Bone leads A&M women's basketball team past Kansas

Gary Blair recently anointed Kelsey Bone the key to the second half of the Big 12 season for the Texas A&M women's basketball team.

If Saturday is any indication, the coach should be looking forward to the stretch run.

The 6-foot-4 Bone went 11 of 16 from the field and scored a season-high 26 points to lead the 18th-ranked Aggies to a 62-51 victory over Kansas.

No matter how much confidence Bone's performance gave Blair, it didn't match the way Bone felt after the game.

"Sydney [Carter] and I were talking about having nine conference games left, and there is no reason we should not run the table in our opinion," Bone said. "We talked about that before game with our teammates and I think what you are starting to see from us is chemistry."

Carter complemented Bone's effort with 15 points on offense and by hounding Kansas guard Angel Goodrich on defense. Carter helped force Goodrich, the Big 12's leader in assists, into seven turnovers.

"It's nice to finally kind of get that with this team," Carter said. "We've been waiting so long to just say we are clicking, it's so much of a transition from last year when we knew each other like the back of our hand and it's so important for us to get back to that because that was a key reason that we won last year."

Blair seemed thrilled with the points from Bone, but he said the team play, including Bone's defense, is what A&M (16-5, 7-3) needs most.

"She's starting to realize when to pull it out, when to make a pass to a teammate, she enjoys that pass to an open teammate as much as she does scoring," Blair said. "It's taken her a while to realize what a shot is, what a good shot is and what a great shot is."

Bone's best shot came with 1:21 to play after Kansas (16-6, 5-5) had cut a 17-point lead early in the second half to four at 55-51.

Bone backed Carolyn Davis down and scored from in close and got fouled. And unlike the other three times when she had an opportunity for a three-point play, Bone made the free throw to put A&M up seven.

The foul was the fourth on Davis, who had to be careful most of the game because of foul trouble.

"I played against her in high school, so I know her game," Bone said. "It was just one of those things where I knew if I attack first, coach [Vic] Schaefer talked about it, you don't have to worry about guarding someone if they are on the bench in foul trouble. Goodrich had three fouls early and Davis got foul trouble and that is the heart and soul of their team."

A&M scored the first eight points of the game and the Jayhawks spent the rest of the night trying to catch up, getting as close as 18-15 in the first half and then four late in the game.

"We got off to a good start and we wanted to make it fast knowing they only like to play seven players at the most," Blair said. "We were able to get into their bench with Davis and Goodrich and [Aishah] Sutherland getting in foul trouble."

Part of the reason the Jayhawks were in foul trouble was because five different Aggies -- Kristi Bellock, Bone, Kelsey Assarian, Adaora Elonu and Skylar Collins -- took charges on the defensive end. Three of the charges came late in the first half and helped the Aggies extend their lead to 32-23.

Bone also helped limit Davis to six points, 12 under her average.

"Bone is getting better defensively," Blair said. "She's still going to make some bonehead plays but she's getting better and better on learning how to play the game."

Goodrich and Sutherland led KU with 11 points each and Monica Engleman had 10, including four just before Goodrich closed the gap to four points with two free throws.

Kansas' three leading scorers for the season, Davis, Sutherland and Goodrich, were a combined 11 for 36 from the field.

"Against this group you have to make layups and free throws and you can't turn the ball over and we went through stretches where we had maybe two or three of those issues going on," said Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson. "To hang in there and make it a two or three possession game, that is when they got into us a little bit and stretched it."

A&M also got good production from the point guard position, with Alexia Standish and Adrienne Pratcher combining for 10 points, nine assists and only four turnovers.

Standish hit two big 3s, one to put A&M up 14-6 and another to give the Ags a 47-33 lead with 13 minutes remaining.

*

NOTES -- Bone's career high is 32 points scored as a freshman at South Carolina against Clemson. ... Approximately 50 former A&M players and coaches returned to celebrate a reunion weekend. A&M introduced the Aggies at the game.