Jan. 4, 2009
Florida State Game Notes in PDF Format 
#3/3 TEXAS A&M (12-0) vs. FLORIDA STATE (11-4)
Game #13
January 5, 2009 • 6:00 p.m. (CT)
Donald T. Tucker Civic Center (12,100)
at Tallahassee, Fla.
Television: None
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network (KZNE 1150 AM)
Series History: Texas A&M Leads 1-0
Internet: Live Audio and Statistics available on www.AggieAthletics.com
GAME PREVIEW
The third-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (12-0) will look to close out non-conference play on a high note, but will be challenged by the likes of its third-straight 2008 NCAA Tournament participant in Florida State (11-4) on Monday, Jan. 5 in Tallahassee, Fla. Tipoff between the Aggies and Seminoles is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT) at the Donald T. Tucker Civic Center in A&M's first trip back to the Sunshine State since playing South Florida and Bucknell in the Miami Jam tournament to open up the 2004-05 season. Monday's matchup will mark the second-ever meeting between the two schools and their last test prior to opening up league play where the Big 12 Conference boasts six of the top 25 teams in the country including four in the top 10 and the ACC with five teams ranked in the top 25. The Aggies are making a quick turnaround after a recent 78-59 win over George Washington on Saturday night. They have found much success on the road this season in unchartered territory with a 4-0 mark at Michigan, Arizona, Pepperdine and Stephen F. Austin combined. A&M is off to its best start in school history and is one of a handful of unbeatens left in the country.
A LOOK AT THE SEMINOLES
Florida State has won six of its last eight games with two setbacks versus Washington (62-60) on Nov. 19 and No. 1 Connecticut (83-71) on Nov. 21 in the Caribbean Classic in Cancun, Mexico. The Seminoles were previously ranked in the top 25 in November and as high as No. 21 in the nation, prior to dropping out of the polls with a 72-57 loss to then-unranked Florida on Nov. 23. FSU is currently on a two-game win streak including a 61-57 road victory at LSU on Dec. 28 and a recent 82-70 win over Central Florida to improved its home record to 6-1 on the season. They were picked to finish fifth in the preseason ACC poll after turning in a 19-14 overall campaign a year ago. The Seminoles reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight year in 2007-08, but lost to Oklahoma State (73-72) in the second round.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#51 Sydney Colson, G, 5-8, So. (4.8 ppg, 4.2 apg)
#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Sr. (15.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
#22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Jr. (8.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
#55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Sr. (13.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg)
#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Sr. (3.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
FLORIDA STATE
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#10 Mara Freshour, G, 6-1, Sr. (8.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
#20 Tanae Davis-Cain, G, 5-11, Sr. (11.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg)
#1 Angel Gray, G, 5-9, Jr. (5.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg)
#50 Jacinta Monroe, F, 6-4, Jr. (14.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg)
#54 Cierra Bravard, C, 6-4, Fr. (10.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
AGAINST THE ACC
Texas A&M leads 1-0 in the all-time series with Florida State. The Aggies are 2-3 all-time against opponents hailing from the Atlantic Coast Conference including Wake Forest (0-1), Duke (1-0) and Miami (0-2). This season alone, Big 12 schools have compiled a 1-3 record versus ACC schools.
FLORIDA STATE FLASHBACK
A combined 53-point outburst by Takia Starks and Danielle Gant contributed to No. 11 Texas A&M's 81-67 win over 2007 NCAA Sweet 16 participant Florida State on Dec. 6, 2007 at Reed Arena. Starks scored 17 of her game-high 28 points in the first seven and a half minutes of play as A&M (7-1) jumped out to an early 17-6 run with 15:04 to go in the first period. Meanwhile, Gant followed suit with 19 of her career-high 26 points produced in the first half. She returned to the A&M lineup after sitting out the TCU game with concussion symptoms she suffered from a knee to the head against Michigan on Nov. 29. Starks and Gant accounted for 36 of the team's season-best 50 first-half points as A&M took a 12-point lead into halftime, 50-38. FSU (6-3) started the second half on a 14-8 run to cut the lead down to six as Mara Freshour hit a jumper with 14:59 remaining in regulation, 58-52. It was the closest the Seminoles would get as A&M amplified its defensive pressure which resulted in 24 FSU turnovers in the ballgame. Three players scored in double figures for FSU including a team-high 18 from Shante Williams and 14 from Britany Miller. For the game, A&M shot 47.1 percent (33-of-70) from the floor including a season-high tying six threes. A'Quonesia Franklin also contributed 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range in A&M's fourth-straight victory.
