Texas A&M
20-7, 8-6Big 12
Colorado
13-14,3-11Big 12
No. 12 Aggies Cruise To 34-Point Rout Of Colorado, 95-61
Feb 27, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2010
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BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - Texas A&M's Adaora Elonu was battling a stomach virus, but it was Colorado that felt ill on Saturday.
Elonu scored a career-high 21 points, Danielle Adams had 19 and No. 12 Texas A&M routed Colorado 95-61 on Saturday.
Tanisha Smith had 16 points and Damitria Buchanan added 14 for the Aggies (20-7, 8-6), who are battling Baylor and Oklahoma State for fifth place in the Big 12 Conference. Texas A&M moved a half game ahead of the Bears and Cowboys, who play Sunday.
Bianca Smith led Colorado (13-14, 3-11) with 22 points and Alyssa Fressle had 12.
Elonu's previous career high was 17 against Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2, 2008. She passed that with a 15-foot jumper that gave the Aggies a 74-47 lead with 8:53 left in the game.
"Adaora played with a stomach virus today and possibly had her best game of the year, so I'm going to have her keep that stomach virus a little longer," Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.
Buchanan scored 12 of her points in the second half and said she was inspired by Elonu's effort.
"Seeing how easy it was for her to score and seeing how hard she was working made me want to go out there and make every game special," she said.
The Aggies took control of the game early. Colorado led 11-7 with 14:32 left in the first half when Texas A&M went on an 18-2 run over the next 6:24 to take a 25-13 advantage. Adams scored five of her 13 first-half points during the run, and Texas A&M led 45-35 at half.
The Aggies quickly increased their lead to 57-31 in the first five minutes of the second half and led by as many as 36 late in the game.
"Frustration set in, and when you have a team like A&M they sense that and they attack even more," Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. "They turned up the pressure, and we just couldn't respond."
Texas A&M shot 63.6 percent from the field, the highest percentage allowed by Colorado this season. The 95 points the Buffaloes gave up was also the most allowed at home in 30 years.
The lone bright spot for Colorado was Smith, who moved past Shelley Sheetz into first on the school's all-time list for made 3-pointers with four against the Aggies.
"It is gratifying," Smith said. "I'm actually glad that it's behind me and I can focus now on trying to get these next two Ws."
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the fourth time this season and fourth consecutive game, Texas A&M used the starting five of Tanisha Smith, Damitria Buchanan (3-1).
• A&M claimed its third-ever road win in Boulder in the 18-game all-time series with Colorado. The 34-point margin of victory was the largest of the Aggies' three road victories in nine all-time trips to Boulder. The two previous wins were won by nine points or less.
• The Aggies recorded their fifth-straight 20-win season under seventh-year head coach Gary Blair. It was his 19th overall in his 25 years of coaching on the Division I level at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and Texas A&M combined.
• Adaora Elonu scored a career-and team-high 21 points against Colorado, her eighth double-digit game this season and 15th overall of her career.
• Damitria Buchanan recorded a league career-best 14 points versus Colorado. She has now registered back-to-back games with personal bests in Big 12 play. It marked her second contest in double figures this season as well as the second of her career.
• Sydney Colson dished out three assists in the ballgame to register her second consecutive 100+ assist season (100).
• A&M's 95 points versus Colorado marked the second-most points scored against a Big 12 opponent all-time in the 14-year history of the league behind a league-high 98 points versus rival Texas on March 3, 1998 in Big 12 Tournament play.
• The Aggies turned in their best first-half scoring production this season in Big 12 Conference play with 45 first-half points at Colorado which surpassed 44 first-half points at rival Texas on Jan. 9 in the league opener. A&M also turned in a season-best 64.0 first-half shooting percentage from the floor. For the game, A&M shot a season-high 63.6 percent from the floor (35-55).
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"We shot the ball well today. We shared the ball and did an excellent job. Eighteen assists is a little low for us, but I thought we passed the ball very well. Our bench was good. We were here less than 24 hours, so the altitude didn't hurt us, at least that was my assistant coach's theory. Damitria Buchanan. If you think about it, she's like (Colorado's) Courtney Dunn who has sat behind good people for a couple of years. If you keep playing the game and playing in the best conference in the country, you have to be patient."
On Colorado ...
"It takes time in this league to build a program. It always starts with recruiting. Kathy (McConnell-Miller) is going to get it done. You have to be patient with your team. Be patient. It doesn't happen all of the time. Did you know how bad Texas A&M was in women's basketball before we got there? Colorado is light years ahead of us. Every team in the conference is ahead of us in wins and losses over the history of the Big 12. We've just had five great years in a row and we still can't catch it. Personally, I don't think that article should have been written this morning on the day of the game. That wasn't quite fair to Coach (McConnell-Miller). She is class, she cares and she is developing her team. Give her some patience. She deserves a break. She will get the job done, I guarantee you that."
Texas A&M Senior Forward Damitria Buchanan
On the difference in her offensive game against Baylor and Colorado ...
"Just working hard and being more aggressive on offense. When we played Baylor on Monday and I was going up against (Brittney) Griner, I was being aggressive on offense. I just built off of that today. In this game, I wanted to build off of my energy, my teammates' energy and Adaora's energy. As a senior, each game is destined to be my last. I'm trying to make every game as special as possible, because I don't want to have any regrets."
Texas A&M Sophomore Forward Adaora Elonu
On how important the Colorado win was leading into the Oklahoma game ...
"It was really important. We don't want to lose anymore. We want to get one for the seniors, Damitria (Buchanan), Tanisha (Smith) and Katrina (Limbaha). Damitria played great today. We want to feed off of her energy. It's very important going into the Oklahoma game. It's going to be senior night. We just want to continue to play hard and come out and get a win for the seniors."
