Aggie women hitting stride, ready for OSU

Things are starting to come together for the Texas A&M women's basketball team. The Aggies have won three straight Big 12 games by turning up the defensive pressure. A&M forced 66 turnovers against Iowa State, Missouri and Kansas, which accounted for 38 percent of the Aggies' offense.

"I like how my team has played the last few ballgames," said A&M head coach Gary Blair, adding that the players have made great strides by getting better through film sessions.

That was the case for freshman point guard Alexia Standish and sophomore post Kelsey Bone, who had stellar offensive games in Saturday's 76-65 victory at Kansas.

Standish played a season-high 29 minutes in what was her fifth straight start. She hit 3 of 5 field goals, including a pair of 3-pointers to go along with a season-high six assists, three steals and no turnovers.

"Standish has played well in conference play," Blair said. "She did well in the last game. It was by far her best game of the year."

The 6-foot-4 Bone, the coaches' preseason Newcomer of the Year, added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting. She had scored only 19 points in the previous three games, hitting only 9 of 26 shots.

"I've been struggling since [scoring 18 points against] Oklahoma," Bone said. "The coaching staff and my teammates stayed on me about keeping my confidence up."

Blair told the team in one of those film sessions before KU they needed to get the ball to Bone.

"All the credit goes to my teammates," Bone said. "They didn't worry about all my shooting woes the last few games. They just gave me the ball and it was time to produce."

If Bone and Standish can continue to produce, it will strengthen one of the Big 12's most balanced attacks. The Aggies are led in scoring by three seniors -- wing Tyra White (14.4 points per game), shooting guard Sydney Carter (12.4 ppg) and forward Adaora Elonu (12.1 ppg.)

Saturday's effort was a huge shot in the arm for the 14th-ranked Aggies (13-4, 4-2), who climbed into a four-way tie for second with Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma.

"When Bone and Standish play well, I don't have to worry about the other three," Blair said. "They are going to get their points or play the game the way it should be played whether it's defense or assists."

The three seniors chipped in with 42 points against Kansas as the defending national champs jumped to an early double-digit lead.

"I think we're starting to jell," Bone said. "I think we're starting to totally get it. I think the chemistry that you saw last year throughout the year is starting to come together for this team."

A&M's defense forced Kansas into 23 turnovers, 11 by Angel Goodrich, who was the third straight guard with double-digit turnovers against the Aggies, joining Iowa State's Nikki Moody and Missouri's Kyley Simmons, who each had 10.

A&M senior reserve post Kelsey Assarian said players are starting to buy into the defensive system and it shows.

A&M's improved defense will be tested Tuesday night at Oklahoma State (11-4, 3-3) which is averaging only 14.6 turnovers per game. Sophomore guard Tiffany Bias averages 4.9 turnovers per game, and does a good job running the offense, Blair said.

The Cowgirls are led in scoring by freshman forward Liz Donohoe (14.2 ppg), an unheralded recruit whom former OSU head coach Kurt Budke talked about with Blair before Budke was killed, along with assistant coach Miranda Serna, in an airplane crash Nov. 17 during a recruiting trip.

Blair and Budke were friends, having both coached at Louisiana Tech, though not at the same time.

"I just liked talking to Kurt when he was alive on just how he balanced family and basketball," Blair said. "With him, it was always about family first. And then your extended family is your team. He was proud of his team, and he didn't keep kids unless they had the orange and black No. 1."

Blair said he feels for what Oklahoma State is going through, but he's talked to people in the program who said the healing process has progressed to where they just want to play basketball and not dwell on the past.

"If you keep bringing it up [with pregame ceremonies], then it gets back to the kids and they can't function in games," Blair said.

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NOTES -- A&M has won three straight against OSU and 14 of the last 16. ... This will be A&M's final trip to Stillwater as a member of the Big 12 since the Aggies will be in the Southeastern Conference next season. ... OSU returned two starters from a 24-11 WNIT team that was 9-7 in the Big 12. ... OSU's leads the Big with a free-throw percentage of 94.6. Bias is third in the nation with 7.5 assists per game. ... OSU was picked eighth in the coaches' preseason poll and A&M was second.