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Aggie women to take on Baylor

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Sports Writer

Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair knows the Aggies have to win the Big 12 for his program to be considered equal with Baylor and Oklahoma.

"We're still a little bit of the Rodney Dangerfield at the ball," he said. "We beat OU twice, we beat Baylor and we're still ranked behind them. And that's the way it should be, because they've been up there for years. We've got to earn our stripes."

A&M has been the lowest private in the Big 12 women's basketball army from almost the get-go. A&M had nine straight second-division finishes until last season's 11-5 third-place finish.

Now the Aggies are on the threshold of greatness.

The 16th-ranked Aggies (21-5, 11-3) can assure themselves of at least a co-championship by winning out in a pair of nationally televised games. A&M will be at Baylor (24-4, 11-3) at 1 p.m. Sunday, then finish at home at 6 p.m. Wednesday against Texas (17-12, 6-9).

"It's been a great year," Blair said. "We're playing for the Big 12 championship in front of millions of people on TV. It doesn't get any better. This will be one of the few Sundays that I'll be playing and Tiger [Woods is] going to be sitting."

Sunday will be a big day for Big 12 basketball as No. 13 Oklahoma (21-4, 11-3) plays host to Missouri (17-10, 5-9) at 2 p.m. The Sooners finish at home against Baylor on Wednesday. The defending champion Sooners are vying for their fourth Big 12 regular-season championship.

The Lady Bears won the 2004-05 title en route to a national championship, then finished second to Oklahoma last season.

The Aggies have assured themselves of at least matching last season's effort by winning eight of their last nine games. But the Lady Bears have been even better, winning nine of 10 since dropping a 60-52 game at Reed Arena.

"I think it will be an ebb-and-flow type game," Blair said. "Both teams are going to have some runs. "I think what we're going to do - everything is going to key off our defense. [Then] we're gonna hunt and peck on offense."

The teams win with different styles.

Baylor is second in the conference in offense at 75.7 points per game, while A&M is tops in defense, allowing only 53.5 points per game.

The Aggie offense had a tough time getting untracked in the first meeting with Baylor, which took a 12-point lead.

"I don't think we can get down 17-5 on the road and have our home fans pull us through like they did here," Blair said.

But A&M did trail at Oklahoma by 10 points before rallying for a 54-52 victory, stopping OU's 26-game winning streak in conference play.

Blair said he no longer sees fear in his players' eyes when they play certain teams, like he did in past seasons.

"Now they believe they are as good as any team in the country," Blair said. "And on a given night, we're pretty damn good. And it's been a great year, but our best basketball is in front of us. Because I can see it starting to happen in practice."

A&M hasn't won a regular-season title in 25 seasons - the first 13 were in the Southwest Conference. It's been 13 years since the Aggies went into the final week in first place.

"Let's just let it fly, it's fun right now," Blair said.

NOTES - In Wednesday's 67-51 victory over Texas Tech, A&M point guard A'Quonesia Franklin was helped off the court late with a hyperextended left knee she hurt in practice. Blair said Saturday she not only hasn't missed any practice time, but she's been a big vocal leader this week ... Junior forward Morenike Atunrase had 18 points against Tech, her best outing since spraining her right ankle at OU. "I think Morenike has practiced very well this week and I think we're going to have a good ballgame from her," Blair said. ... A&M had a 48-35 rebounding edge in the first meeting, including a season-high tying 23 offensive rebounds. ... Baylor senior transfer Bernice Mosby had 19 points and 14 rebounds, both game-high efforts. ... A&M put the clamps on BU's perimeter game as junior point guard Angela Tisdale was 1-of-6 shooting with 10 turnovers and Jessica Morrow was 2 of 13.

The Ferrell Center ticket office will be open at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

Baylor is having a white-out, and more than 10,000 T-shirts will be distributed at each seat, which was funded through donations by the Baylor Tip Off Club.