No. 9 Texas A&M women beat Oklahoma 75-58

COLLEGE STATION, Texas ? The Oklahoma Sooners hoped they could build on a halftime lead and win for the first time in six tries in College Station.

Instead the No. 9 Texas A&M opened the second half fast and went on to a 75-58 win on Sunday.

Tyra White had 20 points and Kelsey Bone scored 18 points to lead the Aggies.

"We had to come out and get the momentum because we had been on our heels the entire first half," Oklahoma's Whitney Hand said of their plan for the second half. "It was our turn to do the same thing and we failed to do that. So we ended up chasing them the whole game."

Texas A&M (10-3, 1-1 Big 12) led by six before using an 8-1 run to extend its lead to 62-49 with less than six minutes remaining. Bone, in her first season with the Aggies after transferring from South Carolina and sitting out a year, had six straight points and a steal to lead the way during that span.

The win gets the defending national champion Aggies back on track after they dropped their Big 12 opener in overtime to Kansas State on Wednesday.

Oklahoma (9-4, 1-1), which had a six-game winning streak snapped, was led by Aaryn Ellenberg who had 18 points and Hand with 17.

"In the second half we were up three and they just came out and hit us and we didn't respond very well," Ellenberg said.

A&M shot just a bit better than Oklahoma, 46 to almost 45 percent, but the Sooners were done in by their 23 turnovers which the Aggies converted into 26 points. Ellenberg had six turnovers and DaShawn Harden had seven.

"That's how they scored their points," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said.

The Aggies also dominated in the paint with 44 points - in large part because of the 6-foot-4 Bone.

"She's a big strong talented kid and we did a good job keeping the ball out of her hands early and didn't late," Coale said of Bone.

Sydney Carter added 15 points and had five assists for A&M and Adaora Elonu chipped in 12 points and led the team with 10 rebounds. Bone also had four assists and four steals to help out.

Oklahoma trailed by seven midway through the second half before a 5-2 run fueled by a 3-pointer by Aaryn Ellenberg cut the lead to 48-44, but the Sooners couldn't get any closer.

"We got discombobulated defensively so we couldn't function offensively," Coale said. "Our offense bleeds into our defense. We could never get into synch, didn't have much composure and our point guards didn't handle that ball pressure very well."

The Aggies used a 12-2 spurt at the beginning of the second half to erase a halftime deficit and take a 40-33 lead with about 15 minutes remaining. White led the way with six points in that span.

Texas A&M scored the game's first nine points, but Oklahoma got going and used a 19-6 run to take a 19-15 lead seven minutes before halftime. Oklahoma led by 6 a minute before halftime, but A&M scored two quick baskets before a free throw by the Sooners to trail 31-28 at the break.

Sharane Campbell added 11 points and had a pair of steals for Oklahoma, which lost for the first time since a 69-66 loss to Fresno State on Dec. 8.

The Associated Press

Source: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jan/08/no-9-texas-am-women-beat-oklahoma-75-58/

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