Nov. 17, 2009
Rice Game Notes in PDF Format 
#15/8 TEXAS A&M (1-0) vs. RICE (0-1)
Game #2
November 18, 2009 • 7:00 p.m. (CT)
Reed Arena (12,292)
at College Station, Texas
Television: None
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network (KZNE 1150 AM)
Series History: Texas A&M Leads 27-10
Internet: Free Live Statistics and Live Video at www.AggieAthletics.com
GAME PREVIEW
The eighth-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (1-0) welcomes old Southwest Conference rival Rice (0-1) for a non-conference matchup on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Reed Arena. The Aggies look to carry over the same momentum and intensity from their 95-77 season-opening victory over then-No. 6 Duke on Sunday that skyrocketed them into the top 10 this week. A&M, just three days removed from one of its biggest non-conference home court victories in school history, is set to tipoff against the Owls at 7 p.m. (CT). It's been three years since both teams last faced each other and the Aggies hope to extend their home-court win streak to eight games. A&M will meet the Owls for only the fourth time in the last decade and first since the 2006-07 season when this year's senior class were freshmen. The Aggies will close out play in the month of November with their homestand versus Rice followed by a tough SEC road test at Auburn on Sunday, Nov. 22 in Auburn, Ala.
GAME PROMOTIONS AND TICKET INFORMATION
The Aggies will celebrate Texas A&M Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night with faculty and staff (and their families) receiving a $2 discount off any ticket to the game. All faculty and staff members in attendance will also be eligible to receive a $10 gift card to MacResource and be entered into a drawing for their choice of a FREE Video iPod Nano or MacBook computer. At the game, faculty and staff should stop by the table located near Section 113 and show their faculty/staff ID to claim their FREE $10 Gift Card and register for the Grand Prize Drawing. Tickets can be purchased online at: www.12thManFoundation.com/tickets, in person at the 12th Man Foundation Ticket Office and Reed Arena Box Office or by calling 1-888-99-AGGIE.
A LOOK AT RICE
Rice looks to rebound from a 7-23 overall campaign in 2008-09 with the return of four of its top five scorers including sophomore guard D'Frantz Smart who was the team's second-leading scorer averaging 10.6 points a game a year ago. The Owls had five players score in double figures in an 81-64 season-opening loss at UT Arlington on Nov. 13 including a team-high 14 points by Jackie Stanley, a sophomore transfer from Big 12 Conference foe Kansas State. Rice will play its first three games of the season on the road including a No. 21 date at Stephen F. Austin.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#51 Sydney Colson, G, 5-8, Jr. (6.5 ppg, 3.0 apg)
#20 Tyra White, G, 6-0, RS-So. (5.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg)
#22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Sr. (10.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
#21 Adaora Elonu, F, 6-1, So. (4.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
#2 Damitria Buchanan, F, 6-2, Sr. (1.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg)
RICE
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#1 D'Frantz Smart, G, 5-0, So. (10.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg)
#5 Jessica Goswitz, G, 5-5, Fr. (None)
#41 Lacey Neu, F, 6-1, Fr. (None)
#44 Morgan Mayse, F, 6-1, Jr. (8.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
#24 Jackie Stanley, F, 6-2, So. (None)
INSIDE THE SERIES
Texas A&M holds a 27-10 advantage in the all-time series with Rice. However, the Aggies have lost three out of the last four contests versus the Owls including two of the last three on the road in Houston. A&M last beat Rice in a one-point home victory (65-64) on Jan. 2, 2006 at Reed Arena. The Aggies are 14-3 all-time when playing the Owls at home in College Station.
