the Battalion
8SPORTS
/EDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1989
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B Tom Kehoe
3P0RTS WRITER
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B Led by Donna Roper and Lisa
Btrdon, the Texas A&M Lady Ag-
■es shot down the University of
Houston Lady Cougars 73-61.
I The game was back and forth un-
ffil a furious press by A&M led to 21-
4 run for the Lady Aggies.
■ Coach Lynn Hickey said the con
ference win was a big one for her
Bub.
■ “It was very big. What made it
Bven more important was that Hous-
Bnplayed well,” Hickey said.
Roper led all scorers in the game
Ijtith 24 points. T he senior guard hit
om all spots on the floor using long
HLimpers and drives in the paint to
Bad the Lady Aggies.
I Jordon, a senior center, scored
Bie majority of her points from
Bown low. Jordon used turnaround
Bimpers in the paint and free throws
B contribute to the win.
Houston opened the game with a
furious press and didn’t relent the
mire game. But the Lady Aggies
andled it well and countered with a
ietermined press of their own to
■rustrate Houston into the costly
■urnovers that eventually gave A&M
Ithe game.
Hickey said her team really began
to get it together after an official
timeout to repair the scoreboard.
“The kids got together during
that timeout and said ’Hey we’re so
close. Don’t let a game like this take
us out of the run from really doing
something this year,”’ she said.
Hickey noted the play of fresh
man guard Sheri Dillard, who came
off the bench, as the one who really
put the spark into the press.
With the turnovers coming off of
the tough backcourt defense, fresh
man guard Latanya Irving sunk
three consecutive buckets and a free-
throw to push the lead for the Lady
Aggies to 59-50.
After that there was no looking
back for A&M.
The lead was extended to as many
as fifteen before Houston came with
two bucket off of offensive rebounds
to bring the Aggie advantage back to
twelve.
The closing 90 seconds was a se
ries of Houston attempts at wild
three-point shots and the Lady Ag
gies and Cougars taking turns from
the free throw line.
Hickey said the large crowd was a
great asset throughout the game and
made the important conference win
even more special.
The Lady Aggies next game will
be at 1 p.m. Saturday at G. Rollie
White Coliseum against Texas Tech.
Struggling Aggies
to battle Cougars
By Jerry Bolz
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
A pair of teams battling to gain
Southwest Conference respect
ability meet tonight when the
Houston Cougars visit the Aggies
at 7:30 in G. Rollie White Col-
Texas A&M v Houston
• What; The Texas A&M Aggies
(8-9; 1-4 in the SWC) host Hous
ton (10-7; 2-3)m Southwest Con
ference action,
♦ When; Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m,
* WheretG, Rollie Whne Col
iseum.
• Radio/TV:The game can be
heard on KTAM-AM 1240 with
Chuck Cooperstein handling the
piay-by-piay and Duke Keith; on
color commentary. .
Both teams are coming off of
exciting games over the weekend.
A&M, 8-9 overall and 1-4 in
the SWC, lost 79-77 to Rice Satur
day, and Houston beat SMU 84-
83 in overtime. The victory put
Houston at 2-3 in conference and
10-7 overall.
The Aggies have lost seven of
their last eight this season.
“Since the TCU game (A&M
lost at home) we just can’t get
over the hump,” Metcalf said.
“The guys have adapted. I know
they want to win and I know they
hope we can get something
going.”
Forward Donald Thompson
and guard Tony Milton are the
only Aggies to start all 17 Aggies
games this season. They should
get the call against Houston along
with David Williams, Lynn Suber
and Doug Dennis.
Suber, a sophomore guard, has
become a mainstay in A&M’s
lineup lately and comes into the
Cougar game averaging 10.5
points per game, including a
team-leading 16.2 average in con
ference games.
Houston Coach Pat Foster’s
squad is led by senior Richard
Hollis and six-foot-eight sopho
more Craig Upchurch.
