The No. 19 Texas A&M women's basketball team downed No. 25 Colorado in Boulder, Colo., 72-68, for their first Big 12 Conference win. The victory ends a two game conference skid and puts the team at 13-4 on the season. Leading A&M in points was junior Danielle Gant with 24 and junior Takia Starks with 18. Senior A'Quonesia Franklin recorded 14 points and lead the team with four assists.
"We were on life support system," said A&M Head Coach Gary Blair. "Basically, altitude doesn't mean a thing when playing at Colorado. You have to be prepared to come in and play your game. In the first half, we came in tired and you could see it in our face. We had no energy to press. We are struggling on offense right now, so we have to press. Right now, we are not playing like Big 12 Champs, but it's early and we are going to get it together."
A&M scored the victory in comeback fashion on senior Morenike Atunrase's only basket. It put them ahead with 1:30 remaining in the game, and A&M did not relinquish the lead.
The Aggies were dominated statistically, shooting a lower field goal percentage and being outrebounded by six. They forced 18 Colorado turnovers on 10 steals. Buffalo center Jackie McFarland lead Colorado in scoring with 24 points on 8-13 shooting. The Buffaloes shot 50 percent in the second half but did not retain the lead.
"We struggled a bit offensively," Starks said. "We had good shots, but they just didn't fall down. We didn't get it inside as much as we would have liked. It was a total 360 in the second half. The game just came together for us and we got a great win."
The victory puts A&M seventh in the Big 12 standings and avoids the first 0-3 start for the team since 2002-2003. A&M is on the board but has a difficult schedule remaining. Three of A&M's first five Big 12 opponents have 3-0 conference records, and the next opponent, Oklahoma State, is one of them. The Aggies face the Cowgirls Saturday at Reed Arena.
"We are going to have to go up against Andrea Riley and Oklahoma State next," Blair said.
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