WBB Thoughts, Notes, Quotes, Audio: A&M 63, OSU 49

Quick thoughts about the game

- Adaora Elonu may be the most consistent player for Gary Blair and his staff. Tonight she recorded another double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

- Adaora wasn't the only double-double performer of the night. Tyra White finished the game with 11 points and a game high 13 rebounds.

- The Lady Ags won in almost every statistical category tonight, including, points in the paint, points off turnovers, second chance points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.

- Sydney Carter was solid as a rock as usual, dishing out six assists and no turnovers, while also leading the defense with three take aways and a near double digit rebounding night (9).

- The OSU zone proved to be effective in the first half, with A&M settling for outside shots, but during intermission, the Aggies talked it over and came out determined to score inside the arc.

- It was a game of ups and downs. A&M had the chance to put the Cowgirls away a number of times in the first and second half, but failed to do so until the last two and half minutes of the game. A&M didn't play great, but they came away with the win.

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Texas A&M post-game quotes

Head Coach Gary Blair

Opening statement...

"Normally we’ve been a pretty good shooting team for the last couple of years. Tonight, we had great shots, and when you look at what happened at my 1, 2, and 3 position -- it wasn’t a lot of fun. We just have to do a little bit better of being able to produce against a 2-3 zone."
 

On Tyra White’s play...

"Tyra White played extremely hard. She went to the offensive boards, didn’t finish a lot of things, but she did a lot of things. She had 13 rebounds and was really playing hard."
 

On A&M’s defensive play...

"I thought our defense played well for probably about 32 minutes of the ball game. We made some mistakes, particularly at post defense. But other than that I thought we did a good job defensively."
 

On missing close shots...

"A lot of times, we shoot and we short arm some things. And a couple times we would slide in but not pint he ball. Sometimes you have to use the defense as a cushion and bounce off of them. We just have to finish things better."
 

On turnovers and doing thing better than in Stillwater...

"I thought we played a little bit smarter. I thought our zone offense—the shots we had were a lot better than in Stillwater. Oklahoma State didn’t play as well as they did up there as well."
 

On the nature of the win...

"Was it an ugly win? Not really. We did a lot of things well. The stats do not look good, but I thought we competed, we ran the ball when we had the opportunity, it was pretty good. Overall, I’m going to look at it as a “W,” get back to shooting the ball."
 

On how tough it is to play in Norman...

"They do not lie about their attendance. Whoever is there is there, they support them, they play well. Whitney Hand is having a first team All-Big 12 year. She’s really filling her role for them.  We’ll have our hands full. Hopefully we’ll be able to knock down a few more shots."
 
Senior Forward Adaora Elonu

On the difference in scoring from this game and the last time A&M played Oklahoma State...

"We definitely focused on pounding it inside-- working inside out. The game that we played before, we were too timid. We wouldn’t get inside. We let them push us around. We worked on it in practice, getting inside, and I think we did a pretty good job of executing in the second half at least."
 

On what has made Kelsey Bone a more effective player in the last few months...

"Her being aggressive and listening to the coaches. Getting two feet into the paint and not fading away from her shot. She’s a great player and I think she’s accepting that and taken to being that dominant force inside."
 

On winning on Breast Cancer Awareness night...

"Not necessarily the breast cancer, but cancer in general. I’ve had a few family members, and it’s definitely impacted the team. It’s very special to play and win on this night."

Senior Guard Tyra White

On the defense in both halves...

"I think the start of the first half we did well, but we kind of let up. They got easy layups and transition buckets. Before halftime, we knew we had to pick it up and then in the second half we got those easy buckets."
 

On the mentality going into the second half...

"We knew as a team that we had to come out and just play. Kelsey said in the huddle before the second half that this is our game and no matter what happened in the first half, we have to put that behind us and play the whole 20 minutes of the game."

Oklahoma State post-game quotes

Head Coach Jim Littell

Opening statement...

"A&M’s pressure gave us a great deal of problems today getting into our offense. They’re long, they’re athletic, they play extremely hard and they’re really well coached. We had a difficulty getting into anything today. I’m proud of our kids that we came back on two or three occasions, but you can’t fall behind 15-2 and have a chance to catch back up."
 

On having poor starts for first and second half...

"We have tried to emphasize to our team all year long that the game is broken up in increments. It’s the first 5 minutes of the game, the first 5 minutes of the second half and the last 5 minutes of the game. The first two of those we played very poorly. You take those parts away and we’re in a lot better shape. But we’ve done that quite a few times this year."
 

On Oklahoma State’s defense and Kelsey Bone getting easy baskets...

"Kelsey Bone has improved a lot since the first time we played her. She’s very physical-- she did a good job of burying down low. We preached not to give her drop step layups and we gave quite a few drop step layups."

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Texas A&M post-game notes

- Texas A&M’s starting lineup: Alexia Standish, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu, Kelsey Bone.

- A&M grabbed 50 rebounds on the night … it marked the third time this season and first time in Big 12 play this year that the Aggies reached the 50-board mark.

- The Aggies held their third Big 12 opponent this year under 50 points (Iowa State, 33; Kansas State, 36; OSU, 49).

- Adaora Elonu’s double-double (19 points, 11 rebounds) was her fourth of the season and seventh of her career.

- Tyra White posted her third career double-double (11 points, 13 rebounds) … the 13 rebounds matched a career high.

- Sydney Carter dished out 6 assists, one shy of her season high.

- Saturday’s attendance of 7,430 was the second-largest crowd of the season.