By ROBERT CESSNATexas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair wasn't looking to sign another point guard until he watched Anton's Taniqua Hollis.
"I never sign more than two point guards, but I broke my rule," said Blair, who added the 5-foot-6 standout from the South Plains on Monday.
Blair heard about Hollis when the Aggies were in Lubbock to play Texas Tech on Feb. 2. The team ate supper the night before at the home of Aggie senior forward Katy Pounds, who starred at nearby Shallowater.
"Katy Pounds' dad [Dwayne] said everyone was talking about this kid," said Blair, who decided to go see her play that night along with associate head coach Vic Schaefer.
They were so impressed that Schaefer scouted another of her games, and they returned for the regional finals.
Blair and his staff then had to decide if Hollis was better than the point guards who might be available in 2009.
"We decided she was going to be better," Blair said.
Hollis averaged 26 points, 8 rebounds, 8 steals, 6 assists and 3 blocks for the 30-4 Class A Lady Bulldogs.
Blair compares Hollis to All-Big 12 point guards A'Quonesia Franklin and Andrea Riley. Franklin starred at A&M for four years before being drafted by the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs. She wasn't highly recruited coming out of Tyler John Tyler. Neither was Hollis, who played at Class A Sudan for two years before transferring to Anton.
Riley, who just finished her sophomore season at Oklahoma State, was the league's leading scorer last season.
"She is as quick as lightning, which reminds me of Riley," Blair said. "She also can shoot it real deep [3-pointers]."
A&M also graduated senior backup point guard La Toya Gulley, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Nebraska. Sophomore Sydney Colson is the only point guard returning.
A&M's incoming freshman class included point guards Skylar Collins of Cedar Hill and Sydney Carter of DeSoto. But the 5-6 Carter also can play the 2 guard.
"[Hollis] gives us a little more insurance," said Blair, who added that perimeter personnel losses late in the season really hurt Kansas State and Baylor.
Hollis is the sixth and final signee for the 2008-09 incoming class, joining freshmen-to-be forward Adaora Elonu of Alief Elsik, forward Kelsey Assarian out of Barron Collier High School in Naples, Fla., Collins and Carter, along with junior college guard/forward All-American Tanisha Smith.
A&M is coming off the most successful season in school history. The Aggies won the Big 12 tournament for the first time and advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, falling to eventual national champion Tennessee.
"It feels great," Hollis told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. "I really feel blessed to be picked to play on a team like that."
NOTES -- A&M expects to have 14 players on next season's team, one short of the limit. Blair said that forward Ashlaa Horton, who just completed her sophomore season, won't return. Horton who redshirted, graduated in three years.
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