UPDATES: WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
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A'Quonesia Franklin, Texas A&M's smallest player, stood tall down the stretch to help deliver one of the program's biggest victories. Franklin scored 20 second-half points to carry the 16th-ranked Aggies to a 78-68 victory over the 12th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in a Big 12 Conference showdown for first place Saturday at Reed Arena. A&M (19-4, 9-2) swept the season series from Oklahoma for the first time in school history. The Aggies remain tied with Nebraska (21-4, 9-2) for the lead with five regular season games left. Nebraska beat Colorado 54-44 on Saturday to keep pace with A&M. This is the latest in the season A&M has been in first place in 13 years. The Aggies stayed there by knocking defending league champ Oklahoma (18-4, 8-3) out of the lead with a guard-oriented offense led by the 5-foot-3 Franklin and Takia Starks, who each scored 25 points. "I thought Texas A&M's guard play was outstanding," Sooner head coach Sherri Coale said. "Under 'defense' on our board we wrote 'Starks, Franklin and [Morenike] Atunrase - get no 3's.' Don't let them get it off. Make them put in on the floor." The Sooners didn't follow orders. A&M's Starks, Franklin and Atunrase combined to hit 6 of 13 from 3-point range, and when Starks and Franklin had to put the ball on the floor, they were able to create shots. The Aggie trio more than offset Oklahoma All-American Courtney Paris, who also scored 25 points. A&M contained the 6-4 Paris except for a 10-minute stretch to start the second half. A&M used the same suffocating defense that gave it a landmark 54-52 victory two weeks ago in Norman, Okla. That win ended OU's 26-game league winning streak, and A&M won it by limiting Paris to 12 points and forcing the Sooners into a season-high 28 turnovers. That same game plan worked Saturday, only this time the Aggies added more offense off the Sooner mistakes. A&M scored 27 points off 24 OU turnovers. A&M also dominated the perimeter game, first with Starks, then with Franklin, who set a career high in points. Starks scored 17 first-half points, hitting a trio of 3-pointers. Seldom was she open, but her twisting, sometimes fadeaway shots found the net 7 of 9 times. A Starks' jumper with 1 minute, 56 seconds left in the first half gave A&M a 35-22 lead. "In the first half, Takia did a great job and put us on her back and carried us," Franklin said. "At halftime, coach [Gary] Blair said that she had done her job. They are going to pick up the defensive pressure on her, but he asked us, 'Who's going to step up in the second half?'" Starks did, in fact, cool off, hitting only 2 of 8 shots in the second half. But the Sooners had no answer for Franklin, who matched Starks' 7-of-9 shooting with an identical effort of her own in the second half. Franklin also tied her career high with 10 assists while coughing up only one turnover in 38 minutes - and this despite being harassed by Oklahoma's defense. "It really was Franklin's poise. She just runs the show," Coale said. "We'd trap her, and she was patient. She made some really tough shots in the middle of the lane. I don't think it was necessarily poor defense, but it was just her making good plays. She was terrific all night long." Coale benched senior guards Kendra Moore and Britney Brown because A&M was playing so well against them. And A&M's junior point guard played especially well with the game on the line. Oklahoma scored on its first six possessions of the second half for a 41-39 lead, wiping out A&M's 37-29 halftime lead. Paris did most the damage, scoring nine points, but her twin, Ashley Paris, along with 6-foot forward Amanda Thompson made for a big lineup that gave A&M problems. Franklin took charge after Paris tied the game at 50 on a three-point play with 13:23 left. Oklahoma's Jenna Plumley missed a layup, and Franklin skied high for the rebound. She turned and sped up the right side, flying into lane traffic. She needed only 7 seconds to cover 94 feet and bank in a momentum-changing shot. "She's just not afraid to go in there," Blair said. "I always want the tempo faster." Franklin, who was fouled on the play by Nyeshia Stevenson, completed the three-point play as the crowd of 4,620 roared its approval. "I saw there was no way she could get in front of me," Franklin said. "Coach always says [to] make a truck collision, so that's what I tried to do." In the next 8 minutes, Franklin scored four big baskets, three times creating her own space for the shot. Her play kept the Aggies in control and ultimately dealt Oklahoma its third loss in four games. "It shows that the sky's the limit for us," Franklin said. "We have as much athleticism as anyone in the Big 12 or even in the country." A&M's athleticism forced Paris to foul, and she had to go to the bench with four fouls after tying the game at 50. Paris still ended with a game-high 14 rebounds to go with three assists, two blocks and no turnovers in 33 minutes. It was her 50th straight double-double, extending her NCAA record. "She's good, real good," Blair said. "But to me, it was still a pretty quiet 25 [points] and quiet 14 [rebounds]. That's how good she is."
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NOTES - Danielle Gant added 11 points and four rebounds for A&M in 32 minutes. ... A&M won its 15th straight home game. ... A&M was 6-of-13 shooting 3-pointers and was 8 of 17 last time it beat OU. ... Atunrase, who missed the Kansas game and played only 5 minutes against Missouri because of a sprained ankle, played 21 minutes and scored six points. Blair said Atunrase's baseline drive that tied the game on a three-point play midway through the first half was her biggest shot in league play.
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