WBB Thoughts: No. 1 Baylor 69, No. 11 A&M 62

Quick recap

The last scheduled meeting on the hardwood between Texas A&M and Baylor could not have been much better. The third largest crowd to watch a women's basketball game in Aggieland was loud and into it from the start and, after a slow start, the home team gave the fans exactly what they came to see.

But in the end, the odds-on favorite to win the national championship played like just that and had just enough to defend the defending champs on the road, 69-62.

With the loss, the Aggies fall to 20-8 overall and 11-6 in Big 12 play. The Bears improve to 30-0 and 17-0 in the league.

The Ags shot 46.4 percent from the field … the highest opponent's field goal percentage allowed by Baylor this season. But A&M was just 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) from three-point range and just 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) at the foul line.

Four Aggies scored in double figures, led by Tyra White's 14 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Sydney Carter added 13 points and six rebounds in 40 minutes of action. Adaora Elonu scored all 12 of her points in the first half. Kelsey Bone had 10 points and five assists for the maroon and white.

Baylor connected on 42.3 percent of its shots but made just 22.2 percent (2-of-9) of its three-point attempts. The Bears won the game at the charity stripe, making 23-of-28 attempts (82.1 percent).

Brittney Griner, the nation's best player, and fellow All-American Odyssey Sims combined to score 50 of BU's 69 points in the win. Griner finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Sims added 25 points and two steals. Destiny Williams pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for the visiting Bears.

A&M looked sloppy offensively in the opening minutes, allowing the Bears to jump all over the Ags. They could not get off a decent shot due to Baylor's intensity on the defensive end, forcing turnovers and offensive fouls. When they did get a good look, they rushed it and shot wildly.

Meanwhile, it took Baylor all of about a minute to settle into the flow of the game after a slow start on offense. Sims kick-started the offense with four quick points and Griner then took over the show, scoring eight straight to lead a 12-0 run that put the Bears on top, 14-2.

BU was able to extend its first half lead to 15, 25-10, and Griner's made free throw with 6:13 left in the period gave the Bears a 28-14 advantage. That turned out to be the last point for #42 in the half. She picked up her second foul at the 7:22 mark and sat for the remainder of the half.

With Griner on the bench, A&M woke up and went to work, outscoring the Green and Gold 17-8 over the final 6:13 to pull to within five points at the break, 36-31.

After Sydney Carter's driving layup pulled the Aggies to within 10, 28-18, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey raced toward the middle of the bench and directed Griner to get back in the game. But seconds later, she decided to sit her back down, and she kept Griner on the bench for the remainder of the period. From that point on, A&M outscored BU by five, 13-8.

Credit the A&M seniors for their effort in willing the Maroon and White back into the game. Of the Aggies' 31 first half points, 25 were scored by seniors, including a stretch where they scored 21 straight.

The Ags continued their hot play to open the second half, scoring the first five points after the break to tie the game at 36-36. From there, it became a grind-it-out slugfest with each team throwing their best punch in front of what became a very loud and emotional Reed Arena.

Karla Gilbert did a tremendous job working against Griner after Bone left the game with early in the half with three fouls. Gilbert muscled up against Brittney on the defensive end and managed to score on her on the other end with tough inside moves. Karla scored seven of A&M's first 12 points in the half before fouling out with 12:12 remaining in the game.

Griner went scoreless for a stretch that lasted 10:17 … from the 6:13 mark of the first half until her and-one layup and ensuing free throw with 15:56 remaining in the second put Baylor up by two, 40-38. Griner got hot after that, scoring 10 of 13 for Baylor to give the Bears a modest four point lead, 50-46.

But Griner picked up foul number four with 10:39 on the clock and sat out a total of 4:36 before re-entering the game at the 5:42 mark.

The Aggies were able to take advantage of Griner having to take a seat, scoring at will by driving to the basket. Carter led that charge, scoring eight points and getting to the bucket with consistency after Griner left the game.