LAST FOUR MEETINGS
L, 66-79 at Rice (12/1/06)
W, 65-64 vs. Rice (1/2/06)
L, 57-60 at Rice (1/3/00)
L, 49-58 vs. Rice (12/20/98)
SERIES REWIND
A'Quonesia Franklin scored a season-high tying 16 points as No. 10 Texas A&M suffered a 79-66 loss at Rice on Dec. 1, 2006. The Owls handed the Aggies their first loss of the season, the same week in which they earned their previous highest ranking in school history. In the early going, the Aggies jumped out to a 10-4 lead, but Rice would counter with a 6-0 run on its next two possessions. Samantha Stovall was fouled on a layup at the 15:12 minute mark which set up the three-point play and a tied ballgame at 10-10. The Owls never trailed thereafter. Lauren Neaves recorded a career-best 20 points and 20 rebounds and Valeriy Berezhynska scored 21 points for the Owls, who shot a season-best 58.5 percent from the field en route to their first victory over a top 10 team since they beat No. 6 Louisiana Tech in February 2002. Patrice Reado added 12 points for Texas A&M, which shot a season-low 36 percent from the field. The Owls held the Aggies scoreless for nearly four minutes to start the second half and took their largest lead of the game, 50-33, on a basket by Emery Carter. A turnaround jump shot in the key by Berezhynska gave Rice a 63-49 lead with 9:01 to go, and the Owls slowly pulled away for there. Rice outrebounded the Aggies, 44-26, and scored 48 of its points in the paint behind the strong post presence of Neaves and Berezhynska. Danielle Gant contributed 14 points for the Aggies, while Morenike Atunrase had 10.
TEAM BRAND OF BASKETBALL
Texas A&M shared the basketball well against the Blue Devils. Behind 10 assists from junior point guard and team co-captain Sydney Colson (Houston, Texas), the Aggies distributed the ball 25 times during the ballgame. It was two assists more than its season-high of 23 against Texas State during the 2008-09 season.
ADAMS DIALS FROM LONG DISTANCE
Preseason Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year Danielle Adams (Kansas City, Mo.) scored a team-high 24 points in only 22 minutes of action in her Aggie debut to lead No. 16 Texas A&M to a dominating 95-77 season-opening victory over No. 6 and perennial power Duke on Nov. 15. Adams, last year's National JUCO Player of the Year and junior transfer for the Aggies, also stunned the Blue Devils with her outside shooting knocking down 3-of-4 three-pointers to mark the best single-game overall scoring performance by an Aggie in a season opener in the Gary Blair Era. She shot 61.5 percent from the floor (8-of-13), 75.0 percent from beyond the arc and 71.4 percent from the free throw line (5-of-7). Adams also added five rebounds and one blocked shot versus Duke. In exhibition play against NAIA Division I power Oklahoma City University on Nov. 12, Adams poured in a double-double with a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
FROM THE SIDELINES
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair begins his 25th overall season as a Division I head coach. He is the winningest coach in school history with a .663 percentage (130-66) and needs 25 more wins to surpass former head coach Lynn Hickey (154) in career victories.
• Coach Blair is 4-2 lifetime versus Rice including a 1-1 mark during his time in Aggieland.
• Texas A&M associate head coach Vic Schaefer and Rice head coach Greg Williams are both coaching on the sidelines of their alma maters. Schaefer is a Class of '84 graduate of Texas A&M, while Williams is a Class of '70 graduate of Rice.
• Only two Aggies on the current 16-player roster, seniors Damitria Buchanan and Katrina Limbaha (Riga, Latvia), were members of the team in the program's last outing versus Rice.
DUKE RECAP
Texas A&M 95, Duke 77
• Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Sydney Colson, Tyra White, Tanisha Smith, Adaora Elonu and Damitria Buchanan. It marked only the second career start for White, eighth for Buchanan, 15th for Elonu, 22nd for Smith and 35th for Colson.
• The Aggies saw their largest-ever home crowd for a season opener with 6,866 fans in attendance at Reed Arena. It was also the largest-ever non-conference home crowd in school history.
• A&M's 95 points in the ballgame was the third-most points scored in a season-opening game in 36 years of Aggie Basketball. It was also the most points ever scored against a ranked opponent.
• With the victory, the Aggies remain an undefeated 3-0 in the all-time series with Duke. The Blue Devils were ranked on all three occasions: No. 16 in 1995-96, No. 9 in 2007-08 in the NCAA Sweet 16 and No. 6 in 2009-10.
• It was A&M's first-ever win against a top 10-ranked non-conference opponent on their home court (G. Rollie White Coliseum and Reed Arena combined).
