By ROBERT CESSNAThe Texas A&M women's basketball team continues to improve on perfection.
The third-ranked Aggies rolled to a 78-59 victory over the George Washington Colonials on Saturday at Reed Arena before 6,892 fans at Reed Arena. A&M needs a win at Florida State on Monday to finish unbeaten in nonconference play for the first time in school history.
"I asked our team how hungry [they are]," A&M head coach Gary Blair said. "Are they hungry enough to get to 13-0?"
The answer is yet to be seen, but A&M (12-0) whetted its appetite by ending an impressive five-game homestand by dominating George Washington. The Colonials beat the Aggies last season in overtime and two seasons ago in the NCAA Tournament, but this time A&M had control from the get-go and took a 9-0 lead after 4 minutes.
GW had three turnovers and missed its first three shots, a trend that continued in the face of A&M's defense as the Aggies breezed to their seventh straight double-digit victory.
"I thought our defense was outstanding at times in the first half," Blair said.
A&M forced George Washington into a season-high 29 turnovers. GW's starters made only 10 of 32 field-goal attempts, with none scoring in double figures.
"I didn't think the momentum would get us in the way that it did get us," GW head coach Mike Bozeman said. "The major difference was their execution was on such a higher level than ours was. They played like the No. 3 team in the country."
GW (7-6) fared better in losses to two-time defending national champ Tennessee (71-59), 10th-ranked Auburn (65-51) and 15th-ranked Rutgers (57-47).
A&M took a 40-23 halftime lead as guards Takia Starks and Tanisha Smith combined for 25 points. Starks ended with a game-high 22 points, her third straight 20-point game. The senior added a career-high six steals as A&M won its 12th straight to match the school record, which was set last season en route to the Elite 8.
"I just didn't expect Miss Starks to hit such tough shots," Bozeman said. "I knew she could shoot, but she was hitting contested shots."
Starks hit three of her first three field-goal attempts in the second half. Her last field goal was a tough 16-footer to push A&M's lead to 54-34. Starks launched the jumper with GW's Yolanda Lavender in her face. The ball bounced high off the back rim, then fell through.
"They play great zone and we kind of took them out of that, and we made them turn the ball over and that contributed to the win tonight," Starks said.
A&M easily won despite shooting only 36.9 percent from the field, its lowest since the fifth game of the season (against Penn State). A&M missed nine of 12 layups against a defense that included 6-foot-4 All-America candidate Jessica Adair.
"We probably missed 12 shots in the paint," Blair said. "We have to do a better job. We were going against big players tonight. We have to learn how to finish against that type of size, because we are going to see it in the Big 12."
A&M shot better from 3-point range -- 7 of 14 -- than in close thanks to Starks hitting 4 of 5.
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NOTES -- A&M forward Danielle Gant played only 8 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, but she finished strong with 13 of her 17 points in the second half. ... Aggie backup freshman point guard Sydney Carter had eight points, six assists and two steals with no turnovers in 23 minutes. ... A&M starting point guard Sydney Colson partially dislocated her right ring finger in the second half and didn't return.
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