Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTAMUsports01INSIDE • Aggie Roundup, C4 • Local Roundup, C4 • Scoreboard, C4 • Consol girls soccer, CS • Texas A &M baseball, C5 Game Day NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP C1 Wednesday, April 6, 2011 The Eagle m Adams' family reigns Locals cheer Aggies to title By KRISTIE RIEKEN Associated Press Texas A &M fans huddled around televisions to watch the Aggies play in their first national championship game on Tuesday night. And when they won, it seemed as if the crowds packed into bars and restau- rants near the campus were trying to Inside cheer loud enough for the A &M -ND signal team to hear change in them almost women's 1,000 miles basketball /C3 away in A &M -ND box Indianapolis. score /C4 F a n s UConn men jumped up celebrate back and down, home /C3 high fiving Lamar hires and letting former Tech out A &M's coach Pat signature Knight /C3 "Whoop!" as the seconds ticked down on the 76 -70 victory over Notre Dame. There was no official watch party, so hundreds of Aggies fans poured into every place with a television along University Drive just down from the A &M campus to cheer for the team. The crowd at one sports bar chanted "champions, champi- ons, champions," as the game finished up. The local fans raved about head coach Gary Blair's role in turning around this once struggling team. "Blair has been great for the program because he's been trying really hard to pro- mote the team and the hard work is finally paying off," A &M senior Becky Lyon said. Sophomore Kody Johnson said he doesn't watch much women's basketball, but had to come out to support the Aggies in the title game. "We've never done this before so I'm very proud," he said. Mallisa Karonka watched the game with a big group of friends and family. The Aggie bragged about getting her See REACTION, Page C2 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP I IEF Aggie fans have some fun with the signage Some of the signs Aggie fans held up included (many highlighted the let- ters ESPN, the network televising the game): I may be little, but I'm a huge Gary Blair fan; MC Hammer says Leprocan't touch this ATM; 2 Syds, 2 fast, 2 furious; Irish I was as Aggie; No Geno, No Stanford, No Pat, No Griner, gig 'em; Remarkable Aggie championship run; National Champs Are Aggies.. One picked Aggies; two picked the Irish ESPN.com had the teams' point guards — A &M's Sydney Colson and Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins — on the web's front page Tuesday with their coaches right behind them. The site's Mechelle Voepel picked the Aggies to win with analysts COLSON Graham Hays and Charlie Creme going with Notre Dame. Big Notre Dame crowd doesn't phase Aggies Playing just two hours from cam- pus, Notre Dame had a huge edge in fans. The crowd included several bus loads of Note Dame students, many of whom came decked out in green and gold and ready to cheer loud. "We've definitely been in some heated arenas," A &M senior guard Sydney Colson said. "I think this team, we've adjusted to adversity all year, and I think this team has such a mental toughness and a physical toughness to get through a game like that. " A &M will lose four but have Bone ready to go A &M will graduate post Danielle Adams, point guard Sydney Colson and sixth man Maryann Baker. A &M head coach Gary Blair also allowed senior walk -on Catherine Snow to play the final few seconds. Kelsey Bone, a 6- foot -4 sophomore who sat out this season after trans- ferring from South Carolina, is the heir apparent to Adams. "She has a great inside - outside game just like me," Adams said. "To have two post players who can do that is amazing. She's been a great force in practice for us." Senior leads A &M to win White sinks key 3 for Ags By ROBERT CESSNA robert.cessna@theeagle.com INDIANAPOLIS — Some teams wondered why defen- sive- minded Texas A &M signed Danielle Adams out of Missouri's Jefferson College. She was a lot closer to 300 pounds than 200, so how would she blend into the Aggies' fast -paced style of play? Like a champion. Adams scored a game -high 30 points to lead the Aggies to a 76-70 victory over the Notre Dame Fighting . Irish on Tuesday night, giving the school its first basketball championship. The All - American proudly raised the national championship tro- phy at Conseco Fieldhouse before the thousands of Aggies in the crowd of 17,473 who stayed to soak in the postgame