Texas A&M
13-1, 1-0
Colorado
9-5, 0-1
No. 5 Aggies Top Colorado For First Big 12 Win, 85-57
Jan 08, 2011 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Danielle Adams had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Tyra White scored 16 as No. 7 Texas A&M rolled to an 85-57 win over Colorado to start Big 12 Conference play Saturday night.
Texas A&M won its seventh straight overall and eighth in a row against Colorado (9-5, 0-1).
Texas A&M (13-1, 1-0) built a big first-half lead despite a slow start by Adams and was up by 28 at halftime. The Buffaloes used a 14-6 run to start the second half and pull to 51-31, but the Aggies answered with a 14-7 spurt to stretch their advantage to 65-38 with about 10 minutes left.
Brittany Spears scored 21 points to lead Colorado.
The victory is A&M's 10th this season by at least 25 points and the 11th time the team has scored at least 70.
Skylar Collins added a career-high 11 points in just 10 minutes for the Aggies and Sydney Colson had nine points and seven assists.
The Aggies scored 21 points off Colorado's 17 first-half turnovers and led 45-17 at halftime. The Buffaloes had 10 turnovers the rest of the way, playing much cleaner in the second half and matching Texas A&M's second-half scoring with 40 points, but couldn't overcome the first-half deficit.
Texas A&M was up by one point early in the first half before using a 10-0 spurt fueled by four points each by White and Adaora Elonu to make it 16-5 with about 13 minutes left in the period.
The Aggies extended their lead to 23-8 midway through the half despite Adams, who entered the game leading the Big 12 in scoring with 22.6 points a game, being held scoreless. Adams finally got on the board with a pair of free throws shortly thereafter.
Texas A&M led 27-12 with about 7 minutes remaining in the first half before using a 12-0 run to extend the lead to 39-12 about 3 minutes later. Adams' only field goal of the first half came in that span and she also hit a pair of free throws to finish the first half with six points.
Brittany Wilson had 12 points for Colorado and Meagan Malcolm-Peck and Chucky Jeffery scored 10 apiece.
The Aggies dominated in the paint, outscoring Colorado 42-20 inside.
POSTGAME NOTES
- For the eighth time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Sydney Colson, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Danielle Adams and 13 players saw action in the game. The Aggies are now 7-1 with this starting lineup.
- Texas A&M improved to 6-9 all-time in Big 12 openers. The Aggies also improved to 2-4 when starting the season at home.
- A&M improves to 9-10 in the all-time series versus Colorado.
- The Aggies held the Buffaloes to just 17 first-half points, the second-lowest first half total of the season next to holding San Diego State to 14 first-half points on Dec. 30.
- A&M limited Colorado to just 12.5 percent from beyond the arc (1-for-8) in the first half, the second-lowest first-half 3-point percentage next to shutting out Rutgers (0-for-6) on Dec. 19.
- The Aggies blocked a first-half season-high four shots in the first 20 minutes of play.
- Texas A&M went to the charity stripe 18 times in the first half and connected on 15-of-18 free throws for first-half season highs in free throws attempted and made. The Aggies matched their season-high with 24 total free throws made.
- A&M forced 17 first half turnovers and only gave up the ball three times, the second-lowest first-half amount this season. A&M forced CU to turn the ball over 27 times which matched its season high and only had a season-low seven miscues.
- The Aggies outscored the Buffaloes 36-7 off of turnovers and 17-2 in second chance points.
- Danielle Adams registered her ninth career double-double and sixth this season. She has now scored double figures in 23 straight games.
- Tyra White has now scored double figures in six straight games.
- Skylar Collins' career-high 11 points came on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor. She also matched her career-best with two steals.
- Kelsey Assarian matched season-highs with seven points, six rebounds and 16 minutes of action Saturday.
- A&M played in front of its largest crowd of the season with 6,415 fans in attendance on Saturday night. The attendance was the 15th largest in program history.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Gary Blair
On the game…
"I thought our kids really came out ready to play tonight. This Colorado team was so much different than the ones we played before. They just got a little shell-shocked early, but they made some adjustments at halftime and they took it right to us. (In the second half) it wasn't that we were playing that bad, they were playing that good. When (Brittnay) Spears can go off on you like that, even with a hand in her face, you have to give her credit. (Chucky) Jeffrey is a load too. What really slowed them down was that we denied everything guard-to-guard, forced them to become one-on-one players and we were able to take charges. The best thing tonight was our lack of turnovers. You're not going to lose maybe one in five hundred if you only turn it over seven times. I was also happy with the play of the guards out front. (Sydney) Colson is back to her old self and Tyra (White) was solid in there, like usual. What's different between non-conference and conference opponents is that they come to get you at the post position in this league and you'd better be able to finish. We have a land of giants coming."
On Danielle Adams' play…
"I looked up and the score was 23-8 and Danielle hadn't scored a point yet. That says a lot about the balance of this team, but in the second half she went down low and took care of business. She got to the foul line, we ran a couple sets for her and she did her thing."
On the productivity of the bench tonight…
"Watch my bench during the game or during warm-ups. So many times, other benches are not excited about what the starters are doing, or they're looking at me with big eyes, asking me when they're going to go in. Our kids really know how to share well."
On Skylar Collins' play…
"All of a sudden, there were other kids I wanted to play, but I couldn't because Sklyar was playing so well. It is great when a kid waits her turn and then is able to do something when her turn comes around."
SENIOR CENTER Danielle Adams
On the team's defensive pressure …
"Our pressure defense was good. We're starting the Big 12, so we have to play more aggressively and tougher. That's what our defense is known for. We were pretty happy with the first-half defense. We came out aggressive and tried to take away everything they tried to do on offense."
On second chance points…
"That's something we take pride in. We saw they went to the boards aggressively, especially their point guard (Chucky) Jeffery. We just had to keep everyone off of the boards and not allow those second chance points."
On what you take away from a game like this…
"Just how aggressive the Big 12 is. It shows you the talent that comes in and out in the Big 12 every night, and we're looking forward to preparing and getting ready for it."
On her slow start…
"It's always good that my teammates pick up anything I don't do. I enjoy everything they do and they enjoy what I do. We're always picking up for each other."
JUNIOR GUARD Tyra White
On how important it is start Big 12 play with a good win…
"It's very important. It kind of sends a message to the rest of the Big 12. Colorado is a much better team than they were last year. I think in the second half, they pretty much gave us a run for our money. That's what we want because it makes us better going into the rest of Big 12 play."
On what changed in the second half for Colorado…
"I don't think anything changed, we just got comfortable and kind of let them take the lead. They got some rebounds and got to the free-throw line. I think they just attacked us more than they did in the first half."
JUNIOR GUARD Skylar Collins
On what worked for her tonight…
"It was just preparation leading up to this game. We did a really good job getting ready for Colorado, knowing what they were going to do, and my reps on the offensive end with the team really helped. I was in the zone and my teammates helped create the opportunities I took advantage of tonight."
COLORADO HEAD COACH LINDA LAPPE
On the game…
"For us, obviously, it was the tale of two halves. Texas A&M is a very good basketball team. They pressured us like we knew they would, but we couldn't simulate it in practice. I think that really showed to start off the game. I loved how our players competed in the second half. I think our defense let us down a little in the second half, but for the most part, I'm happy with how we finished."
Was Texas A&M's pressure the difference in the game…
"Yes, definitely. When you watch film on Texas A&M, it's like watching film in fast-forward. They do a great job of all-out denying and pressuring, one through five. It doesn't matter if it's a post player or a point guard. They start everything with their defense and we knew that, but we didn't handle it well to start off, but I thought we did better in the second half."
