’age 8/The Battalion/Monday, February 17, 1986
Sports
Pi
Lady Ags
lose, but
hold onto
4th in SWC
By DOUG HALL
Sports Writer
After a disappointing 77-64
loss to No. 1 Texas on Saturday,
Texas A&M women’s basketball
team should ask for an “A” to be 1
placed alongside the “L” in the
loss column.
The “A,” of course, being they
grade they deserve for effort.
After all, when the top-ranked
team in the nation is going for its
111th consecutive Southwest
Conference victory, is at home
and shoots 60.4 percent from the
floor, staying within 13 points is
nothing to be ashamed of.
“This time last year (against
Texas), we were worried about
getting beat by 30 or 40 points,”
A&M Coach Lynn Hickey said.
“We’re disappointed, but we
showed a lot of promise.”
The Lady Aggies (14-10 over
all, 7-5 in SWC) remain in fourth
place, but had two opportune
chances to hand the Lady Long
horns their first loss in 23 games.
After falling behind 8-0 to start
the game, A&M rallied and only
trailed 27-26 with five minutes
left in the first half. But Long
horn freshman Clarissa Davis,
one of five UT players in double
figures, led a 16-2 spurt that sent
A&M to the locker room trailing
43-28 at the half.
The Lady Ags, after suffering
another six-point run by the
’Horns to open the second half,
fought back under the leadership
of senior forward Lisa Langston
(23 points) and freshman guard
Donna Roper (14 points) to pull
within 67-60.
But two missed shots by Lan
gston and a three-point play at
the other end by Kami Ethridge
gave UT a comfortable 10-point
lead with only three minutes left
in the game.
Aggies stumble again in SWC title race
Texas, TCU gain inside track
with victories over A&M SMU
By TRAVIS TINGLE
Sports Editor
Orange and purple might be
nearly at opposite ends of the color
spectrum, but as far as the South
west Conference basketball
race is
concerned, they’re clashing at the
top.
Texas manhandled Texas A&M,
58-47, and TCU routed SMU, 76-
54, Saturday night to keep both
teams’ hopes for a SWC title alive.
Even A&M Coach Shelby Metcalf
admits the Longhorns and Horned
Frogs have earned the opportunity.
“It’s a two-team race now,” Met
calf said. “1 like both teams (Texas
and TCU). I think they’re playing
real well right now.”
And, if anyone knows just how
well, Metcalf does.
Last week in Fort Worth, TCU
breezed past A&M, 70-53, then Sat
urday night in Austin, Texas ex
tended A&M’s losing streak to three
games before a sellout Frank Erwin
Center crowd of 16,231.
“(The Texas game) was a lot
closer than the score indicates,” Met
calf said. “But a loss is a loss, whether
you keep it close or not.”
A&M did keep it close, until the
second half.
The Aggies led by as much as
seven points twice during the first
half. But the Longhorns took advan
tage of two charging fouls against
the Aggies to pull within a single
point by halftime at 26-25.
“The key was in the first half
when we were down by seven,”
Texas Coach Bob Weltlich said. “We
hit three jump shots in the last three
minutes and, equally as important,
we didn’t allow (A&M) to score.
In fact, the Aggies went withouta
field goal for over seven minutes be
ginning at the 9:43 mark of these-
ond half.
“We played a good first half,"
Metcalf said. “We didn’t play vers
well at all in the second half. Wetook
ourselves out of it. We didn't have
the good ball movement we had in
the first half.
“It’s frustrating to the players and
frustrating to anyone connected
with A&M basketball.”
Texas (16-8 overall and 11-2 in
the SWC) hopes to end seven yean
of basketball frustration this week.
UT, which shared the SWC title
with Arkansas in 1979, hosts SMU
Wednesday and travels to Fort
Worth Saturday for a showdown
with first-place counterpart TCU
(19-5,11-2).
The Horned Frogs have never
claimed a SWC crown under Coach
Jim Killingsworth and last won the
title back in 1971.
“The bottom line is that some-
body’s going to win (the SWC titlei
with two, maybe three, losses, ” Welt
lich said.
A&M, on the other hand, has now
fallen to 14-10 overall and into a
two-way tie for third place with SMI
at 8-4.
When asked how the Aggies wl
respond for their remaining four
SWC games, Metcalf said he wasn’t
sure.
“It takes you longer to get over a
loss, especially to Texas, than (the
trip back to College Station),” Met
calf said. “I’ll be able to tell you more
toward the middle of the week. It's
got to hurt (the players) some
though.” ,
Photo by DEAN SAITO
A&M’s Tadd Thomas (43) and Paul Crawford try
to strip the ball away from Texas’John Brownlee
Saturday night in Austin. The ’Horns erased the
Ags from the SWC title picture with a 58-47 win.
“That got us back into it and
swung the momentum our way.”
UT took the lead quickly in the
second half and stretched it to five
points in just the first four minutes.
Texas then used perimeter shooting
and trips to the free-throw line to
thwart any attempt at an A&M
comeback.
A&M hosts Tech Wednesday
night at 7:30 in G. Rollie White Col
iseum and Metcalf said the Red
Raiders are his only concern right
now.
“We’ve got to beat Tech,” he said.
“We’ve got to be ready Wednesday
night. I’m not thinking about the
(SWC) tournament yet. We’ve still
got some games left to play.”
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