celebration as the Hullabaloo Band played. Notre Dame (31 -8), which had knocked off All- American Maya Moore and Connecticut in the semifinals to deny the Huskies a possible third straight national title, had no answer for Adams. The 6- foot -1 senior scored 22 points in the second half, help- ing the Aggies (33 -3) rally from a seven -point deficit. She hit 9 of 11 shots and didn't leave the court once in the sec- ond half, finishing with 39 minutes. In fact, she often looked dead tired as Notre Dame tried blanketing her See CHAMPS, Page C2 ► AIM111111PSMISM • What: National championship • Final: Texas A &M 76, Notre Dame 70 • Records: A &M (33 -5); Notre Dame (31 -8) • Seeds: No. 2 A &M; No. 2 Notre Dame Notre Dame's Diggins gained fans Tuesday Notre Dame sophomore Skylar Diggins had a tough time fighting back tears during the postgame interviews. She tweeted 30 minutes after the game that it was a great game and thanked the fans for coming. Diggins had about 5,000 Twitter fol- lowers before the NCAA tournament, but that total had increased to nearly 63,000 a few hours after the game. She gained nearly 16,000 followers in the six hours starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. — ROBERT CESSNA r� Eagle photo by Stuart Villanueva Texas A &M's Danielle Adams drives to the basket against Notre Dame's Becca Bruszewski during the second half in Indianapolis on Tuesday. aggiesports.com . orazossports.com NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship weanesaay, Apra b, Zuii CHAMPS: Colson's play pivotal Continued from CI with two and three players, but she kept scoring. The same player who struggled in four games against Big 12 rival Baylor this season scored the second -most points in a championship game, trailing only the 47 scored by Texas Tech's Sheryl Swoopes against Ohio State in 1993. "I had a little voice in my head that said, `Don't let this team down, "' Adams said. "And my teammates, every time we would get down, we would tell each other, `We're not going to lose this game. "' They didn't. Adams had lots of help, especially from junior wing Tyra White who hit the 'game's biggest shot. Notre Dame's Devereaux Peters scored after A &M sen- ior point guard Sydney Colson turned the ball over to cut A &M's lead to, 70 -68. ND's defense then looked poised for another stop when the Irish smothered Adams and blocked her shot out of bounds with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. A &M, which did a great job on scoring off inbounds plays in the 63 -62 semifinal victory over Stanford, did it again — only this time it didn't go as planned. The Aggies wanted to lob the ball to Adams inside, but she was covered. So Colson passed to White on the left outside, and in one fluid motion, White caught the ball, turned and nailed the 20 -foot shot as the shot -clock sound- ed, giving A &M a 73-68 lead with 67 seconds left. "She has no fear," A &M head coach Gary Blair said. That 3- pointer capped an 18- point effort for White, who hit 7 of 9 shots and had four assists. She didn't leave the floor until the final 2 seconds. White also hit the game - winning layup with 3.3 sec- onds against Stanford, taking a pass from Colson who drove the length of the court after the Cardinal had scored. Colson's ability to play the entire second half helped turn the title game in A &M's favor. She played only 10 minutes in the first half because of foul REACTION: Even Longhorn fan rooted for Aggies to win national title Continued from CI fiance, Texas fan Brian Perwerton, to buy and wear his first A &M shirt on Tuesday. "I had to take a picture because no one would believe he was wearing this," she said. Perwerton said it was kind of strange to be cheering for the Aggies, but he did it heartily, clapping and jump- ing up and down during good plays. "It's good to have a Texas team in the championship game," he said. "I'm rooting for the state. If the Longhorns aren't playing, I don't mind cheering for the Aggies." Linda Pace, who was decked out in an A &M shirt and necklace, said more than 50 of her family members attended A &M. She's a long - tirle fan who is impressed with the turnaround of the program under Blair. "Oh my goodness, he's the bomb," she said. "We used to be bad and now look what he's done for A &M." A &M went 9 -19 in Blair's first season, but haven't had a losing record since. He has led A &M to six straight NCAA tournament appear- ances and this year's 