Women's History Month: Honoring Basketball
Mar 14, 2017 | Women's Basketball
 Texas A&M Athletics honors its tremendous success in women's athletics throughout the month of March. |
Texas A&M's women's basketball team was selected this week for its incredible 12th straight NCAA Tournament berth. Gary Blair's Aggies will hit the road to Los Angeles as the No. 5 seed in the Bridgeport Region.
As we flash back throughout Women's History Month, we reflect on the first women's basketball team to ever make the "Big Dance" – Lynn Hickey's 1993-94 team.
And what a dance they had.
In a sign of the times not even 20-plus years ago, Hickey pulled double duty—not only as the women's basketball coach but also as associate athletic director, where she oversaw all women's sports.
Texas A&M was in the midst of the best season in school history, but would it be enough to earn a spot in the field of 64? The Aggies went 8-0 to start Southwest Conference play, eventually finishing the regular season at 20-6 and second in the league at 11-3.
Following a 1-1 showing at the SWC Tournament in Dallas, it was up to the selection committee. Never before had A&M even sniffed a bid…would they hear their name called this time?
For the first time, the answer would be YES.
The Aggies earned a No. 13 seed in the West Region, causing the team to erupt when their name appeared on the TV.
The Aggies' first opponent? No. 4-seed Florida, who went 22-6 and finished third in the SEC behind Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Back then, pretty close to the way it has become now, higher-seeded teams hosted in the first two rounds. But in a weird twist of fate, A&M would actually host the Gators, as Rod Stewart's previously-scheduled concert had Gainesville's O'Connell Center booked, sending UF on the road to Aggieland.
The team actually didn't even see the fact they were hosting—it was lost in all the commotion of actually earning the bid—and only realized it when the commentators went back through the bracket. That caused a second round of celebration.
And it was inside historic G. Rollie White Coliseum that Texas A&M pulled what was at the time the biggest upset in women's NCAA Tournament history, picking off Florida 78-76 for the first tourney win in school history.
The victory sent the Aggies on the road to face the 5-seed, San Diego State, where A&M would find more magic in a 75-72 overtime victory over the Aztecs.
An improbable run to the Sweet 16 was a reality for these upstart Aggies.
Hickey resigned as coach following the season, focusing instead on her administrative duties and laying the groundwork for Texas A&M to develop one of the nation's best women's athletics programs. She's now the very successful Athletics Director at UTSA.
And following a 1996 NCAA appearance, the Aggies would not return to the big dance until 2006, where Blair made the first of his now 12 straight.
To this day, the 2008 (Elite Eight), 2011 (National Champions) and 2014 (Elite Eight) teams are the only ones to advance further than that first group way back in 1994.
Thursday, March 19
Wednesday, March 04
Monday, March 02
Sunday, March 01
