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A&M women stay in hunt for first Big 12 crown

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Sports Writer

Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair had the perfect pregame speech for Wednesday night's Reed Arena showdown with Texas Tech.

Rather than talking about winning a conference championship and what that could do for the program, he brought in members of the Texas A&M women's golf, soccer and swimming and diving teams who are reigning Big 12 Conference champions. And the Aggie champs brought along their trophies as well.

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Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Dave McDermand Texas A&M's Patrice Reado scores over Texas Tech's Brooke Baughman on Wednesday at Reed Arena.

Whatever they said was priceless.

A&M started the game with a 15-1 run en route to a 67-51 victory over the Lady Raiders.

"I made them all go touch those trophies," Blair said. "When you have a chance to play for something of this magnitude, you give it everything, every possession."

The 16th-ranked Aggies (21-5, 11-3 Big 12) did that for 40 minutes and are two victories away from their first league title in the program's 25-year association with the Southwest Conference (1983-96) and the Big 12.

A&M is tied with No. 13 Oklahoma (21-4, 11-3) and No. 14 Baylor (24-4, 11-3) atop the league standings. The Aggies play at Baylor on Sunday, then finish the regular season at home Wednesday against Texas (16-12, 5-9) in a pair of nationally televised games.

Blair said he stressed during practice not to look ahead to Baylor, and his players responded with 7 minutes of intense defensive pressure to settle the issue quickly. Tech missed all seven field-goal attempts with six turnovers as every pass was a chore for the flustered Lady Raiders (15-13, 6-8).

"In the first 4 minutes of the game, they dictated everything," Tech head coach Kristy Curry said. "The best way of attacking someone who is attacking you is to attack them, and we didn't do a very good job of that. From the get-go we were out of our spacing and angles, and our timing was off. Give A&M credit."

A&M's defensive energy also helped the Aggies on offense, feeding a 7-for-10 start from the field.

None was bigger than the first two shots by Morenike Atunrase, whose season has been stifled by injuries. She broke a bone in her left foot Dec. 5 that sidelined her for five games. Just as she was getting back to 100 percent, she suffered a sprained right ankle Jan. 27.

But on Wednesday, Atunrase pulled up for a 14-footer that made it 4-0, then nailed a 3-pointer that made it 13-1. She finished with 18 points and said she felt like her old self. She looked it as the 5-foot-10 junior drove to the basket with authority or pulled up for jumpers, depending on the defense.

"I was just trying to contribute to my team and be the old person that I used to be," Atunrase said. "As you saw tonight, she's back, so that's a good thing."

Atunrase's 18 points were her most since the OU game. She was 5-of-8 shooting from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers. She also hit 6 of 7 free throws and had two assists, two steals and a block in 33 minutes.

"We had to show her the way to the [interview] room," Blair said. "But she found it. That's my baby."

Atunrase and sixth man Danielle Gant had to carry A&M's scoring because junior guard Takia Starks, who was averaging 20.5 points in the last four games, was ill.

Starks scored eight points in 26 minutes but had an upset stomach and was throwing up, Blair said.

Gant picked Starks up with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, all from close range. She added seven rebounds and three steals in 20 minutes. It was her seventh straight game to score in double figures.

"Whatever we have broken, she can fix it," Blair said.

Gant slowed down Tech forward Alesha Robertson, who was averaging a team-high 13.7 points per game but was held to three points.

"Our No. 1 goal was to stop Robertson, and we did," Blair said. "And that was all Gant."

A&M sophomore center La Toya Micheaux made only one of seven shots, but she helped the Aggies start strong.

"I'll take her defense anytime," Blair said. "She keys our whole defensive effort."

Michaeux had 13 rebounds and five blocks, both career-high efforts. She helped bottle up Tech's 6-6 senior center Patrice Edwards, who was averaging 19 points and 8.5 rebounds in the last four games. Edwards was limited to seven points and six rebounds.

"I used the same mentality of ball pressure - denying her the ball and playing defense," Micheaux said.

Freshman guard Jordan Murphree came off the bench to lead Tech with 19 points.

"She deserves a little bit of credit," Blair said. "I think they would have been dead without her."

Murphree settled down Tech early, allowing the Lady Raiders to pull within 33-24 with 90 seconds left in the first half.

The Aggies were forced to pull off their full-court pressure because point guard A'Quonesia Franklin, the point of the defense, was gassed, as were several of the Aggies, Blair said.

Tech, however, allowed the Aggies to scored the final four points of the first half.

"That was huge," Curry said. "I think it goes back to them being more aggressive. We had got them to single digits, which is where we wanted to be."

A&M's celebration was dampened a little when Franklin took a spill with 2:09 left. It was the second time she'd hit the floor hard.

This time she was helped to the bench. Blair said it was a hyperextended left knee, which she hurt in practice last Friday.

She scored 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting with a season-high seven rebounds.

NOTES -ÊAtunrase has 1,010 career points, becoming the school's 18th player to reach 1,000. ... A&M swept Tech for the first time in 25 seasons of conference play. ... A&M has won 17 straight home games. ... A&M hit only 7 of its last 19 first-half shots. "It could have been 30-6, if we could have converted in transition," Blair said. ... Curry said she thinks Tech can earn an at-large NCAA Tournament berth by winning its final two games, and Blair agreed.