Page 12
The Battalion
Thursday, February 9,1989
Lady Ags clash with No.9 Texas to night New pact makes
By Stan Golaboff
SPORTS WRITER
Texas A&M will try to do what no
other Soutwest Conference team has
down in over 11 years tonight when
they play the University of Texas in
the Frank Erwin Center'in Austin —
beat Texas.
Texas, ranked ninth in the most
recent AP poll, has won 110 straight
SWC games since league play began
and 161 straight games against SWC
teams. A&M was the last team to
beat Texas, 59-52, on Jan. 23, 1978
in College Station.
The Lady Ags (14-6 overall and 6-
3 in SWC) have to overcome Texas’s
streak and several other obstacles.
One obstacle is that the Ags are
playing on the road. The road hasn’t
been kind to the Aggies this year.
A&M is 5-5 on the road. Their last
road win was against Rice on Jan. 21,
71-65.
The biggest obstacle the Lady Ags
face is 6-foot-1 senior Clarissa Davis.
Davis is averaging 26.4 points and
9.6 rebounds a game for the Long
horns.
A&M senior Lisa Jordon said.
A&M is also facing a red-hot
Texas team. Texas started the sea
son off slow, losing four of their First
seven games. Since then they have
won 12 straight, including nine in
SWC play. Texas has been beating
it’s SWC by an average of 20 points
and their 12 game win streak in
cludes a 69-67 upset of then number
two Tennessee.
Ironically, A&M also enters the
game ranked first in the SWC in
bench points at 30.9 per game. Tra
ditionally, Texas has led that eater-
gory and it used to be a standing
joke that Texas was the best team in
the nation and the second-best team
was the Texas bench.
Gooden richest Met
“Clarissa is the best player I’ve
played against and how do you stop
her. I don’t know if you can, but we
are going to try to contain her,”
A&M enters the game ranked First
in the SWC in Field goal percentage
defense at 38.8 percent. They rank
first in the SWC in scoring defense
at 66.4 points a game. They also
rank First in rebounding (49.3 a
game) and rebounding margin
(-I- 9.4 a game).
“This is an extremely important
game. There’s always the thought
that you could be the upset team. We
don’t want to go in with too much
emotion,” A&M Head Coach Lynn
Hickey said.
“We have execute our offense,
play tough defense and avoid funda
mental mistakes,” Hickey said.
NEW YORK (AP) — Dwight
Gooden became the highest-paid
player in baseball this year and the
highest-paid player in the history of
the New York Mets when he agreed
Wednesday to a three-year contract
worth $6.7 million.
Gooden, who made $1.4 million
in 1988 after losing in arbitration,
will get a $500,000 signing bonus,
$2.25 million this year, $1.7 million
in 1990 and $2.25 million in 1991, a
source familiar with the negotiation
told The Associated Press.
Including a prorated share of the
signing bonus, Gooden will receive
$2,416,667 this season, topping the
salary of Minnesota Twins tit
baseman Gary Gaetti, who t
$2.4 million. But Gaetti will gt
$500,000 in 1990, the season
may be disrupted by a playersttiii
or an owners’ lockout.
Gooden can make an addition
$290,000 each year in bonuses. Hi
would get $100,000 for winning!)
Cy Young Award and $50,000(a
Finishing second through fifth,
would get $100,000 if named Mo*
Valuable Player of the World Sem
and $50,000 if named MVP oft)
playoffs. He also would get $25,9)
if selected for the All-Star Gamean;
$ 15,000 if he wins a Gold Glove.
Recruits
(Continued from page 9)
Drapela averaged better than
seven yards per carry as a senior and
scored 21 touchdowns on the way to
being named to the third team of the
All-State squad in Class 4A.
The big catch for A&M appears to
be defensive back Kenneth Norman
of Sweetwater. Norman was the
Class 4A Player of the Year as a se
nior and was listed fourth on the
Southwest Blue Chippers List of
Athlon magazine. He was named
first-team All-State as both a de
fensive back and a running back in
1988.
Texas Football magazine rated
Norman as one of the state’s top
running backs. He rushed for over
4,000 yards in three years as a starter
in the backfield on offense. Slocum
will use him as a defensive back.
“(Norman)’s as good a defensive
back as you can go and find,” Slo
cum said. “I made the decision a
long time ago that he was the one we
wanted.”
The Aggies did not have the im
pressive number of signings that
other Southwest Conference schools
had. However, Slocum used the
signings to fill the few gaps on the
team — mainly in the defensive line
and at linebacker.
Of the 14 recruits signed by A&M,
eight were either defensive linemen
(four) or linebackers.
The defensive line will be shored
up by the addition of four players
who each are over six-feet-four
inches tall and weigh over 220
pounds.
