By ROBERT CESSNA
SEATTLE -- This loss is going to gnaw at the Aggies for awhile.
They had too many turnovers, too many missed free throws and had to exert way too much energy to wipe out a 13-point deficit. That brought an abrupt ending to what had been a magical ride to a solid No. 2 seed for the NCAA tournament.
Texas A&M's Danielle Adams missed a 14-foot baseline jumper just ahead of the buzzer as the seventh-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs escaped with a pulsating 72-71 victory in second-round action on Monday night at Bank of America Arena before 3,142 fans.
Gonzaga (29-4) advances to play the Xavier-Vanderbilit winner in the regional semifinals in Sacramento on Saturday. A&M (26-8) had its sights on eventually facing top-seeded Stanford, but instead the Bulldogs made their own California dreamin' reality as they advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.
The Bulldogs made several clutch plays to fend off the Aggies, who had valiantly battled back from an 11-point halftime deficit to twice take 3-point leads, the last with 4 minutes, 6 seconds remaining in the game.
"We had the game in hand and we didn't finish," A&M head coach Gary Blair said. "They finished a lot a stronger than we did."
Gonzaga's winning bucket came from Vivian Frieson, who hit a 12-footer with 18 seconds left. The 6-foot senior forward also popped out on the defensive end to guard Adams, whose shot bounced short off the rim. Several players were fighting for the rebound as the buzzer sounded.
Adams, the Big 12's Newcomer of the Year, stood stoically with a television camera a few feet from her face as Bulldog players celebrated close by. A&M associate head coach Kelly Bond came out and patted Adams on the back, saying "good job" as several A&M players fought back tears.
It was one of the few times Gonzaga was able to stop Adams, who had 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, but she had done all her damage inside. She opted to bounce outside for free space on the play as A&M point guard Sydney Carter drove the lane and passed the ball.
However, Frieson also went with Adams to contest the shot. That capped a 23-point, nine-rebound effort for Frieson, who also canned her only 3-point shot to tie the game at 65-65 with 3 minutes, 49 seconds left.
"We have a lot of different players that on any given night can step up and carry us, that's just been one of our strengths," Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves said.
A&M had just taken its biggest lead of the game when senior wing Tanisha Smith scored, but she missed the free throw for a possible three-point play that would have made it a two-possession game.
A&M was only 8 of 15 on free throws.
"We've been shooting 69 percent all year -- the best we've shot in seven years," Blair said. "But tonight, it just killed us."
Smith, who shot 70 percent for the season, missed her only two tries. And Adams, who shoots 72 percent from the line, was 3 of 7.
"I honestly thought they were going in," Adams said in the postgame press conference, fighting back tears. "I guess I shot them too hard. I was pretty focused on my free throws. I thought I couple of them were good. They just ended up coming out."
It wasn't just the free throws.
A&M committed 18 turnovers, 13 of them in the first half, helping Gonzaga build a 42-31 lead.
The Aggies had a devil of a time dissecting the Bulldogs' zone defense, which is wider than most teams play it. Gonzaga was able to score 16 first-half points off A&M turnovers, including a pair of buckets that allowed the Zags to race to a 9-2 lead.
"We should have been penetrating that zone and dishing the ball inside instead of passing around the perimeter," Blair said. "Once we were able to do that, we were able to score at will. We just had too much trouble getting it in."
A&M had some good shots early, but sophomore forward Adaora Elonu missed her first five shots. The Aggies opened the game 1 of 8 with four turnovers.
A&M fought back in the first half and cut Gonzaga's lead to 30-29 on a layup by Carter, but Gonzaga closed the half with a 12-2 run.
The second half didn't start any better for the Aggies as they missed two close shots, but things changed drastically after Blair was given a technical foul for complaining about no foul being called on a missed shot by Adams.
Gonzaga's Tiffanie Shives hit the free throws to make it 44-31, but the technical seemed to spur the Aggie defense, which forced Gonzaga to miss 15 of its first 20 shots in the second half.
Courtney Vandersloot, who leads the nation in assists per game at 9.5, was held to six and had a season-high 11 turnovers in the face of pressure from Carter and Colson.
A&M went on a 21-6 run to take a 52-50 lead on Smith's 3-pointer with 11:51 left, setting up a fantastic finish. The game had five ties and six lead changes.
The last two minutes were made for television.
"It's a shame one of us had to go home because I think you've got two basketball teams that could go on and be great in the regional," Blair said. "By far this is the hardest second-round game that we've had to play since I've been in the NCAAs."
Gonzaga, holding a 70-67 lead, missed its first chance to extend the lead when Vandersloot missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw with 1:34 left. Then the team's leader fouled out when she accidentally bumped A&M's Sydney Colson near midcourt, allowing Colson to hit a pair of free throws to make it 70-69.
A&M forced Gonzaga to take a bad shot and rebounded, leading to Smith's bucket. The Bulldogs, though, had an answer in Frieson.
It was the second straight season A&M's run came up short of its seeding. The Aggies, as a No. 3 seed, lost to sixth-seeded Arizona State last year in the Sweet 16. A&M would have faced eventual national champ Connecticut, a monumental task. This time, the Aggies wouldn't have had to face UConn until the national finals. A&M had won nine of its last 10 games to earn a No. 2 seed.
Gonzaga has won 20 straight since losing to A&M 80-76 on Dec. 20 in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic. A&M built a 19-point halftime lead in that game, but Gonzaga closed strong.
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