Baylor held a slim 58-55 lead when Griner came back into the game and the combination of her and a red hot Sims was too much for Texas A&M to overcome. The Aggies, who led by one on four different occasions in the second half, pulled BU's lead to within one four separate times down the stretch, but the Bears closed the game on an 8-2 run to walk out of Reed with a seven-point win, 69-62.

The Aggies close out the regular season on Sunday when they travel to Austin for a 12 p.m. tipoff against the Longhorns. It's A&M's last scheduled game in the rivalry with Texas.

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Post-game thoughts

* On one hand, it's a loss and there are a lot of things that Texas A&M did not do very well on Monday night. On the other hand, it's a seven-point defeat to the best team in women's college basketball and A&M fought like crazy and put itself in a position to pull off a miracle upset. At the end of the day, you have to give the Aggies credit for pulling together and climbing out of a huge jam early in the contest. They gave up 12 straight points right off the bat and trailed 14-2 before they knew what hit them. To storm back and actually take the lead in the second half is to be commended. But a loss is a loss and A&M has had way more of those than it thought it would have in Big 12 play this season … now sitting at 11-6 with the game in Austin left in the regular season.

* Key items that went A&M's way and allowed the Aggies to keep it close…
    - Adaora Elonu's 12-point first half in which she went 5-of-5 from the field.
    - Brittney Griner getting into foul trouble and sitting out for long stretches in both the first and second half.
    - Karla Gilbert's energy out of the gate in the second half, scoring seven quick points before fouling out with about 12 minutes left to play.
    - A&M's ability to score inside, when Griner was in the game and especially while she was out.
    - Adrienne Pratcher's steady play in 23 minutes off the bench.
    - Sydney Carter's ability to take over the game with Griner on the bench in the middle of the second half, scoring eight of her 13 points in about a five minute stretch.
    - The seniors scoring 21 straight points during a long stretch in the first half, allowing A&M to turn a 15-point game into a five-point contest at the break.
    - The crowd! It was fantastic and gave the team a lot of energy in their quest to pull off a monumental comeback win.
    - Tyra White's toughness and leadership … even seeing time at the point guard spot because of her ability to break down her defender, get in the lane and make something happen for herself or her teammates.
    - Kelsey Bone playing tough in the low post against Griner. Sure, Brittney got hers but Bone made it as tough as possible and certainly did not back down from the challenge.

* Key items that ultimately led to the Aggies falling at the hands of the Bears…
    - Free throws. A&M shot just 47.4 percent at the line. That is disgusting and I'm betting that if A&M loses a close game in the NCAA Tournament, we'll be able to point at free throw shooting as being the big reason for the loss. It's unacceptable for any team to shoot this poorly at the stripe … much less the defending national champions.
    - Griner and Sims. The All-World duo combined for 25 points and showed down the stretch why they are so good. In the final 10 minutes, with the game on the line, they got the job done on both ends. It's the best guard-post combo in the nation, and to be honest, it's one of the best that there has ever been in women's basketball. And they continue to prove why they're so good, game-in and game-out.
    - Alexia Standish. She took just one shot in 17 minutes, scored zero points and turned the ball over three times. The freshman looked overwhelmed against Sims, Madden and that swarming Bears' defense. I really like what #10 brings to the table but some teams are just a bad matchup for her and Baylor is one of those teams at this stage in Lexi's young career. And sooner or later, she needs to decide that she's no longer a freshman and start building some consistency in her game. Because without that, A&M could get ousted from the Big Dance much earlier than anticipated.
    - Foul problems really hurt but both teams were hampered by it. A&M lost Karla Gilbert at the moment that she was playing some of the best basketball of her career. Bone, Standish and Elonu each ended the game with four fouls. Baylor was in the bonus for the entire last have of the second period, leading to the Bears being able to attempt 28 shots at the foul line. The fouls got the best of A&M in this one, but they certainly helped the Aggies at the same time because fouls forced Baylor to have to change what they normal do with Griner on the bench, and it opened up the lane when A&M was on offense. So it hurt but it certainly helped as well.
    - Adaora Elonu in the second half. After scoring 12 first half points, Elonu went timid … as she has consistently done against Baylor in her career. After the break, Elonu attempted - and missed - one shot in the second half. Gary Blair even said after the game that she wasn't playing with toughness and that is why Kelsey Assarian played so much in the second half. The Ags will probably see Baylor again in Kansas City. They need 35-plus solid and consistent minutes out of Elonu if they want to win.
    - The ball that Baylor knocked out of bounds, which hit off of an official and bounced back in play, and was recovered by Baylor … ending in an and-one layup by Sims. That really, really hurt. If the official was in bounds when it happened, then it's the right call because she counts as in bounds. And apparently, the TV people are saying that she was bounds. So it turned out to be a good no call but that play really hurt. A&M would have had the ball trailing by three but that turned it into a five-point Baylor lead with 3:02 left. A back-breaker, without question.

