Texas A&M
15-1, 3-0
Missouri
9-8, 1-2
No. 5 Texas A&M Downs Missouri, 85-40
Jan 15, 2011 | Women's Basketball
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Danielle Adams wasn't deterred when she missed her first eight shots. The Texas A&M senior just kept firing, focused on exploiting Missouri's lack of depth in the paint.
It paid off.
She finished with 19 points and six rebounds to lead No. 7 Texas A&M to its ninth straight win, an 85-40 victory over Missouri on Saturday.
"I thought she was forcing some shots early," Aggies coach Gary Blair said. "She came back and showed that she's one of the best offensive players in the country today."
The Aggies missed their first five field-goal attempts before going on a 25-4 run over a seven-minute span to pull away early and take a 40-17 lead at halftime.
Texas A&M leads the nation in turnover margin and forced 18 turnovers in the first half while holding the Tigers to just 17 points.
"The difference was in the first half forcing 18 turnovers and taking care of the ball pretty well," Blair said.
Tyra White added 16 points for the Aggies (15-1, 3-0 Big 12), who are off to the best start in school history. The win was the seventh consecutive against Missouri.
Both Adams and White got a chance to play in their home state Saturday and the two Kansas City natives were on the court long after the game talking with family and friends.
"It's kind of a home game for us because our family doesn't get to College Station much," White said. "But like coach says, we don't want to go out there and play for them, we play for who is on the front of our jersey."
The Tigers were without starting center Christine Flores, who broke the middle finger on her right hand in the team's 63-56 loss at Texas Tech on Wednesday. She is listed as day to day.
Flores is Missouri's second leading scorer at 15.4 points a game and ranks third in the Big 12 with 2.4 blocks. Reserve BreAnna Brock got the start in her place and finished with five points and nine rebounds.
"I feel like A&M's pressure on defense would have been the same with Christine in there," Brown said. "But we missed her presence tonight and she probably would have relieved some of that pressure."
RaeShara Brown had 14 points and six rebounds for the Tigers (9-8, 1-2), who have lost four of five. Missouri shot 34 percent from the floor and turned the ball over a season-high 27 times.
"We know A&M is known for their defense, if nothing else they're going to play aggressive," Brown said. "They came out and did it, we couldn't find a flow on offense."
Adams, who leads the team in scoring at 21.7 points a game, got off to a rough start misfiring on her first eight shot attempts and going scoreless the first 15 minutes of the game.
She rattled off six straight points to close out the first half and connected on six of her next eight shots en route to 13 second-half points. She finished 8 of 20 from the field.
"They were sagging in so I was just forcing shots and trying to get my points," Adams said. "I wasn't getting them and my teammates backed me up and that's just what we do, pick up the slack."
The Aggies led by as many as 50 points in the second half.
Sydney Carter chipped in 14 for the Aggies, who shot 49 percent from the floor while committing just six turnovers on the day.
Up next, the Aggies return to Reed Arena Wednesday, Jan. 19 for a 6:30 p.m. game against Texas.POSTGAME NOTES
- For the 10th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Tanisha Smith, Danielle Adams and Tyra White I'm the luckiest almost Missourian in the world. There's not too many post players in the league that have an inside game and an outside game like Danielle. Tyra carried us in the first half and she's the unsung hero. She's very good at hitting the mid-range shot."
POSTGAME QUOTES
SENIOR FORWARD/CENTER Danielle Adams
On her slow start to the game…
"Missouri was sagging in and I was forcing shots trying to get my points, but whatever I wasn't getting, my teammates just backed me up and picked up my slack. It also gave the other posts like Adaora (Elonu) the open jump shot or the drive to the basket and it gave our guards the open three."
On playing Missouri…
"It's a kind of tough playing on the other side and knowing that school (Missouri) recruited you hard, but I made a great choice and went to a great school. I love my teammates, coaching staff and everything we do at A&M."
JUNIOR GUARD Tyra White
On playing in front of family and friends today…
"Even though I'm two hours away from here, it's always fun to come back home and play against some people I played against in high school. It's kind of like a home game because our family doesn't get to see us 13 hours away down in College Station. But like Coach Blair always tells us, don't go out there and play for them, play for who's on the front of our jerseys because it's only like 40 minutes we get to play for our families and then the rest of the time we're back to playing for Texas A&M."