• Damitria Buchanan tied the school single-game record for blocked shots (7) with former A&M great Morenike Atunrase who also had seven stops against Oklahoma State on Jan. 12, 2005. It was a career-high for Buchanan who moved into the top 10 for career blocked shots in the A&M record books. She surpassed former player Martha McClelland (1992-96) for 10th all-time with 62 career blocks to date.
• Sydney Colson turned in a career-high 19 points and dished out 10 assists which marked only her second double-digit assist game next to a career-best 11 versus Texas State on Dec. 13, 2008.
• Danielle Adams scored a team-high 24 points going 3-of-4 from the downtown to mark the best single-game scoring performance by an Aggie in a season opener in the Gary Blair Era.
• Sydney Carter was one of five double figure scorers and ended the game with 10 points. It marked only the fifth time of her career to reach double digits.
• The A&M defense held the Blue Devils to just 37.5 percent shooting from the floor (12-of-32) and to 77 points for the ballgame. Duke had reached the 100-point plateau in their first two outings of the season versus Alaska Anchorage (100) in exhibition play on Nov. 8 and season opener at Houston Baptist (104) on Nov. 13.
BLAIR NOTABLE QUOTABLES
"The last time we went down to Houston, we got beat by Rice. We have lost two out of the last three games in the series at Rice. We want to make sure it doesn't happen again. We are home. Hopefully, we can build off that great crowd on Sunday. People will come out and see a very improving basketball team. We are going to improve as the season goes on. The more you watch us, the more you will like us." - Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair on carrying the momentum from the win over No. 6 Duke into the Rice game
"Rice probably had its first down year in their program last year. (Rice head coach) Greg Williams is a great friend of mine. He's a very, very good basketball coach. They had a lot of injuries last year. They have a redshirt in Jackie Stanley back, a young lady we recruited. She started her career at Kansas State, transferred to Rice and is coming off an ACL injury. They have good point-guard play and we are going to have our hands full." - Coach Blair on Rice
"Early in November, you worry about Texas A&M. That's who you worry about first. You get yourself better and when you look at the other jersey you are playing, you look at the number and not the name. You still do your preparation in order to be ready to play." - Coach Blair on early non-conference play
IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
A&M broke into The Associated Press Top 25 Poll with a No. 15 national ranking on Monday. It marked one of the biggest leaps by any Division I women's basketball program over the past decade in the AP Poll. The Aggies, who received votes in the preseason AP Poll released on Oct. 30, defeated then-No. 6 Duke, 95-77, in their season opener on Sunday at Reed Arena. Historically, Duke previously moved up 11 spots in January of 1998 and Rutgers had a two-week stretch when it went from No. 24 to No. 14 to No. 4 in recent years. A&M also climbed eight spots to No. 8 in the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches Top 25 Poll on Tuesday. It marked the fourth consecutive season in which the Aggies have been ranked among the top 10 teams in the country. Last year, the Aggies were ranked a program-best No. 3 in both national polls, preceded by a No. 8 ranking in 2007-08 and a No. 10 ranking in 2006-07.
2009-10 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 POLL
1. Connecticut (40)
2. Stanford
3. Ohio State
4. North Carolina
5. Notre Dame
6. Tennessee
7. LSU
8. Baylor
9. Xavier
10. Texas
11. Duke
12. Virginia
13. Florida State
14. Arizona State
15. Texas A&M
16. Georgia
17T. California
17T. DePaul
19. Kansas
20. Oklahoma
21. Michigan State
22. Vanderbilt
23. Louisville
24. Middle Tennessee State
25. Mississippi State
2009-10 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES TOP 25 POLL
1. Connecticut (31)
2. Stanford
3. Ohio State
4. North Carolina
5. Tennessee
6. Notre Dame
7. Arizona State
8. Texas A&M
9. Baylor
10. Florida State
11. California
12. Duke
13. Texas
14. Xavier
15. LSU
16. Oklahoma
17. Virginia
18. Vanderbilt
19. Louisville
20. Maryland
21. Michigan State
22. Georgia
23. Purdue
24. Iowa State
25. Pittsburgh
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. Play-by-play announcer Mike Wright will call the action live from Reed Arena alongside color analyst Tap Bentz on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.
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