Texas A&M
12-1
Lamar
10-4
No. 10 Aggies Handle Lady Cardinals, 90-57
Jan 04, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2010
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Texas A&M breezed through its non-conference schedule for the fifth-straight season. Now, the Aggies can focus on the challenging Big 12.
Danielle Adams had 17 points and seven rebounds and No. 10 Texas A&M routed Lamar 90-57 on Monday night in the Aggies' final tuneup before conference play begins.
Tanisha Smith had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists and Tyra White scored 13 for the Aggies (12-1), who play at No. 15 Texas in their conference opener on Saturday.
A&M outrebounded the smaller Lady Cardinals 56-35 and improved to 63-5 in its last 68 home games. The Aggies have won 42 consecutive nonconference games at Reed Arena.
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A&M is one of seven Big 12 teams in the Top 25, and the players say they have plenty to improve as the competition stiffens.
"I don't think we're where we want to be, mentally as a team, but I think we're getting there," White said. "Going into Texas, it's going to be a real eye-opener for us. I think we can get better. We just have to practice, that's going to make us better."
A&M has won at least 10 nonconference games with no more than two losses in each of the last five seasons. But coach Gary Blair says this year's team needs to sharpen its focus as Big 12 play approaches.
"We've got to become more mentally tough on a consistent basis, adjusting to what defenses are doing, continuing to keep working on our leadership," Blair said. "I think we need to be a little bit better defensively and a little more focused on offense, to be able to run our stuff when the defense takes something away."
Jenna Plumley sank four 3-pointers and scored 21 points for Lamar (10-4). The Lady Cardinals shot 33 percent (19 of 58) and committed 23 turnovers that led to 31 Aggies' points.
Lamar coach Larry Tidwell, a Texas native and former Baylor assistant, didn't see many weaknesses in the Aggies.
"They are long, fast and athletic," Tidwell said. "This may be the most athletic Texas A&M team I've ever seen. They play well together."
The Lady Cardinals frustrated the Aggies early with a zone defense, and A&M missed 16 of its first 19 shots. The Aggies grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the first five minutes, but also missed five layups. White said the Aggies have developed a habit of starting slowly.
"Not the start we want," White said. "As we kind of get going, get the jitters out, we start to pick up our play."
A&M started to take control midway through the half by forcing and generating easy baskets. Back-to-back layups by Smith put the Aggies ahead 29-20, and Adams' 3-pointer with 7:04 left in the half pushed the lead into double digits for the first time.
A&M outscored Lamar 23-9 over the final 10 minutes of the half to lead 45-29 at the break. Lamar missed eight straight shots during a 4-minute stretch and finished the half with 11 turnovers.
The Aggies built a 32-14 rebounding edge for the half, including an 18-5 advantage in offensive boards.
A&M started the second half with a 13-4 spurt to stretch the lead to 58-33. The Lady Cardinals gave away five turnovers in the first four minutes after the break.
The Aggies' lead swelled over 30 points, and Blair had all of his starters on the bench by the 5-minute mark.
Up next, the Aggies travel to the state capital for their Big 12 Conference opener at No. 15 Texas (10-3) on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 5 p.m. (CT) in Austin, Texas. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Southwest.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the second time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Tanisha Smith, Damitria Buchanan (2-0). It was the third career start for Adams.
• With the victory, the Aggies improve to 14-9 in the all-time series with Lamar and have now won the last six consecutive meetings between the two in-state schools. Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair remains an undefeated 7-0 lifetime against the Lady Cardinals.
• For the third-straight season, the Aggies have turned in 12-win campaigns in non-conference play. They went 12-1 in 2009-10, 12-1 in 2008-09 and 12-2 in 2007-08. They have also won 42 consecutive non-conference games at Reed Arena since Coach Blair's inaugural season in 2003-04.
• Danielle Adams has now led the team in scoring in three consecutive contests versus Prairie View A&M (19), New Mexico (19) and Lamar (17). She has reached double figures in 11-of-12 games played this season.
• A&M brought down a season-high 56 rebounds against the Lady Cardinals. Tyra White and Kelsey Assarian reset career highs in the rebound department with eight apiece. All but three of the 16 Aggies who entered the ballgame contributed to the board column.
• For the third consecutive game, the Aggies scored 40-or-more of its total points in the paint (52) versus Lamar. In addition, they have reached 90-or-more total points on four different occasions this season including against No. 9 Duke (95), Stephen F. Austin (106) and North Texas (108).
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"I thought early on we settled for a lot of open shots. We were open, because that's what they (Lamar) were giving us. We were missing, because we weren't pinning it to the basket. Our point guards, (Sydney) Colson and (Sydney) Carter haven't had a good shooting game in awhile. We had every shot that you could want, especially at the beginning of the game. Seventeen turnovers against a zone is not very good and our transition defense was not very good tonight. They (Lamar) are a solid team and are the best of the Southland Conference teams that we have played. Tyra White is just playing very well right now. I'm really proud of her and what she has been doing over the last five ballgames."
On Big 12 Conference play ahead ...
"We go into every game like it's a conference game. I really respect the Big 12 and what we've done in the non-conference. We have been rated the No. 1 conference in the RPI for a number of years going into conference play. The majority of our conference has played a good schedule. You have five teams in the top 17 in the RPI - and four are in the Big 12 South."
Texas A&M Junior Forward/Center Danielle Adams
On the team's general start ...
"I think we played alright tonight. Some of our shots weren't falling down. Our press wasn't working, but we played better in the second half. We were getting the offensive rebounds, but we just weren't finishing."
On the team being ready for Big 12 Conference play ...
"We are not where we want to be. We need to work on our defense and rebounding. I think we can get better and better in practice. We will be ready for Texas, Oklahoma, and all of the other teams in the Big 12."
Texas A&M Redshirt Sophomore Guard Tyra White
On the game and her rebounding performance ...
"We got off to a slow start and it really wasn't the start we wanted. As we started to get into a flow, we picked up our game and we played better. We have a lot of threats on our team. They have to pretty much guard everybody out there. I just wanted to go in, play aggressive and not just look at my shot all of the time. I wanted to attack more, get some easy boards and points off of it. When I'm open, I like to knock down shots."
Lamar Head Coach Larry Tidwell
On playing at Reed Arena and the high school and college ties to the Texas A&M coaching staff ...
"We (Coach Blair and I) have been friends forever. Gary, Vic (Schaefer), Kelly (Bond) and Johnnie (Harris) are all first class. I'm an old G. Rollie White (Coliseum) guy, but what a beautiful arena. Having Gary here is a blessing. We come into these arenas, because we want to get better. I like the improvement we are having as team. This may be the most athletic Texas A&M team I've ever seen. They play well together."
On Oklahoma transfer Jenna Plumley ...
"She is a big-time player and we are very fortunate to have her. She has been in Big 12 arenas before. When you can add players like Jenna Plumley, it's a plus."
