Texas A&M
14-1, 2-0
Iowa State
12-3, 0-2
No. 8 Aggies Power Past No. 20 Iowa State, 68-44
Jan 13, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2010
Box Score 
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Box Score |
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Danielle Adams scored 20 points to lead No. 8 Texas A&M to an easy 68-44 win over Iowa State on Wednesday night at Reed Arena.
The victory gives the Aggies a seven-game winning streak heading into Sunday's game at No. 13 Oklahoma.
Texas A&M (14-1, 2-0 Big 12) led by 14 at halftime and went on a 7-0 run, that included four points from Adams, to open the second half and push the lead to 39-18.
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Adams led the team in scoring for the fourth time in the last five games despite playing just 23 minutes.
Iowa State, which was foiled by poor shooting, was led by Alison Lacey's 19 points.
Texas A&M was up by 18 before going on an 8-0 run to increase its lead to 48-21 with about 13 minutes left.
The Aggies were held far below their Big 12-leading 83.9 points a game average, but they had more than enough in this one and never trailed.
About the only area in which the Aggies struggled Wednesday was from 3-point range where they missed their first seven tries before hitting three in the second half. They finished 3 of 17 on 3-point attempts.
Tanisha Smith added 10 points for Texas A&M, Adaora Elonu had nine and Sydney Colson scored eight points and had six assists.
The Cyclones struggled to get anything going and made just 15 of 50 shots as they scored their fewest points of the season. They also had several costly miscues including a couple of 5 second violations and at least three turnovers came when a player stepped out of bounds.
Amanda Zimmerman had nine points for the Cyclones who had only one player in double digits.
The Aggies scored the first four points of the game and went on a 10-4 run later in the first half to push their lead to 18-8 about seven minutes before halftime. Texas A&M added six straight points, capped by a steal and layup by Colson as time expired to lead 32-18 at halftime.
Up next, A&M will travel to OU (11-4, 1-1) for a Sunday, Jan. 17 battle of league powers to be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net at 4:30 p.m. (CT) from the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the 10th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting five of Tanisha Smith, Damitria Buchanan (9-1). It marked only White and Buchanan's second career Big 12 Conference start along with the sixth for Elonu, 13th for Smith and 17th for Colson.
• With the win, the Aggies claimed only their fifth victory in the all-time series with Iowa State. A&M's 24-point rout of the Cyclones marked the largest margin of victory in the series between the two schools. ISU's 44 points were its fewest this season and fewest scored in the 19-game series.
• For only the second time in school history, the Aggies are off to a 2-0 Big 12 start since the league's inception in 1996-97. It tied last season's 2-0 start with wins at Missouri and versus Texas Tech, both non-ranked opponents.
• Danielle Adams registered her third 20-point game of her career with a game-high 20 versus the Cyclones. She is currently on a seven-game double-digit scoring streak and has now led the team in scoring on seven occasions this season and in four out of the last five ballgames for the Aggies.
• The A&M defense has now forced back-to-back Big 12 opponents to their worst first-half shooting performance of the season and fewest first-half points. Iowa State shot 26.9 percent (7-of-26) from the floor and managed only 18 points in the first half of play. Then-No. 15 Texas shot 20.8 percent with 19 first-half points in the Aggies' league opener on Jan. 9 in Austin.
• Offensively, the Aggies were able to notch 68 points against a Cyclone defense which was holding opponents to just 51.1 points per game prior to the contest which ranked eighth nationally.
• Not only did A&M shoot 50 percent-or-better from the floor against back-to-back Big 12 opponents, but a pair of top 25 foes. It marked its fifth win this season against a nationally-ranked opponent and first in back-to-back outings. The Aggies have now defeated No. 6 Duke, No. 19 California (NCAA Sweet 16), No. 13 Arizona State (NCAA Elite Eight), No. 15 Texas and No. 20 Iowa State (NCAA Elite Eight).
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"We had a very good balance tonight. We found out early what they (Iowa State) were going to do and take from us. Our press did what I wanted it to do - tire them out and not play that 20-to-30 second offense. I thought we did pretty well. Alison Lacey is one of the top 10 players in our league. She has to do so much and were able to get her into foul trouble tonight. Tanisha (Smith) and (Sydney) Carter were on her 90 percent of the time and they both did a good job of not fouling her. At halftime we only had four fouls and that's good for us. Once again, the two Sydneys (Colson and Carter) were solid of picking apart the other team. It allowed me to rest Tyra and Tanisha. They are both making good decisions out there. Danielle Adams, what can I say? She had the advantage most of the time inside. Iowa State is a top 20 team and we are a top 10 team. When you are a top 10 team, you have to have that mindset of winning championships and protecting your home court at all costs. We were very aggressive on the defensive end, made good decisions and played smart basketball. You have to be that physical, if you are going to go anywhere in the NCAA Tournament and go up against the big dogs. That's our ultimate goal, of course. It was just a good team effort."
On holding Iowa State to its fewest points this season ...
"That's hard to do. I told my team before the game, if we can score 60, we will win. I didn't think we were going to score more than 60, but I thought we could hold them. We forced 10 turnovers in the first half, because our press wore them down. We did a good job in that regard. The defense was outstanding. It was just a good, solid ballgame and we were able to play a lot of people. Our team chemistry is good right now. It doesn't matter which one of our top eight start. We made a pretty good team not play at their capabilities and I've been on the other end of that before. Iowa State is a solid team."
Texas A&M Junior Point Guard Sydney Colson
On the team's defense against Iowa State ...
"The past few games, we've had excellent first halves on defense. At Texas, we did a good job in the first half holding them to 19. It's hard to do the same thing and replicate it in the second half, but we could have held them to less than 51. In this game, we took pride in what we did tonight - holding them to their fewest points this season is a real compliment to our defense. I'm excited anytime we can get defensive stops. We worked hard to do it and I'm really glad we were able to hold them to under 50 (points)."
Texas A&M Junior Forward/Center Danielle Adams
On playing against Big 12 Conference competition ...
"It's a lot more physical, more up-and-down the court. I love it."
Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly
On the game and Texas A&M ...
"Obviously, A&M is a great team. They played very well. I told Gary (Blair) before the game that I believe this is a team that could be as good as any team that they've had here. They have good balance and good depth. They still defend great and offensively they are very efficient. Certainly for our team, we still continue to find other options. Alison Lacey is a great player, but she can't win the game by herself. We had some looks in the first half to keep us in the game. The way we are shooting the ball right now, we can't beat many people. They are just a very good team, better than Iowa State by far. They certainly played that way tonight."