* Lots of good and lots of bad in this one but A&M came up a bit short. And now … perhaps the final game for the foreseeable future in women's basketball between the Aggies and the Longhorns. Tipoff is at 12 p.m. Sunday at the Erwin Center. It's still surreal to me that this great rivalry is coming to an end. I'm so fired up about the move to the SEC but I'm sentimental and I will miss the old matchups with in-state foes. A&M has dominated Texas over the past few years in women's basketball but the 'Horns got over on the Ags earlier this season at Reed Arena. It's time to return the favor and close this thing out the right way on Sunday.

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Texas A&M post-game quotes

Head Coach Gary Blair

On whether the plan was to attack the goal...

"The plan was to attack and show no fear. That’s what you have to do. Too many people live and die with jump shots. That’s not the only team that’s going to be in the NCAA tournament. It was a little bit of the game plan. Look at my four post players going 14-19. We lost the game at the free throw line and on offensive boards."

On taking advantage when Griner went out in the first half...

"We took advantage, our shooters were getting a little bit more. We were running a lot of everything. Hodge podge. We ran a lot of middle screens.  They’re so good at denying the wings and not letting us run our weave offense. We got Tyra a couple of looks there, Carter got a couple of looks. We’ve got to do more than 5-16 and 5-14. Give them credit, they can test shots very well. "

On the ball that went off the official and whether it was a momentum swing...

"We didn’t have any easy baskets. Odyssey makes that play to start the ball game and suckers Tyra White into that steal. She’s the best defensive point in our league and Carter is right with her. You just saw the two best. It was a huge momentum."

"As quick as they are, we couldn’t have guarded Williams and Pope with two bigs in there. We had to have smaller players with quickness and rebounding. They did a good job, both of them. Her fifth foul, when she’s on that left side, you’re going to lean into them. But officiating didn’t beat us, Baylor beat us."

On whether the gap is closing between the two teams...

"Sure. We’ve gotten better since we got embarrassed in Waco. We’ve gotten better as a basketball team. But this is a work in progress, we have to screen better, all those little things. Screen better, hit your free throws and make your transition baskets when you have the opportunity."


C Kelsey Bone

On the play that bounced off of the official...

"It’s one of those things. We see one things, it’ might’ve been something else. But it’s basketball and we just have to keep playing through it. No matter what, as a team we’re going to believe in ourselves."

On dealing with foul trouble...

"The good thing about it was it was both ways. I think you can live with that. There’s some things where as post players, we have to go back to the drawing board and work on our screens. But overall we can’t hang our heads, but we can come back and play next week."

On attacking in the post...

"Brittney is a great player, but we knew we had to attack. We’ve not been the greatest team with outside shots. We knew it’s a part of our game. Our fear of getting our shots blocked affect us. But we were able to knock down shots. It feels good when they call fouls on her. I think the success we got when we attacked early was great because it became our game plan."


