Wire Report
LAS VEGAS -- Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair knew his team learned something from its lone loss of the season.
Tanisha Smith scored 20 points, and Tyra White added 18 to help No. 13 Texas A&M beat Gonzaga 80-76 on Sunday night in the Las Vegas Hoops Classic. The Aggies (9-1) built a 20-point lead before surviving a late rally by the Bulldogs (9-4) in the final 10 minutes.
It was nearly the second time in eight days that they coughed up a double-digit lead in the final 5 minutes. Texas A&M fell to TCU 56-54 after holding an 11-point advantage late.
"It was a teaching moment and it will help us down the road," Blair said. "We're going to be in a lot more of these battles once conference play begins."
Trailing 68-48 with 11 minutes left, Gonzaga went on a 28-10 run to close to 78-76 on Tiffanie Shives' 3-pointer with 30.4 seconds left. After White made one of two free throws with 25.4 seconds left, Courtney Vandersloot turned the ball over and Damitra Buchanan hit a free throw to seal the win.
"We made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on," Blair said. "White was the MVP for us."
White had set her career high in Saturday's 72-62 win over Arizona State. She matched it again on Sunday.
Vandersloot scored 16 points, and Heather Bowman added 15 for the Zags.
Texas A&M built a huge first-half lead behind 60 percent shooting from the field.
Leading by six midway through the first half, Texas A&M went on an 18-7 run to make it 38-21 with 4:21 left. White hit two 3-pointers during the spurt. The Zags were able to close to 14, but Smith hit back-to-back baskets to extend the margin back up to 51-32 at the break.
She finished the first half with 15 points and White had 12, going 4 for 4 from behind the arc.
It was the second straight game that the Bulldogs found themselves with a double-digit deficit at the half. They trailed by 17 against Baylor on Saturday night before falling 70-49.
"We can't keep spotting really good teams big leads," Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves said. "I was pleasantly surprised how we were able to battle back."
Gonzaga was able to cut into its deficit and was down 55-42 after a nifty backdoor layup by Katelan Redmon. But the Aggies then used an 11-4 burst to restore the 20-point margin.
The Zags wouldn't go away, mounting a furious rally behind Vandersloot and Bowman. Trailing 68-48 with 11:10 left, the Zags got going offensively.
"After last nights game, we were all disappointed in our performance," Vandersloot said. "We wanted to prove we could compete with teams of this caliber."
Vandersloot had an off-game against Baylor and she was determined not to have consecutive bad performances.
"It was disappointing to let my team down," she said. "I know I can compete with teams at this level. I pulled it out from inside myself.
The Aggies beat Arizona State on Saturday night 72-62.
A&M will be off for Christmas until playing Prairie View on Dec. 28 at Reed Arena.
No. 13 TEXAS A&M 80, GONZAGA 76
TEXAS A&M (9-1)
Buchanan 1-1 4-6 6, White 5-7 3-4 18, Smith 9-15 1-4 20, Adams 5-12 0-2 11, Colson 1-8 0-0 2, Carter 2-4 1-3 5, Bellock 0-0 0-0 0, Baker 3-3 2-2 8, Elonu 3-5 1-1 7, Assarian 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 30-56 13-24 80.
GONZAGA (9-4)
Bekkering 0-0 0-0 0, Frieson 5-9 4-7 14, Vandersloot 5-8 4-6 16, Bowman 5-7 5-5 15, Shives 3-8 1-1 8, Lorenzo 0-0 0-0 0, Petersen 0-0 0-0 0, Winters 0-1 0-0 0, Redmon 5-8 3-4 13, Standish 2-5 4-6 8, Bowen 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 26-50 21-29 76.
Halftime--Texas A&M 51-32. 3-Point Goals--Texas A&M 7-15 (White 5-6, Smith 1-1, Adams 1-3, Carter 0-1, Colson 0-4), Gonzaga 3-12 (Vandersloot 2-3, Shives 1-5, Bowen 0-2, Standish 0-2). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--Texas A&M 34 (Adams 6), Gonzaga 30 (Redmon 6). Assists--Texas A&M 12 (Colson 5), Gonzaga 16 (Vandersloot 8). Total Fouls--Texas A&M 29, Gonzaga 19. Technical--Gonzaga Bench. A--NA.
Griner's near triple-double leads Baylor over ASU
By DOUG FEINBERG
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- Brittney Griner is proving she's one of the best players in the country and she's only a freshman.
Griner had 27 points, 10 rebounds, and eight blocks to help sixth-ranked Baylor hold off No. 14 Arizona State 70-66 on Sunday night in the Las Vegas Hoops Classic. It was the second straight game that Griner fell just two blocks short of a triple-double. She had the first in school history early in the week in a win over Oral Roberts.
"She's amazing," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "In all my years at Baylor I haven't seen anyone with games statistically like she's had the past week."
Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne was equally impressed by the 6-foot-8 phenom.
"You already have to put her in the company of some of the other greats like Candace Parker and Maya Moore," Turner Thorne said. "She's come so far from high school so quickly."
Griner took over in the second half, scoring 18 of her points and blocking six shots. Her three-point play with 4:47 left gave Baylor (11-1) a five-point lead. The Sun Devils could get no closer than four the rest of the way.
"We didn't go a good enough job getting her the ball in the first half," Mulkey said. "She's so patient and we were able to get her going in the second half."
Kelli Griffin added 15 points for the Bears, who have 11 straight games since a season-opening loss to Tennessee.
"I was really pumped up coming to Las Vegas," Griner said. "It was really important to go into Christmas break with a win."
Becca Tobin scored 16 points and Danielle Orsillo added 14 for Arizona State (7-3), which also lost to No. 13 Texas A&M on Saturday.
"We played a couple of top teams," Tobin said. "We moved a few steps forward because of that. Now we need to go home and practice and work on the things we need to do."
With the game tied at 60 with 5:43 left, Medlock hit a layup and Griner had the three-point play. Arizona State, which had made 13 of its first 14 free throws, had chances to close the gap, but the Sun Devils started to miss from the line, failing to convert on six of their next eight.
Griffin's layup extended the advantage to 67-61 with 3:10 left. Tobin hit two free throws to make it a four-point game. On the Sun Devils next two possessions they had a shot clock violation and Orsillo missed a deep 3-pointer with 1:01 left.
"We played well for a while, but just came up a little short in the end," Turner Thorne said.
Griner's layup with 44.7 left sealed the game.
It was a game of runs as Baylor jumped out to an early 32-20 with 3:01 left in the first half, Arizona State went on a 20-5 spurt spanning the break to take a 40-37 advantage on Fulcher's jumper. Griner and Baylor responded scoring the next nine points. Griner had four of them, including a nifty layup after blocking a shot on the other end to give the Bears a 46-40 advantage.
Arizona State then had the next spurt scoring seven straight to take a 47-46 lead with 11:45 left. The teams traded baskets and leads over the next 6 minutes as Griner scored nine points on an array of post moves. Neither team could build more than a two-point lead before Tenaya Watson's jumper tied the game at 60.
Arizona State lost its opening game in the tournament Saturday night, falling to No. 13 Texas A&M 72-62. Baylor routed Gonzaga 70-49.
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