TEXAS HOLD `EM
The Aggie defense has held all 12 of their opponents this season to under 60 points a game including an opponent season-low 36-point production by Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2. It is no coincidence that A&M's pressure is one of the best in the nation and in the Big 12 when looking at the stat sheet for scoring defense (50.1), field-goal percentage defense (31.8) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.194).
BETTER BY THE DOZEN
The Aggies' current 12-game win streak is tied for the longest unbeaten run in school history next to a 12-game win streak they put together en route to their historic run to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2007-08. Overall, A&M has won 28 of its last 30 games dating back to a 58-51 win at Kansas on Jan. 26, 2008. It is arguably the best 30-game stretch to date.
TOUGH LINEUP AHEAD
Up ahead, A&M will travel to Missouri (8-4) for its Big 12 opener on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 5 p.m. (CT) in Columbia, Mo. The Aggies will then return home to host Big 12 South rival Texas Tech (9-4) on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. (CT) at Reed Arena. A&M will go up against three of the nation's top 10 in its first six games of league play including No. 5 Oklahoma on Jan. 18 in Norman, Okla., No. 7 Baylor on Jan. 21 and No. 4 Texas on Jan. 28 in Austin, Texas.
AGGIE SIDEBARS
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 1-0 lifetime versus Florida State and will make his first trip to Florida's state capital to play the Seminoles in 24 seasons of coaching on the Division I level.
• Last season following the Aggies' win over the Seminoles in College Station, Florida State head coach Sue Semrau welcomed Coach Blair on the team's charter flight home in order for him to attend a funeral in New York for Joe Smith, a close friend and a pioneer women's basketball journalist who passed away on Dec. 4, 2007. Smith's reports on the top players led to the formation of the Women's Basketball News Service, a scouting service that branched into awards and all-star teams that were widely recognized by the national media.
• A&M is 3-3 all-time against Division I schools hailing from the state of Florida including Florida State (1-0), Florida (1-0), Central Florida (1-0), Miami (0-2) and South Florida (0-1). Monday's contest at FSU will mark only the fourth time the Aggies will have played on Florida soil in the 35-year history of the program. They are 1-1 all-time when playing on the road in the Sunshine State defeating UCF (90-54) in its home-hosted SunBank Holiday Classic tournament in Orlando in 1994-95 and falling to Miami (84-58) in Coral Gables in 2002-03. However, it will be A&M's first trip t It will mark the Aggies' first trip back to the Sunshine State since playing South Florida and Bucknell in the Miami Jam tournament to open up the 2004-05 season.
• Texas A&M freshman forward Kelsey Assarian (Naples, Fla.) returns to her adopted home state of Florida. Rated the No. 54 overall prospect and the eighth-best power forward in the Class of 2008 by the All-Star Girls Basketball Report, Assarian is a former first-team all-state selection and Florida 5A Player of the Year runner-up leading Barron Collier High School to two state Class 5A state championship titles in 2006 and 2008. Assarian, originally from Grapevine, Texas, just outside of Dallas, moved to Florida in the eighth grade.
GEORGE WASHINGTON RECAP
Texas A&M 78, George Washington 59
• For the second time this year and second consecutive game, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Sydney Colson, Takia Starks, Tanisha Smith, Danielle Gant and La Toya Micheaux (2-0).