33 wins are the most in school histo- ry. She's a serious fan and even copied Blair in drawing a plus sign on her hand in support of the team. Blair draws the symbol on his hand before every game to remind himself to be positive. The excitement in the city for women's basketball is evi- dence of an impressive turn- around in attitudes at this for- merly men -only military school. When the school began admitting women in 1963, some alumni bristled at the decision and funding men's and women's sports equally after the passage of Title D{ in 1972 was frowned upon by some. Years ago the A &M women's basketball team had to share uniforms with other sports teams and few people besides the players' friends and family would attend the games. Blair not only improved the product on the court, but made sure people in the community knew it. When he first arrived, he went door to door to intro- duce himself and ask people to come out to Reed Arena to watch the women play. He doesn't have to do that anymore, with the team aver- aging more than 6,000 people a game, but the down -home Blair still roams through the stands and tosses out sweets to fans before each home game. trouble, which allowed ND to wipe out a 13 -point deficit for a 35 -33 halftime lead. Colson had a solid second half, scoring only four points but directing an offense that shot 68.2 percent from the floor —15 of 22 — over the final 20 minutes. Colson ended with 10 points for the game and teamed up with junior guard Sydney Carter (five points, five rebounds, four assists) to keep the Irish's guards from win- ning the game. Carter played 38 minutes. ND sophomore guard Skylar Diggins had 23 points and four steals but was only 7- of-19 shooting and had six turnovers. "We just didn't handle the pressure," Diggins said. "We didn't handle the ball and did- n't execute on offense. They're a good defensive team." ND, though, had a great first -half shooting, making 13 of 22 shots. A &M's defense stiffened in the second half and held ND to 11 of 30. In a matchup No. 2 seeds, the game had a lot more offense that the men's nation- al championship game, which Connecticut won over Butler 53 -41 on Monday night in Houston. A &M and ND had 32 field goals — one more than Butler and Connecticut com- bined for all game — only four minutes into the second half. "I hope Tony Kornheiser watched it, because he didn't speak very highly of ourselves or Notre Dame," Blair said. "We gave you that national championship game without the so -called powers of the world. The two powers tonight were the two that earned it." A &M's defense and high - powered offense helped the Aggies take an 18-6 lead. ND had seven turnovers in the first seven minutes, which led to 10 Aggie points. The game changed quickly when Colson picked up her second foul and the Irish did a better job protecting the bas- ketball. ND went 17 posses- sions without a turnover that allowed it to pull within 33 -31. ;fir/ /nur -&0a,- A iow.... 9 , ',". PIP- f Make a fast break to First Victoria During the madness of the season, turn to the team with full -court experience. As the oldest independent bank in Texas, our roots run deep as a strong, secure bank that's committed to helping local families and businesses succeed. So for a steadfast Texas bank you can count on, switch to First Victoria ... it's a slam -dunk! 979.260.3252 ♦ Bryan - 29th St. N 979.779.5080 ♦ Bryan - Villa Maria Rd. First 979.693.1063 ♦ College Station - Southwest Pkwy. 979.774.1700 . College Station - Copperfield Pkwy. V ictoria - 979.690.4780 ♦ College Station - Arrington Road THE OLDEST INDEPENDENT 979.279.3438 ♦ Hearne - 4th St. DANK IN TEXAS 2011 FvNB Corp. First Victoria National Bank Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender 1�1 www.firstvictoria.com 18kt Yellow Gold and Sterling Silver White Pearls and Black Diamonds $225 UP, are ?rmd. 4 the Lady Gl g g ices! 1501 University Dr. East #100 • 979- 691 -0677 II Starbucks Center across from Home Depot BBB Eagle photo by Stuart Villanueva Texas A &M's Tyra White steals the ball from Notre Dame's Natalie Novosel during the second half Tuesday in Indianapolis. White had 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and two of the Aggies' eight steals in the 76 -70 victory. Eagle photo by Stuart Villanueva x7exas A &M's Maryann Baker and Sydney Colson begin to celebrate as the Aggies seal the victory in the final seconds of the second half Tuesday.