Aggies Stay Unbeaten
COLLEGE STATION, TX -- The Texas A&M Aggies stayed unbeaten (12 - 0) Saturday evening with a dominant 78 to 59 victory over George Washington before a season-high crowd of 6,892 fans inside Reed Arena.
Tanisha Smith made two three-point shots to give the Aggies a 6 to 0 lead. Senior guard Takia Starks swished a three-pointer to put the Aggies up 9 to 0. The Aggies never trailed in the ball game.
GW's All-America candidate, Jessica Adair, picked up two fouls early in the ball game; so, Colonials' head coach Mike Bozeman, sat his star post player down the final 16 minutes of the first half. Sitting Jessica negated Bozeman's plan to control tempo by pounding the ball down low.
"I though we would be able to exploit things inside with Jessica," Bozeman said.
Starks scored 13 points in the first half and Smith added 12 to help the Aggies to a 40 to 23 halftime lead.
"I was just in the right places at the right times," said a modest Smith after the game.
The Aggies forced 19 turnovers by GW in the opening half.
GW began the second half with a 10 to 2 scoring burst to pull within 11 points (44 to 33). Jessica Adair scored six points and blocked one shot during the run. Starks stopped the run by draining two three-point shots sandwiched around a made jumper by teammate Danielle Gant.
Texas A&M's run ballooned to 27 to 11 which gave the Aggies a 27 point lead (71 to 44) with 5:57 left in the game.
Aggies head coach Gary Blair substituted his deep reserves and the Colonials were able to trim the lead to 18 points (75 to 57); but, the game was clearly well in hand.
Starks finished the game with a game-high 22 points. Gant scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Smith finished the game with 16 points.
Erica Rivera led the Colonials with 13 points off the bench.
The Aggies were the fourth top-ten team (Tennessee; Auburn; and Rutgers) the Colonials played thus far. A&M's 19 point victory was the largest of the four top-ten teams.
"We played the No. 3-ranked team in the country at their place," said Coach Bozeman. "Great atmosphere. Great crowd participation. I take nothing away from A&M. I don’t come into games prepared to make excuses why you lose. I will point to 29 turnovers. I won’t say we committed 29 turnovers...I will say they caused us to commit 29 turnovers. My hat goes off to the A&M coaching staff and players, they did a great job tonight."
Coach Gary Blair credited his team's depth for forcing the 29 turnovers.
"You wear people out. Twenty-nine turnovers sometimes comes from unforced errors because they are so tired on offense. We probably missed 12 shots in the paint. We have to do a better job. We were going against big players tonight. We have to learn how to finish against that type of size, because we are going to see it in the Big 12."
The Aggies head to Tallahassee, FL, to play the Florida State Seminoles on Monday, January 5. Then, Big 12 play begins with a road game versus Missouri on January 10.
The Colonials (7-6) continue their road trip with a game versus the Rice Owls on January 5. Then, A-10 play begins with a road game versus Richmond on the 10th.
Tanisha Smith made two three-point shots to give the Aggies a 6 to 0 lead. Senior guard Takia Starks swished a three-pointer to put the Aggies up 9 to 0. The Aggies never trailed in the ball game.
GW's All-America candidate, Jessica Adair, picked up two fouls early in the ball game; so, Colonials' head coach Mike Bozeman, sat his star post player down the final 16 minutes of the first half. Sitting Jessica negated Bozeman's plan to control tempo by pounding the ball down low.
"I though we would be able to exploit things inside with Jessica," Bozeman said.
Starks scored 13 points in the first half and Smith added 12 to help the Aggies to a 40 to 23 halftime lead.
"I was just in the right places at the right times," said a modest Smith after the game.
The Aggies forced 19 turnovers by GW in the opening half.
GW began the second half with a 10 to 2 scoring burst to pull within 11 points (44 to 33). Jessica Adair scored six points and blocked one shot during the run. Starks stopped the run by draining two three-point shots sandwiched around a made jumper by teammate Danielle Gant.
Texas A&M's run ballooned to 27 to 11 which gave the Aggies a 27 point lead (71 to 44) with 5:57 left in the game.
Aggies head coach Gary Blair substituted his deep reserves and the Colonials were able to trim the lead to 18 points (75 to 57); but, the game was clearly well in hand.
Starks finished the game with a game-high 22 points. Gant scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Smith finished the game with 16 points.
Erica Rivera led the Colonials with 13 points off the bench.
The Aggies were the fourth top-ten team (Tennessee; Auburn; and Rutgers) the Colonials played thus far. A&M's 19 point victory was the largest of the four top-ten teams.
"We played the No. 3-ranked team in the country at their place," said Coach Bozeman. "Great atmosphere. Great crowd participation. I take nothing away from A&M. I don’t come into games prepared to make excuses why you lose. I will point to 29 turnovers. I won’t say we committed 29 turnovers...I will say they caused us to commit 29 turnovers. My hat goes off to the A&M coaching staff and players, they did a great job tonight."
Coach Gary Blair credited his team's depth for forcing the 29 turnovers.
"You wear people out. Twenty-nine turnovers sometimes comes from unforced errors because they are so tired on offense. We probably missed 12 shots in the paint. We have to do a better job. We were going against big players tonight. We have to learn how to finish against that type of size, because we are going to see it in the Big 12."
The Aggies head to Tallahassee, FL, to play the Florida State Seminoles on Monday, January 5. Then, Big 12 play begins with a road game versus Missouri on January 10.
The Colonials (7-6) continue their road trip with a game versus the Rice Owls on January 5. Then, A-10 play begins with a road game versus Richmond on the 10th.
posted by Kris G @ 1:23 PM
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