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Updated 7:58 AM on Monday, February 26, 2007

Ags beat Baylor in Waco thriller

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Sports Writer

WACO - Takia Starks was feeling it. Danielle Gant was virtually unstoppable. Together they put Texas A&M in position to accomplish something the Aggies have never done - win a regular-season conference championship.

Starks and Gant scored all but three of A&M's second-half points to carry the Aggies to a 63-58 victory over the Baylor Lady Bears at the Ferrell Center on Sunday afternoon in Big 12 Conference women's basketball action.

A&M is tied with Oklahoma for the Big 12 lead at 12-3 with one game left. In 25 years of league play, the Aggies have gone into the final game only once with a chance to win a title, losing at Texas Tech in 1994.

The 16th-ranked Aggies (22-5) will get another chance when they host Texas on Wednesday.

Enlarge photo

Buy this photo AP Photo Texas A&M's La Toya Micheaux (right) and Danielle Gant celebrate after A&M beat Baylor 63-58 on Sunday in Waco. A win over Texas on Wednesday would give the Aggies their first conference title.

"I think we're still in the education part in our area of what basketball is [all] about," said A&M head coach Gary Blair, who has turned around the Big 12's losingest program in four seasons. "We've got a ways to go, but I'll give you a hint: Us Aggies, we catch on real quick."

No. 13 OU also can earn at least a co-championship with a win at home Wednesday over the 14th-ranked Lady Bears (24-5, 11-4), but the Aggies are in the driver's seat having swept both the Bears and Oklahoma.

"This championship isn't won yet," Blair said. "We've got our work cut out [for us.]"

Gant and Starks, a pair of sophomores, made sure the Aggies won't need anyone's help Wednesday.

The 5-foot-10 Gant came off the bench to score 22 points in the final 34 minutes.

"The kids responded in the second half and took it too 'em," Blair said.

And no one more than Gant, whom Blair calls "the best sixth man in America."

Gant, who had an upset stomach and didn't come out of the locker room until 15 seconds before tipoff, scored 18 points in the second half.

In the first half A&M was 5 of 17 inside, missing several point-blank shots against a team that leads the nation in blocked shots. Even Gant showed hesitation as she missed two short shots against Baylor pressure from 6-1 Bernice Mosby, 6-3 Jessika Bradley and 6-3 Danielle Wilson.

"Coach told us at halftime our post players were scared," Gant said. "I came out in the second half to show him that I was not scared."

In the second half, an agressive Gant sliced through Baylor defenders, twisting and turning as she hit all seven of her shots.

"I wanted the ball more and more down low," Gant said.

Each time she touched it, something good seemed to happen for A&M, much to the chagrin of Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey.

"She is tough, tough," Mulkey said. "You can write that in capital letters. T-O-U-G-H. When you're a 5-10 post player, and playing at this level, you're tough. You weren't born soft."

Neither was Starks, who scored all 14 of her points in the second half. She did a much better job of coming off screens at crucial times and driving into the teeth of the Baylor defense to create openings.

Starks missed all four of her shots in the first half, but she buried big jumpers down the stretch to complement Gant.

Starks and Gant scored A&M's last 15 points.

A&M moved Starks, normally an off guard, to the point with 7 minutes. That allowed starting point guard A'Quonesia Franklin to feed the ball inside to Gant from the wing. An added bonus was Starks' shooting.

Starks hit a 3-pointer on her first trip down at the point, breaking a 50-50 tie, despite having a defender in her face.

"I was feelin' it," Gant said. "I was on a roll and everything was perfect," Starks said. "I came in and got the follow through and hit the shot and just went from there."

Baylor hit four free throws to regain the lead, but Starks hit a 12-foot jumper with 5:43 left to give A&M the lead for good.

The Lady Bears missed three consecutive shots. Starks hit another jumper, then missed with 4 minutes left.

Baylor, which had a 43-38 rebounding edge, pulled within 57-56 when Wilson scored off her miss.

Starks missed another jumper, but A&M's La Toya Micheaux got the rebound.

After a timeout, Gant hit an 8-footer with 1:47 left to make it 59-56.

Baylor tried to answer inside, but Wilson's shot was blocked by Morenike Atunrase.

A&M pushed its lead to 61-56 when Franklin assisted Gant for a layup.

Baylor's Angela Tisdale answered with two free throws, making the Lady Bears 16 of 16 at the line.

Baylor's defense forced a turnover just before A&M would have had a shot-clock violation, as the partisan white-out crowd of 9,220 stood and cheered.

Baylor got the ball inside to Mosby, who was limited to six second-half points on 1-of-6 shooting after scoring 18 in the first half.

"At halftime they made an adjustment to cover down on me," Mosby said. "I didn't want to force anything by shooting when I could hardly get open."

As had been the case when A&M's defense collapsed, Mosby passed out to Jessica Morrow, who couldn't handle it.

Starks picked up the loose ball on the run, driving for the clinching layup with 29 seconds left.

Tisdale missed a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left, leaving the Lady Bears 0 of 12 from beyond the arc. Franklin rebounded, and because of miscommunication between the players and Mulkey, the Lady Bears didn't foul, allowing the clock to run out.

The defense was strong from the outset. A&M, which jumped to a 13-4 lead, was 9-of-33 shooting in the first half. Atunrase and Franklin each hit a pair of 3s in combining for 18 points, as Baylor had a 32-28 lead.

Baylor was 6-of-30 shooting in the second half, mostly because Mosby was under intense pressure. No other Baylor player stepped up.

Sophomore guard Jhasmin Player was the only other Lady Bear in double figures with 12.

"If you are going to play in big games, everyone must contribute," Mulkey said. "Everybody must do something and I thought all A&M's major-minute players gave them something. And we had two or three that didn't give us anything."

NOTES - A&M has won five games of five points or less since a Big 12 opening 48-45 loss at Kansas State. "We're like the little team that could," Blair said. "We have a lot of weaknesses, including the coach." ... Blair believes in lucky ties. David Schellenberger, a Baylor graduate, picked out Blair's tie Sunday. ... The stat crew gave A&M's last block to Micheaux, but the interviewed players said Atunrase made the play.