Aggie women beat Oklahoma 75-58

A tired Gary Blair took a 5-hour Energy drink before Sunday's game against the Oklahoma Sooners, but it was Texas A&M's second-half play that gave the Aggies' head coach and the program the boost they needed.

Ninth-ranked A&M dominated the second half for a 75-58 Big 12 victory at Reed Arena before 6,486 fans. The Aggies opened the second half on a 12-2 rush that gave A&M the lead for good at 40-35. The unranked Sooners (9-4, 1-1) stayed within striking range until a 10-2 run gave the Aggies a double-digit lead with just over six minutes left.

A&M (10-3, 1-1) played some of its best defense of the season in the second half for an 18-0 edge in points off turnovers.

A&M's intensity wasn't limited to the defensive end. The Aggies hit 17 of 32 shots in the second half as senior Tyra White led the way by scoring 16 of her game-high 20 points. The 6-foot wing aggressively found openings in OU's zone defense off the dribble for short or mid-range jumpers. OU also had no answer for 6-foot-4 sophomore post Kelsey Bone, who scored 10 of her 18 points in the second half.

It was an all-around team effort as 6-1 senior forward Adaora Elonu had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and senior shooting guard Sydney Carter had 15 points.

"This was the best overall game we've played since we won our last game in the Bahamas," Blair said. "Our defense was outstanding."

Pressure defense has been the program's foundation, but the defending national champs had struggled since beating Iowa in the Bahamas on Nov. 26. The Aggies had split their last six games, including a tough 71-69 overtime loss at Kansas State on Wednesday.

A&M seemed ready to put that loss behind after scoring Sunday's first nine points. But by the end of the half Oklahoma had a 31-28 lead. The Aggies showed why Blair has been watching tons of tape, needing energy drinks for missed sleep. A&M started the game making 5 of 8 shots, but then missed 17 of 25. It wasn't just the poor shooting. The Aggies had nine turnovers, weren't playing good defense and had too many fouls as freshman point guard Alexia Standish had three fouls and Bone and Elonu each had two.

Oklahoma, which came in riding a six-game winning streak, scored 11 straight points for 19-15 lead, forcing Blair to take a timeout. The Sooners looked sharp as guards Aaryn Ellenberg, Sharane Campbell and Whitney Hand keyed the surge

"They are a flow team," Blair said. "They hurt us during that time in transition and got some easy baskets."

A&M got some easy points in the second half because of its hard work on defense, holding OU to a season-low 27 points.

"After the last couple of games, we didn't really get any 'special points' or 'gifts,'" White said. "We always gave away the gifts, so that was great momentum to receive some gifts from Oklahoma and actually score in transition."

A&M had 11 steals, four by Bone. The highly regarded transfer from South Carolina has been struggling, but had her best all-around game, especially on defense.

"[Teammate] Skylar Collins told me I should dominate," Bone said. "I've always known that, but when you hear it from somebody that goes through the trenches with you, it really rings true."

Bone never left the court in the second half until a minute remained.

"I thought she only made two bad plays the whole ball game," Blair said. "If that's all I can say negative, then she's had a heck of a day and give her a lot of credit, because she's taking coaching."

Bone also had a career-high four assists, but most of her damage was done inside as the Aggies had a 44-30 edge in paint points.

"She's a big, strong, talented kid," said OU head coach Sherri Coale, who played Bone two seasons ago. "Once she got going, she got fired up and you can tell her energy infuses their team."

Bone got help inside from Elonu, who helped hold Oklahoma center Joanna McFarland without a point. The 6-3 junior who was coming off a career-matching 19 points in an 80-51 victory over Iowa State didn't take a shot. She was in foul trouble and played only 16 minutes.

"Sometimes you don't notice her on the court and then all of a sudden, look at her stats," Blair said. "She's so low-key and so valuable to us."

Elonu had a couple of turnovers early and missed badly on two shots, but ended 5-of-9 shooting and played 32 minutes.

White, one of the heroes at last season's Final Four, was virtually nonexistent in the first half. She had a layup during A&M's 9-0 run, but then missed four of five shots with a turnover.

Bone said associate head coach Vic Schaefer who is charge of the defense challenged White at halftime to elevate her game.

"The first half I rushed my shot and tried to go to the baseline instead of going to the middle, but in the second half, I just relaxed, read the zone and Carter found me a couple times on penetration," White said. "The penetration really broke down their zone and allowed us to knock down some open shots."

Carter made sure that the right person had the basketball. She had five assists, three steals and no turnovers in 37 minutes. That came on the heels of 43 minutes against Kansas State. She missed the nonconference finale against McNeese State with a hot spot in her right foot. She's practiced little, which showed as she missed her first six shots.

But her gutsy energy keyed two surges.

OU had a 30-24 lead with a minute to go in the first half, but Carter drove the lane for bucket, then came up with steal in backcourt that led to a layup by Standish.

"I think my team really needed to me get out there and give us a spark and give all the effort I could give on the defensive end to create some offense," Carter said. "That layup that Lexi hit off that steal, I could have dunked it if I had the ball because I was so excited.

"That's what my team needs, my team needs the emotion from me and it felt really good to give my team that spark and I think it carried over into the second half."

She also had assists on three of A&M's first four buckets to start the second half including a jumper by White that gave the Aggies the lead for good.

Oklahoma, which lost its sixth straight to A&M, was led in scoring by Ellenberg's 18 points, but she also had six turnovers. Freshman guard Dahawn Harden, who was coming off a 14-point game, was 1-of-6 shooting with seven turnovers.

"We got discombobulated defensively because we couldn't function offensively," Coale said. "They might be a team that defense bleeds into offense, but we're the antithesis of that. Our offense bleeds into our defense. We could never get into synch, didn't have much composure and our point guards didn't handle that ball pressure very well at all."

Having McFarland and Campbell in foul trouble forced Cole to alter her normal substitution patterns. Hand was a bright spot, playing all 40 minutes, scoring 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting with six assists.

Hand said the team talked about beginning the second half strong, but a timid start left OU on its heels and "chasing the rest of the way and that's the story."

A&M held OU to 3 of 10 on 3-pointers. The Sooners came in leading the league in 3-point shooting at 38.3 percent (93 of 243).

NOTES -- OU beat South Carolina 75-67 in the Virgin Islands on Nov. 26, 2009. Bone had 18 points. ... Standish started her first game.