• With the win, A&M picked up its first win against George Washington in three tries (1-2) and Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair his first in five tries (1-4). The Aggies also claimed their 50th win at home compiling an unprecedented 50-4 (.926) record over the last four years at Reed Arena since the 2005-06 season.
• Takia Starks turned in her 21st 20-point game of her career with a game-high 22 points against George Washington to extend her double-digit scoring streak to five games. She has now registered 20-point games in back-to-back-to-back games for the third time of her career.
• With her season-high four three-pointers versus the Colonials, Starks surpassed former A&M players A'Quonesia Franklin (157) and Amy Yates (154) in career three-point field goals made (158) to rank second all-time behind former All-American Lisa Branch (165).
• Danielle Gant recorded her 14th career double-double and second of the season with 17 points and a game-high tying 10 rebounds.
• Tanisha Smith made her fourth career start and scored a career-best 16 points with 10 coming in the first half of play.
• Sydney Colson left the game in the second half with a partially dislocated right ring finger.
• The A&M defense held George Washington to its second-fewest first-half points of the season with 23. The Colonials scored just 22 points at No. 14 Rutgers on Dec. 29 and at Kentucky on Nov. 23.
• The Aggies have held all 12 of their opponents this season to under 60 points and rank among the nation's and league's best in scoring defense. It was the fourth lowest point production for GW (59 points) this season.
• A&M shot a season-best 50 percent (7-of-14) from three-point range including four from Starks, two from Smith and one from freshman reserve point guard Sydney Carter (DeSoto, Texas).
• GW tied an opponent season-high with 29 turnovers in the game next to Mercer on Nov. 14 and Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2.
• A&M had a season-high crowd of 6,892 in attendance at Reed Arena which marked the sixth-largest crowd at Reed Arena in school history. It was the largest crowd for a non-conference regular-season home game ahead of doubleheaders with the A&M men's basketball team versus Pepperdine (6,443) on Nov. 10, 2006 and Western Illinois (6,389) on Jan. 2, 2007. The Aggies have now drawn 5,000+ fans in back-to-back-back games with its previous season-high of 5,543 versus No. 25 New Mexico on Dec. 30.
AGGIE NOTABLE QUOTABLES
"I asked our team how hungry they were to get to 13-0. They (Florida State) are good and have played just as good of a schedule as us. We are going to have our hands full. I want to keep on winning. I don't think you learn a thing by losing. Look how we played the last five games at home. Each game, we are getting better on certain things. The crowd is increasing and that is important to us." - Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair on being unbeaten
"Florida State is another good, quality ACC opponent. They have had some quality wins this season and a couple of top 25 losses. They are a much better team than receiving votes in the polls." - Coach Blair on Florida State
"This trip is going to help us for conference with the quick turnaround. We get bored practicing sometimes. You wouldn't believe how much we prepared for these last two teams (New Mexico and George Washington). We knew everything about them. I am so proud of our conference. We have some great top 25 wins (around the league) and I am ready to play." - Coach Blair on the quick turnaround at Florida State on Monday night
"I think our team is realizing the expectations all of our fans have for us and the expectations we have for ourselves. We are enjoying the ride, but we do not want it to be just a ride. We want it to be a destination, where we want to go to. I want to continue to build and that is why we are playing this kind of a schedule." - Coach Blair on this year's challenging non-conference schedule
"It is really good to get these type of non-conference games in to help us prepare for conference play. The Big 12 is the best it has ever been in a long time. It is going to be a battle every night. We are excited to start the league. We've had a very challenging non-conference schedule to prepare us." - Senior All-America candidate Takia Starks on A&M's tough scheduling
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women's basketball games can be heard via a radio broadcast on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Veteran women's basketball play-by-play announcer Tom Turbiville returns to the mike and will call the action live from the Donald T. Tucker Civic Center alongside color analyst and former player Katy Pounds on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.
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