn Baggett pulled the Cowgirls to 33-13 on a driving floater, Carter ignited a 6-0 spurt for the Aggies with a three-point play on a driving layup as she was fouled.
Adrienne Pratcher added a spinning dribble into the lane and a floater at the horn to give the Aggies a 41-15 lead heading into the locker room.
Pratcher got more playing time than usual because Aggies leading scorer Sydney Colson committed an early foul and later took a blow to the head. She returned to the game and Blair expected her to be fine.
A&M's lead never got below 28 in the second half and grew as large as 42 in the final minutes, at 85-43
Thanks to their dominance inside, the Aggies shot 56.9 percent (37 of 65) for the game despite going only 3 of 11 from 3-point range. Adaora Elonu had 10 points for A&M, which was also 10 of 11 from the foul line.
POSTGAME NOTES
- For the 23rd 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 18-5 with this starting lineup. Thirteen A&M players saw action in the game.
- Texas A&M holds a 7-2 advantage in the all-time series with McNeese State. The Aggies have won the last seven straight meetings between the two teams.
- The Aggies improve to 10-7 all-time in NCAA postseason play in their eighth all-time NCAA Tournament appearance. They improve to 6-2 all-time in the NCAA First Round and have won five straight first round NCAA Tournament games.
- Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is now 8-5 at A&M and 22-16 in his career in NCAA Tournament games.
- With 28 wins, the Aggies are now one victory away from matching the school record 29 wins.
- Forty points is A&M's largest margin of victory all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
- A&M's 87 points is its second most all-time in NCAA Tournament games next to 91 vs. UTSA in the 2008 NCAA First Round.
- The Aggies' 26 assists is a season-high and is A&M's most assists all-time in NCAA Tournament games. It was also the most assists for the Aggies since distributing 32 against North Texas on Dec. 8, 2009.
- A&M snapped a 12-game winning streak for McNeese State.
- Adrienne Pratcher dished out a first-half career-high five assists and matched career bests with nine points and four rebounds.
- Danielle Adams has now scored in double figures in 41 of her last 42 games.
- Tyra White's 12 points were an NCAA Tournament career best.
- Sydney Colson's six assists were an NCAA Tournament career high.
- Kelsey Assarian's 12 points were a career high. Furthermore, she scored her points in just 12 minutes of play.
- Kristi Bellock, A&M's only product from the state of Louisiana, added four points shooting 2-of-2 from the field.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gary Blair
Opening statement…
"We took McNeese very serious and we played very well, particularly in the first half on transition basketball. Both of my point guards, (Sydney) Colson and (Adrienne) Pratcher did a good job of distributing. (Sydney) Colson got into early foul trouble and I wasn't going to let her get that second foul while guarding one of the twins, because that would have hurt me later on. Balanced scoring is what we're looking for from this team and we got 80 minutes out of a very good bench and I think that will help us with rest for Tuesday night. I'm proud of those players for what they did and how controlled they played in the game."
On Pratcher's development and how she gotten where she's at now…
"She was a pretty good recruit coming out of Memphis. She's one of the quietest players on our team, but she realizes (Sydney) Colson is going to graduate and we have a freshman coming in, but she should be the heir apparent to the job. To do that she's going to have to come in and take responsibility for herself and the other people on the floor and she has to become more verbal. Today, she didn't say a whole lot; she just led by example, made the right reads and knocked down the open three when she had it. She's a low-maintenance kid and gets better every day in practice. She never comes off the floor (in practice) and is getting better through repetition."
On any concerns for Tuesday night's game...
"If we have a chance to play Rutgers, we've already played them and we played one of our best games of the year. We won by 29, but it could be a very similar situation as we had with Gonzaga last year. Rutgers is a very-much improved team and Coach Stringer is a legend. We just want to look forward to playing with the emotion and preparation that we did today. To give respect to our opponents, prepare to win as well as we did today, and get better with each game that we play. If we do that, hopefully we can last a bit longer than we did last year."
On Danielle Adams…
"Danielle has range and she loves to hit that trailing three. I want her to play power basketball early and then go outside later, but sometimes it's about what the defense is doing. She has it all. She'll take the charges, she has passing skills and she's very team-orientated. Danielle Adams is the most low-maintenance super star that I've coached in my life and she's a gym rat. She's going to have a long career in the pros somewhere."
SENIOR FORWARD/CENTER Danielle Adams
On her dominance inside…
"The first half was kind of iffy because they threw a double team or triple team at me, but I came back in the second half and just dominated on the inside. Kelsey (Assarian) and Karla (Gilbert) also did a tremendous job off the bench."
SOPHOMORE GUARD Adrienne Pratcher
On her performance…
"I think I had a good game. I came in when (Sydney) Colson got into foul trouble and before the game Coach (Blair) told me that when Colson picks up that first foul that I was going to go in. So I just got my mind ready to go in and do what he needed me to do and help my team in any way I could."
JUNIOR GUARD Tyra White
On A&M's quick start and good execution early…
"That's the kind of start we always want, to come out, attack on defense and put the pedal down. That's what we did with our full-court defense and that caused us to get out on the break a lot and get on some of the runs we got on. We pretty much try to do that every game."
