The road to San Antonio just got a lot bumpier for the Texas A&M women's basketball team.

The Aggies, who just a week ago had visions of making the program's first Final Four appearance in the nearby Alamo City, have work to do just to get a first-round bye for the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City in two months.

A&M ended a tough week by blowing a 14-point lead Sunday in a 67-63 loss to the 15th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowgirls at Reed Arena

The eighth-ranked Aggies (15-4, 3-3 Big 12), who lost at Baylor on Wednesday, have slipped into a fifth-place tie in the Big 12 with Texas and Kansas State. A&M also had its 14-game home winning streak end.

"We've built this team up too much," A&M coach Gary Blair said. "Our fans tell us we're going to the Final Four and all that type of stuff. We might not get to the final four of the Big 12 right now. We've got to become a smarter and better basketball team. We've read too much of our press."

They won't like reading accounts of Sunday's comeback by the Cowgirls (18-3, 6-1) that was fueled by All-American Andrea Riley.

The star guard, who spent that last 8 minutes of the first half on the bench with three fouls, scored 27 of her game-high 31 points in the second half. Yet it was a couple of offensive rebounds by the 5-foot-5 Riley that got the Cowgirls close. Then her only steal gave OSU its first lead.

Riley cut A&M's lead to 55-53 with a 3-pointer with 6:02 left, but the Aggies pushed it back to a six-point advantage with four free throws off offensive rebounds.

Riley did one better, scoring off back-to-back offensive rebounds, completing a three-point play on the second one to make it 59-58. A&M pushed the lead to 61-58 on Sydney Carter's layup, also coming off an offensive rebound. Riley calmly tied it with a 3-pointer with 1:29 left.

She then stole the ball from Danielle Adams, who was about to drive the lane. The fleet-footed Riley missed the contested layup, but a trailing Precious Robinson scored with 1:03 left for the lead.

"The only difference is that I have Andrea Riley," OSU coach Kurt Budke said. "She's one of the most special players in America. She's such an emotional player and plays with so much passion."

A&M didn't handle trailing well. The Aggies had two chances to tie or regain the lead but Adams and Tyra White missed 3-pointers, capping a frustrating turn of events.

A&M bolted to an 11-2 lead, setting the tone early with a four-guard offense that kept Riley in check while OSU had no answer for the 6-foot-1 Adams.

Riley had more fouls than points in the first 11 1/2 minutes as she was 2-of-10 shooting in the first half with five turnovers and no assists.

Adams looked like the All-American to the crowd of 4,516 and national television audience by scoring inside and outside. She was 7 of 10 from the field, hitting her only two 3-pointers for 16 first-half points.

But she didn't have any help as the rest of the team was 5-of-23 shooting with 11 turnovers.

It was most noticeable when Riley left after being called for her third foul with 8:23 left. A&M padded its lead by only two points with Riley on the bench.

"I thought that was the ballgame," Blair said. "Even when she was in the ballgame, even with two fouls when we had an 8- to 10-point lead and we were not stretching it then."

That's why Budke was high-fiving reserves Carolyn Blair-Mobley and Ally Clardy as they headed to the locker room. The two combined for 15 minutes.

"I'm really proud of my team that they stepped up in the first half," Riley said.

Riley and Tegan Cunningham took over in the second half, never leaving the court. Cunningham was 3 of 5 on 3-pointers and added seven rebounds with no turnovers.

"Their role players played their roles and their stars starred, and that's how you win ballgames when you're playing Top 25 [teams]," Blair said.

Cunningham and Riley combined for 49 points but had lousy stats -- Cunningham was 6-of-22 shooting and Riley 11 of 33 with nine turnovers. The bottom line was they made the game-changing plays, especially Riley, Blair said.

"I told our kids there's a big difference between All-Americans and [All]-Big 12 players," Blair said. "And I think you saw one in Riley today. If our kids want to go to that next level, it's time to quit talking about it and get into the gym and get better at what they do."

Blair was especially distraught at OSU's hustle plays that led to 24 offensive rebounds -- the most by an A&M opponent this season.

"I mean we're not playing Connecticut or Tennessee," Blair said. "We're playing a team the same size as us that just played with a little more heart than we did who also played with a little bit of better understanding of the game."

Oklahoma State reserve Megan Byford had 11 rebounds as OSU had a 52-38 rebounding edge, the most by an A&M opponent this season.

"They were definitely outhustling us [in the second half]," Carter said. "We have been doing a great job in practice of rebounding and blocking out. We just didn't have a good team effort today."

Adams finished with 24 points and was the only Aggie starter to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor. Carter added 12 points, three blocks and three steals with no turnovers. White had 10 rebounds and 10 points, but was only 4 of 13 from the field.

Things could get worse for the Aggies, who Saturday will be at unbeaten Nebraska. A&M also has road trips to Texas Tech and OSU while Top 25 foes Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma will come to Reed Arena.

Blair, though, is only worried about the players wearing maroon.

"We need to quit reading [our press clippings] and get into the gym and just become a better basketball team again."

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NOTES -- A&M senior guard Tanisha Smith was 3-of-12 shooting. She is 18 of 59 since going 11 of 15 at Texas. ... A&M, which was sixth in the country in 3-point percentage at 39.9, hit only 5 of 20 on Sunday. ... OSU's 20 points in the first half was its lowest scoring half of the season.

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