A pair of 6-4, 235 pound boo-
kends from Arlington High lead the
way. Brad Cooper and Tyler Harri
son will provide considerable size in
an area where it was deeply needed
last year.
Joining the Arlington duo in the
line will be Lance Teichelman (6-4,
240) from Austin Westlake and
Larry Wallace (6-5, 220) of Irving
Nimitz. Teichelman chose the Ag
gies over Brigham Young, Texas
I felt the areas we really
had to have some help
were defensive line and
linebacker.”
— R.C. Slocum,
A&M head football coach
- Pi
id (
A&M over Houston, TCU and Okla
homa State.
The linebacking corps, the heart
of the Aggie defense, will be bol
stered by the signing of three 6-4
prospects.
Marcus Buckley (235) of Fort
Worth Eastern Hills, Jason Medlock
(205) of Dallas Roosevelt and Louis
Rose (210) of Sweetwater will be ex
pected to contribute soon to a group
which will be taking on a new look
with the departure of Dana Batiste,
John Roper and Basil Jackson.
Slocum compared Medlock to
current Aggie linebacker Aaron
Wallace. Wallace will be the only re
turning starter at A&M’s four line
backer spots.
Jason Atkinson, a 6-3, 225 pound
prospect who has been clocked at 4.7
in the 40-yard dash, signed on as the
fourth linebacker signee later
Wednesday evening.
Atkinson, from Houston West-
field, should fit in well with the other
linebackers. He’s big strong, quick
and fast.
A&M’s head man was happy with
the defensive signings and relieved
that he was able to fill the holes left
by graduation.
“I felt the areas we really had to
have some help were defensive line
and linebacker,” he said. “We had to
have some linebackers.”
Slocum added some depth at tight
end with the signing of Steve Sa-
graves of North Mesquite who chose
A&M over Nebraska, Arkansas, Ok
lahoma and Louisiana State.
A pair of 6-4, 270, offensive line
men rounded out the signings.
Dexter Wesley from Rockdale and
Lowell Hutchens of Munday will
give help up front for A&M.
Miami nabs state’s top player
by signing Jessie Armstead
DALLAS (AP) — Dallas Carter
linebacker Jessie Armstead, con
sidered the bluest of Texas high
school defensive blue chip re
cruits, signed a letter of intent
Wednesday to play college foot
ball for the University of Miami.
“This is my old 46,” Armstead
said as he held up a Miami jersey
with his name on the back. “I’m
going to No. 1 now.”
Armstead wore a No. 1 jersey
underneath an orange and green
Miami warmup suit.
In choosing Miami, Armstead
spurns Baylor and Texas A&M,
joining some of the state’s best
high school players by going to a
non-South west Conference
school.
“The SWC is not together,”
Armstead said, adding he was im
pressed by the emphasis on aca
demics at Miami. He said the
Hurricanes graduated 100 per
cent of their senior football play
ers.
Armstead said his decision
came down to between Baylor
and Miami. Armstead talked to
the head coaches from both
schools Wednesday. Miami coach
Jimmy Johnson told Armstead to
take his time making the choice,
the Carter linebacker said.
“Coach (Grant) Teaff said,
‘You can help me rebuild our
program.’ I said I thought I
could,” said Armstead, recalling
his conversation with the Baylor
coach.
But Teaff told Armstead to do
what is best for him, Armstead
said.
Armstead, 6-2, 205, had 117
tackles last season and helped
lead Carter to the state 5A
championship. He runs the 40-
yard dash in 4.6 seconds.
Armstead’s announcement at a
news conference timed to coin
cide with evening newscasts cli
maxed a frenzied day of signings
by Texas college football teams
and those around the country.
Wednesday was the first day high
school football players could sign
letters of intent for college play.
Armstead joins Dallas Roose
velt wide receiver Kevin Williams
in committing to the Hurricanes
and Johnson.
Armstead announced his deci
sion from a wood-paneled con
ference room at the Loews Anat-
ole, a giant hotel and convention
facility just north of downtown
Dallas. '
He said his father suggested
using the hotel for the announce
ment. “You just do it one time,"
Armstead said.
Asked whether he chose Miami
because the Hurricanes were
more likely to win a national
championship than Baylor
Armstead said, “No, not really,
because when I started at Carter
we built into a state championship
team. That’s all it takes, a few
good men, and then you can
build any program.”
Miami was ranked No. 2 at the
end of last season, while Baylor
finished with a 6-5 record.
Armstead said choosing a col
lege was a “tough decision" be
cause “I had the opportunity to
go anywhere 1 wanted.”
Roosevelt’s Williams was con
sidered one of the state’s top of
fensive prospects. He caught 3"
passes for 785 yards.
The Batl
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