Texas A&M
(2) 27-4, 13-3
Oklahoma
(3) 21-11, 10-6
No. 8 Aggies Head to Finals After 81-68 Rout Over No. 20 Oklahoma
Mar 11, 2011 | Women's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Texas A&M is back in the Big 12 tournament finals for a fourth consecutive year, and the Aggies didn't need a big scoring game from Danielle Adams to get there.
Oklahoma held the Big 12's leading scorer to 16 points - seven below her average - but the No. 8 Aggies easily beat the No. 21 Sooners 81-68 to advanced to the championship game Saturday against No. 3 Baylor.
"The key to it in this tournament is to quit waiting for Danielle to score 40 and have balanced scoring," Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said. "That's what we had."
Adams was limited to 27 minutes because of foul trouble, but guard Sydney Carter came up huge in the second half, scoring all of her 19 points in the final 20 minutes. The Sooners trailed by seven points at the half and Carter had the solution every time Oklahoma tried to make a run in the second half.
Tyra White chipped in 18 points and Adams contributed 11 rebounds as the Aggies (27-4) defeated Oklahoma for a fifth consecutive time.
Carter finished 6 of 12 from the floor, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. She was limited to just 7 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.
"They left me open, so I just knocked down the shots in the second half," Carter said.
Adams was happy to see her teammates come through on a day when she wasn't at her best.
"I'm just glad I have teammates like that backing me up," Adams said. "Carter came out hot in the second half and Tyra is always going to do her thing."
Baylor, which defeated Kansas State 86-53 in the earlier semifinal, has a pair of victories over Texas A&M this season. The Lady Bears won 63-60 in College Station and 67-58 in Waco. "We want to play Baylor four times," Blair said. "If we do, we'll be in the Final Four. That's how good Baylor is."
Oklahoma (21-11) pulled to 43-41 early in the second half, but the Aggies went on an 11-0 run to gain control. Whitney Hand scored 21 points and 6-foot-6 Nicole Griffin had 12 points - hitting all six of her shots - and eight rebounds for the Sooners.
"Griffin makes a lot of difference," Blair said. "She alters shots, detours shots. With her in the lineup, I think Oklahoma will be very good in the NCAA tournament."
The Aggies will be looking for their third Big 12 tournament title in four years after winning in 2008 and 2010.
"I'd like to challenge Kansas City to come out and see two of the top teams in the country, not just the Big 12," Blair said.
The second-seeded Aggies will be trying to break a tournament-long trend in which the higher seed has won each game.
White said the key on Saturday will be limiting turnovers and not allowing Baylor easy transition opportunities.
"We have to keep our composure," White said. "That's what happened at Waco. We had a lead and let it slip away."
Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale liked the way her team competed, but a failure to slow Carter late kept the Sooners in comeback mode.
"Carter killed us in the second half," Coale said. "She went on a tear for 10 minutes and we couldn't get an answer for her."
POSTGAME NOTES
- For the 21st time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Sydney Colson, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Danielle Adams. The Aggies are 17-4 with this starting lineup.
- Texas A&M improves to 26-18 in the all-time series with Oklahoma. The Aggies, however, have won five straight and seven of the last eight meetings between the two Big 12 South rivals.
- The Aggies move to 3-2 all-time against OU in the Big 12 Championship, 4-2 all-time in the semifinals and 13-12 overall in all Big 12 Championship games.
- A&M becomes the first school in Big 12 history with four straight Big 12 Championship finals appearances (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011). A&M has won two of the last three Big 12 Championships, including last season's title game over Oklahoma
- The higher seeded team has won every game in the 2011 Big 12 Championship, marking the first time in history that has happened. It also marks the first time since 2006 the No. 1 and 2 seeds will meet in the Big 12 Championship game.
- Texas A&M's 13 steals against Oklahoma are tied for the most in Big 12 Championship semifinal game history.
- As a team, Texas A&M's 19 offensive rebounds are tied for third in Big 12 Championship semifinal history.
- Tyra White grabbed a first-half season-best seven rebounds en route to nine on Friday. She was one rebound shy of a double-double.
- With 16 points today, Danielle Adams moved into ninth place on Texas A&M's career scoring chart with 1,253 points. She also posted 11 rebounds for her 13th double-double of the season. She has been in double-figure scoring in 39 out of the last 40 contests.
- Danielle Adam's seven individual offensive rebounds are tied for third in Big 12 Championship semifinal history.
- Sydney Colson's three steals today vs. Oklahoma puts her in fourth place on Texas A&M's career chart with 237. She was near a triple-double with nine points, a career-high eight rebounds and a game-high eight assists.
