Aggie women to battle Sooners for second place

  • By ROBERT CESSNA

  • Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 7:00 a.m.
  • Text size: A A A


The Texas A&M women's basketball team will play at Oklahoma on Tuesday for the final time in Big 12 play in a showdown for second place. The 14th-ranked Aggies (19-6, 10-4 Big 12) have a game lead on the Sooners (17-9, 9-5) with four games left in the regular season.


A&M earned that advantage with a dominating 75-58 victory over the Sooners on Jan. 8 at Reed Arena by outscoring OU by 20 points in the second half.


"Oklahoma seems to bring out the best in us," A&M head coach Gary Blair said. "I thought we played very well."


A&M also had OU's number last season, beating the Sooners three times starting with an 80-78 victory in Norman, only the second victory for the Aggies in league play at the Lloyd Noble Center.


"That's always a tough matchup for us," Blair said. "They really play to their crowd and when [junior guard] Whitney Hand gets going, it's like [Tim] Tebow. They respond to whatever she does. She rebounds, she scores, she's just a glue-type player."


Hand, fiancee of OU quarterback Landry Jones, spearheads a three-guard attack that includes Aaryn Ellenberg and Morgan Hook. Ellenberg has shown signs of breaking out of a shooting slump by hitting 12 of 24 shots in the last three halves, including 5 of 13 on 3-pointers.


A&M forced OU into 23 turnovers in the first meeting. Ellenberg scored 18 and Hand added 17, but Hook didn't hit a shot.


Defense has been big for A&M in the last three weeks to allow the Aggies to win six of seven with the loss to top-ranked Baylor (27-0, 24-0). Freshman point guard Alexia Standish and sophomore post Kelsey Bone have been keys, Blair said.


A&M is coming off a 63-49 victory over Oklahoma State, which kicked off the Aggies' farewell tour of what was the Big 12 South with Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas ahead.


"I love going and playing these teams, because that'll get us ready for the postseason," Blair said.


Blair has emphasized that the Aggies will continue to recruit against those five schools and probably end up playing them in future NCAA Tournaments. Still, bragging rights and possible seeding for the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments make these remaining games special.


"This is going to be a lot of fun," he said.


NOTES -- OU is coming off a 77-71 loss at Iowa State which hit 23 of 48 shots, including 11 of 21 on 3-pointers. "The rims in this arena love the Cyclones," OU head coach Sherri Coale said. "How many balls sat on the rim and just went -- (Coale rocked back and forth) -- and went, 'Oh, I think I'll go in.' It seems they knew what color [jersey] shot it." ... Blair is concerned that the Sooners will try to return the favor. ... Blair's other victory in Norman was 54-52 in 2007, snapping OU's 24-game winning streak in Big 12 regular-season play.

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