|
Elonu Leads No. 7 Aggies Past TCU
FORT
WORTH, Texas (AP) — Adaora Elonu had 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead
No. 8/7 Texas A&M to a 68-53 victory over TCU on Sunday.
Tyra
White added 15 points and Kelsey Bone scored 10 for the Aggies (7-2) as
the defending national champions snapped a two-game skid in the finale
of a five-game road trip.
Briesha Wynn scored 14 points for TCU
(4-5), which was hosting a defending champion for the first time since
1987 against Texas. The Horned Frogs' leading scorer Natalie Ventress
was held without a point over 13 minutes.
Leading by nine at the
break, the Aggies started the second half with an 8-2 run and then had
a 7-0 spurt to take a 46-29 lead with 12:34 to play.
TCU used a 10-2 run over the next 3 1/2 minutes to pull to 48-39, but couldn't keep up the furious pace.
TCU
did not score for the first 3 1/2 minutes and trailed 22-9 with 4:45
remaining in the first half. A&M led 28-19 at the break after
limiting TCU to just 25 percent shooting and 12 turnovers in the first
20 minutes.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM NOTES
• For the first time
this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Adrienne
Pratcher, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Karla Gilbert… It
marked the fifth start of Gilbert’s career, the 10th career start for
Pratcher, 63rd for Carter, 80th for White and 83rd for Elonu.
•
Texas A&M moves to 31-4 in the all-time series against TCU. The
Aggies have won four of the last five meetings between the two teams.
• Texas A&M is now 2-2 on national television this season.
• A&M nearly doubled TCU in rebounds, holding a 48-27 advantage, which included a 21-10 edge in offensive rebounds.
• The Aggies limited TCU to just 6 second chance points, while scoring 18.
• The Aggies are now 7-0 when holding their opponents under 60 points.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• White has now started in 67 straight games, a streak that started on Jan. 4, 2010 against Lamar.
• White has scored double figures in 16 of her last 17 games.
•
Elonu’s 12 rebounds were a season-high mark and with her game-high 15
points she recorded her fourth career double-double. She also matched a
career-high with four steals.
• Karla Gilbert grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.
• Sydney Carter and Adrienne Pratcher combined for 10 assists.
• Pratcher’s block in the first half was the second of her career.
• White matched a first-half season-high with six rebounds.
• Off the bench, Skylar Collins contributed 5 points on 1-of-1 from beyond the arc and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
POSTGAME QUOTES
A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
Opening Statement
The
first half I loved our defense and didn’t love our offense. The second
half I loved our offense didn’t like our defense. We’ve been shooting
the ball poorly in the first half, but in the second half all of a
sudden we got the ball inside more. Bone played a good 14 minutes in a
row. That’s probably the longest she’s played for us (continuously).
Gilbert came in and finished up and did a very good job. (We had) 17
rebounds from the 5 position and 12 from the 4 position, I thought we
were very active there.
We gave up what’s going to happen
(3-pointers). We have to continually work on that. As you noticed we’re
not shooting the 3 as much as we normally do because we don’t have
Danielle Adams and Carter and White haven’t been shooting it well, so I
said let’s get it inside.
We struggled a little (against
their) zone offense because our girls looked like passers instead of
penetrators, attacking the zone. We’re a work in progress right now.
This is about where we were last year and we’re going to keep working
and working.
Now we’re going to face a giant team in USC (on Sunday, Dec. 18). They’re going to be the largest team we play this year.
On the TCU series and being in the Dallas/Fort Worth area
We
have four players from the Dallas area and I had 3 signees in the
audience. I had family here and your family is your biggest critic.
It’s good to play here. I’d love to play in Dallas every year. We have
a 4-year deal with TCU and I hope to keep it going. I don’t think TCU
is going to be like some of the other schools in the Big 12 and refuse
to play us. I think Coach Mittie and I get along well enough, if not
I’ll take him out on the golf course and wear him out. Coach Mittie
plays the hardest schedule in the country for a team that’s not in a
BCS league. Year in and year out that’s why they’ll be in the playoffs.
They’re going to be very good once conference rolls around. I hope to
keep this series going.
SENIOR GUARD TYRA WHITE
On A&M’s defensive pressure
That’s
just how we get out and get into our offense. The first half was kind
of wishy-washy, but the second half we came out and pressured the ball,
forced turnovers and got out into fast breaks.
On the previous two losses and the importance of getting this win
That’s
all we’ve been talking about, our two losses and coming back from them;
to be able to win a game on the road before we go home and play USC
before the Christmas Break. I think that brought a lot of momentum to
us. Coming into this game we wanted to play more aggressive on defense
and (force TCU to) turn the ball over to create our offense.
SENIOR FORWARD ADAORA ELONU
On the game
They’re
a very good team, and at home. We lost our last game against them here.
We knew they were going to come out and play the same way today, just
because they knew what we were capable of and what they could take
away. We were just too complacent in their zone. Having too many
turnovers and allowing them to get out into fast break. Once we got
settled down, started running our plays, penetrating and crashing the
boards, that’s when we were able to take control of the game completely.
On the previous two losses and the importance of getting this win
It
was definitely something that we needed, this win, coming off two
loses. We just needed to play hard and establish who we are as Texas
A&M. I don’t think those two loses showed what our team was capable
of. We did an ok job of getting back into the flow of how we can play.
Toughness is something that the coaches pinpointed for us that we
needed to establish; that and being confident out there.
|