The Cougars lead the overall
series 38-25. The last time A&M
beat the Cougars was in the first
meeting of the 1986-1987 season
in College Station.
The Silver Fox
A&M basketball coach Shelby Metcalf looks concerned during
A&M’s 62-53 victory over the Baylor Bears Jan. 14. The Aggies
are 32-8 in their last 40 home games. A&M hosts Houston to
night at G. Rollie White Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 7^30.
etcalf, slumping Aggies trying to turn lost season around
rtOne of Two
By Doug Walker
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PORTS EDITOR
-
These are tough times for Shelby Met-
If.
Nearing the halfway point of the South-
lest Conference schedule, the winningest
basketball coach in SWC history finds his
”am struggling to stay out of the cellar of
eleague standings.
He’s changed his team’s offense and
|ied to mold a team while relying on trans-
ftr players to step in immediately and take
on a leadership role. It’s taken a toll on Met-
df as well as Donald Thompson, the
am’s captain and leading scorer.
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6-1 start, are suffering from a loss of confi
dence caused by a ten-game slump during
which they have only won twice.
Heading into tonight’s game against
Houston (7:30 p.m. at G. Rollie White Col
iseum) the Aggies find themselves in an
eighth place tie With the Rice Owls.
In talking to Metcalf it becomes clear that
even though he’s not satisfied with the sea
son so far, he remains optimistic about this
year’s team and the future of the A&M bas
ketball program.
After all, the Aggies were picked to finish
eighth in the confernce by sportswriters
prior to the season. However, Metcalf
doesn’t like that prediction and expects to
do better.
“We’re rebuilding,” Metcalf said Mon
day. “But I think we’re really ready to break
out.”
After regularly qualifying for post-season
tournaments in the early 1980s, te A&M
program has been on a slide since winning a
tri-championship in 1986 and Metcalf has
one thing to say to those who may be think
ing of rushing his retirement —Don’t be too
hasty.
“I want to get back on top. It’s a heck of a
lot more fun on top. I want to give A&M
the kind of team it deserves.”
He has placed more emphasis on high
school recruiting recently and plans to
bring some taller, bulkier players to A&M
in the next two years. However, his main
concern right now is turning around this
season and laying a foundation for a renais
sance of A&M basketball in the next two
years.
Metcalf feels this week’s homestand
against Houston and Texas Tech is a cru
cial stretch in that plan.
In what is becoming a common occur
rence for the Aggies, the Owls edged the
Aggies 79-77 last weekend in Houston. In a
game typical of their hard luck the Aggies
have had recently the Owls, stastically the
SWC’s worst free throwing team, converted
17 of 19 free throws to win the game.
Perhaps a confidence crisis was the dif
ference.
“Confidence builds aggressiveness and
success builds confidence,” he said. “This
team needs to score out of its defense and
we’ve been a little tentative since we played
Vegas (Nevada-Las Vegas) and Oklahoma.”
A&M started the year creating points off
of their defense as the Aggies played ag
gressive on both ends of the court. Success
builds confidence and the Aggies were
gaining confidence with each passing game.
Although Metcalf had to build a team in
cluding six junior college transfers and only
two seniors the Aggies seemed to be coming
together early on.
A&M’s prospects looked bright as the
Christmas holidays approached. The Ag
gies were confident and positive.
Keeping a positive outlook isn’t easy to
do when you play a schedule that includes
successive games against Nevada-Las Vegas
(ranked 13th in this week’s Associated Press
basketball poll) and Oklahoma (ranked
fourth in the nation).
“Playin’ Vegas and O.U. back to back
really hurt us,” Metcalf said. “It shattered
our concfidence but I don’t think there’s a
team in our conference thath wouldn’t have
come out scarred.”
UNLV’s Runnin’ Rebels dealt more than
a lopsided loss to the Aggies in the title
game of the Runnin’ Rebel Classic.
A&M suffered a 110-67 blowout loss in
which turnovers accounted for most of the
See Metcalf/Page 11
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