G Sydney Carter

On attacking the basket when Griner left the game in the first half...

"We were just attacking the basket. When Griner came out with foul trouble, we knew we could go inside. They didn’t have that big stop sign in there to stop shots. We were just attacking the basket- we just went into attack mode."

On the rough start to the game...

"I think you could say high anticipation. We were so anxious to get out there and so anxious to prove that we can play at the level that they play at. We were rushing some shots and I think the anxiety took us over  I think we needed to calm down and say it’s just a basketball game."

On whether the team has grown...

"Most definitely. You see what we did, obviously everyone can see we’re growing as a team. In Waco, we lost by more than 20, and here we only lost by 7. We were in it the entire time. You keep working and you keep getting better and you see the areas where you have problems. You have to stay out of foul trouble and attack the basket. We just have to keep the foot on the gas and show no mercy on anyone."

On the loss...

"A loss always stings. I’m a sore loser. Any time we lose a game, whether it’s Baylor or anyone. And as a senior in your last home conference game. We’re a ream that’s not going to hang our heads on it. We got 4 shots at them last year, and we kept growing. If we see them again, we’ll see what we did right and we’ll try to make those things better."

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Baylor post-game quotes

Head Coach Kim Mulkey

On bringing out Hayden and Griner in the first half...

"I made the decision to take BG and (Hayden) out and weather the storm. Our basketball team has been through tough games, not necessarily just this year, but as they’ve grown up and they’ve handled it really well."

On what gave A&M the fire to play so closely...

"I think the atmosphere, I think them being the defending national champions, I think it being the last time we’ll play here. I think two teams battling. That’s what you do—you compete."

On A&M stepping up its game when Griner left...

"I think you saw A&M’s intensity and the whole group on that floor- it’s like they took it up another level when Griner comes off the floor. When she comes off the floor it was like “oh boy, we can start doing things we normally do."

On A&M attacking the basket...

"They attacked us in the paint, ducked their heads and  tried to draw fouls and finish, and they were successful. I don’t know how many perimeter shots they made, but everything was in the paint area. They had a game plan of going in there, and they were very successful at doing it."

On taking Griner out of the game...

"I was taught by some of the greats of the game to get them out of there. We need to be in situations like that. I need to be in tough decisions. We already wrapped up the Big 12 Championships, this game, you want to win it, but it’s a game to maybe see what you can do. Even if it backfired and we had not won the basketball game."


G Odyssey Sims

"Somewhat. Because I’m on the ball so I can’t pressure and much. But I have to stay focused and keep them in front. So I had to try my best not to foul."


C Brittney Griner

On being on the bench for the last 6 minutes of the first half...

"I’m just like coach, I have all the confidence in my team. As a competitor, it sucks sitting on the bench because you want to be out there. I just kept cheering on my team."

"It’s always good to get a win. It doesn’t matter who it is. The only thing we’re worried about is the NCAAs."

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Post-game notes

* For the 15th time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Alexia Standish, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Kelsey Bone … The Aggies are 10-5 with this starting lineup.

* The Aggies move to 36-49 in the all-time series with Baylor and are 18-17 when playing the Lady Bears in Aggieland.

* The Aggies are 6-4 on national TV this season.

* Nine of the last 10 contests against Baylor have been close, being decided by nine points or less.

* The Aggies shot 46.4 percent Monday, the best any team has shot against Baylor this season. In addition, A&M shot 52 percent from the floor in the first half.

* A&M outscored Baylor in the paint, 40-30, to mark the largest margin BU has been outscored in the paint this season. It was only the second time Baylor had been outscored in the paint this year.

* White has now started in 86 straight games, a streak that started on Jan. 4, 2010 against Lamar.

* White scored in double figures for the 24th time this season, Bone for the 20th time, Elonu for the 18th and Carter for the 16th.

* This is the only game A&M has lost this season when four or more players scored in double figures.

* The crowd of 10,265 was A&M’s largest this season and the third-best single game attendance in program history.