By ROBERT CESSNA
Texas A&M women's head basketball coach Gary Blair is a glass-half-full guy. But even his positivity has limits, and he reached those Sunday after a disheartening 67-63 loss to Oklahoma State after A&M blew a 14-point lead at Reed Arena, where it had won 14 straight.
It was the Aggies' second straight Big 12 loss and their second straight less-than-inspiring effort on national television. This wasn't a team Blair should showcase but one that he needed to take to the woodshed, then the practice gym.
He criticized his team afterward about as harshly as any since he's been at A&M. That's because more was expected out of this team than any before after opening the season with an 18-point romp over Duke en route to a 14-1 start.
Those expectations are gone after three losses in four games. A&M is not playing smart nor with enough passion. When OSU took the lead for the first time, the Aggies panicked, tossing up 3-pointers like a drunk sailor at a county carnival. Top 10 teams don't do that, especially at home. Teams worth their mettle bear down and find a way to win or at least play their best as things are slipping away. The Aggies didn't do that Sunday. It seemed that OSU made all the hustle plays, which helped the Cowgirls pull down 52 rebounds, 24 of them on offense. That's the most in either category by an A&M opponent this season. It's not like OSU featured Brittney Griner and Courtney Paris inside. Oklahoma State's center is 6-foot-2 Megan Byford, who is slow a foot but plays with a big heart. She came in averaging 4.1 rebounds per game, but scrapped her way to a season-high 11 against the more athletic Aggies.
But the two biggest offensive rebounds the Aggies allowed were by 5-5 Andrea Riley, who turned them into five points in the final minutes to pull OSU within a point, causing Blair to pull out a few more hairs.
Riley didn't have a great game. By her standards, it wasn't even good. She missed 22 shots with nine turnovers and didn't play the last 8 minutes of the first half because of foul trouble. But with the game on the line and when her teammates looked to her most, she was an All-American.
Early in the game when Riley was sputtering, it was her unheralded teammates who didn't allow the game to get out of reach. The animated Riley often was in the face of teammates, exerting them to play better.
A&M doesn't have that type of leader. That's not a knock on its players; that's just who they are. You can't change someone's personality. We were spoiled watching Stephen McGee, Amanda Scarborough and Acie Law IV and think that every Aggie team should have leaders like them, but it doesn't work that way.
Sometimes you lead by example, which certainly was the case last season with Danielle Gant or A'Quonesia Franklin before her. They also had Riley's refuse-to-lose attitude and were able to pass it on to their teammates.
You can win without vocal leaders. If a team has enough talented players who perform to their capabilities, they'll be successful.
A&M certainly has talented players, maybe the team's most in Blair's seven seasons. It sure seemed that way in November and December. But lately, players have shown a tendency to disappear during the game's critical stretches or, worse yet, for several games.
Tanisha Smith was a sure-fire all-conference player just three weeks ago. Sunday, she wasn't one of A&M's five best players. Sydney Colson can make plays that could be on ESPN, but she also throws the ball away under no pressure when a bucket is needed in the worst way. Adaora Elonu and Damitria Buchanan often take ill-advised shots trying to do more than they should. No one on the team is immune to shortcomings, even the coaches. They have to bring out the best in these players. No one can be a winner when you lose games everyone expects you to win.
Blair -- after he'd gotten things off his chest -- said it's not time to play the blame game. It's time to determine if A&M will be the team that could have beaten Texas by 40 points or is just going to be a decent Top 25 team destined to blow by two inferior teams in the NCAA Tournament, then lose in the Sweet 16 to someone who's peaking at the right time.
The Aggies have 10 games to get their act together before the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, starting with Missouri at 6 p.m. Wednesday at home.
It won't be easy to recapture what the Aggies had. A&M has road games at fourth-ranked Nebraska and 10th-ranked OSU along with a trio of home games against Top 20 teams Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas. It's hard to envision A&M going through that stretch without at least two more losses.
But after 6 minutes of emptying his negative thoughts, Blair was back taking the positive approach. He wasn't smiling, but his voice was stronger as he talked about the 2007-08 team that started league play 1-4. A&M rebounded to win 16 of the next 17, reaching the Elite Eight for the first time. It was the best of times.
"Maybe this is what this team needs," Blair said. "We need to respond to adversity better than we are."
That's something everyone wearing maroon painfully can agree on.
*
A&M moved its game up to allow fans to get home to see the men's game at Missouri at 8 p.m. ... It's Elementary School Night, with parents receiving two free tickets by presenting the promotional flyer at the ticket window. ... A&M junior Danielle Adams signed with Missouri out of Lee's Summit High School in the Kansas City metro area but didn't qualify academically. The junior college transfer played at Jefferson College (Mo.).
TEXAS A&M WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
* Wednesday's game: Missouri (11-9, 1-6 Big 12) at No. 12 Texas A&M (15-4, 3-3), 6 p.m.
* TV/radio: None/KZNE, 1150 AM
LINEUPS
MISSOURI (11-9, 1-6)
NAMEPOS.HT.CLASSPPGRPG
RaeShara BrownG5-8Jr.9.3*3.4
Toy RichbowG5-6Sr.3.83.5
Amanda HannemanF5-11Sr.10.43.3
Jessra JohnsonF6-1Sr.13.16.2
Shakara Jones F6-2Jr.9.95.4
TEXAS A&M (15-4, 3-3)
NAMEPOS.HT.CLASSPPGRPG
Sydney ColsonG5-8Jr.7.54.7*
Tanisha SmithF6-0Sr.15.5 4.8
Tyra WhiteG6-0So.11.13.9
Danielle AdamsC6-1Jr.15.9 5.6
Adaora Elonu F6-1 Jr.8.53.6
*assists per game
Notice about comments:
Theeagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. theeagle.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here.
Aggiesports.com is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. You can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends’ recent posts, add an avatar that fits your personality and more. If you have posted here before you’ll need to sign up again, and if you’ve never posted start now by signing up! If you've already registered for the new comments on www.theeagle.com then just use your Eagle username to log in and start commenting.
