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Wednesday • January 18, 1995
The Battalion • Page 5
l^EKAS AGGIE BASKETBALL
Womens team sets high hopes for season
□ The Lady Aggies look to top last
year's Sweet 16 appearance.
By Nick Georgandis
The Battalion
The Texas A&M women’s basketball team galloped
into the semester break in December with a perfect 4-0
record, still riding high on their miraculous Sweet 16 run
last season. The road to the spring term was a bumpy
one for the Lady Aggies, but the team is pointing to expe
rience gained over the break as their springboard to suc
cess in the future.
“We still need to put things together, “ junior post play
er Angel Spinks said. “We have not played as well in
games as we do in practice. At this point, it’s all mental,
we just need to be more confident.”
That confidence was displayed in style Saturday as the
Lady Aggies cruised by the University of Texas 75-61 at G.
Rollie White Coliseum. A Lady Aggie record crowd of
4,103 saw A&M defeat the Lady Longhorns by the largest
margin ever in an A&M win in the series.
. i Stew Milne/THE Battalion
Sophomore guard, Christy Lake dribbles upcourt.
“This team met a big challenge today, “
A&M head coach Candi Harvey said after
the Texas game. “These players just would
not be denied. This was a nice statement
to make at this point in the season.”
The win moved A&M’s overall record to
10-4 and evened their Southwest Confer
ence mark at 1-1.Conference play opened
up on a sour note January 11 as A&M trav
eled to Lubbock and was beaten soundly by
the Texas Tech Lady Red Raiders, 100-76.
Early in the season, Harvey said A&M was
the team to beat in the conference. Despite
the loss to Tech, Harvey did not back down
from her previous statement.
“We believe we can still win the SWC
championship, “ Harvey said. “If we don’t
believe that, why should we go out and play
at all? We have the talent to win it.”
Unlike most A&M students, the Lady
Aggies were seldom “at home for the holi
days” playing six of nine games on the road
before Saturday’s win against Texas. De
spite the rough schedule, A&M managed a
5-4 mark over the nine games. Harvey said
although the team’s record has not shown
it, the players have made great strides to
wards playing better since the beginning of
the season.
“We’ve improved greatly, the players
have adapted well to a new system, “ Har
vey said. “They’re still thinking a little too
much,, but it will reach a point where my
system is a habit.”
The Lady Aggies’ first game of the break
was also their first loss of the season, a 77-
54 blowout at the hands of the University
of Minnesota. Two days later however,
A&M rebounded and gave future Big 12 op- .
ponent Oklahoma a preview of what to ex- Bambi Ferguson looks to pass the ball during a
pect in 1996 with a 88-74 rout of the Soon- game against The University of Texas,
ers in Norman.
At the end of 1994, the Lady Aggies competed in the
SunBank Holiday Classic in Orlando. A&M compiled a 2-1
record in the tournament, knocking off both Appalachian
State and Central Florida.
Like last season, junior point guard Lisa Branch
continues to lead the attack for A&M. Branch is cur
rently leading the team in scoring at 14.7 points per
game, and. leads both the team and the conference in
assists with 7.0 per game.
Also averaging in double digit points for the Lady Ag
gies are junior transfer post Angel Spinks at 10.2 per game
and junior post Martha McClelland at 10.6. McClelland is
picking up right where she left off in last year’s break
through season, leading the Lady Aggies in rebounding
and field goal percentage this year.
Stew Milne/THE Battalion
No.
Player
Position
Classification
Hometown
10
Donyale Canada
G
Junior
Austin, Texas
20
Lana Tucker
G
Sophomore
Duncanville, Texas
21
Christy Lake
G
Sophomore
Duncanville, Texas
22
Lisa Branch
G
Junior
DeSoto, Texas
23
Kelly Cemy
C
Junior
Corpus Christi, Texas
24
Shanae Ford
F
Sophomore
Corpus Christi, Texas
31
Kim Linder
C
Freshman
Amarillo, Texas
32
Carey Owens
G
Freshman
Corpus Christi, Texas
41
Debbie Biermann
C
Senior
Covington, La.
42
Sutton Helvey
C
Freshman
Euless, Texas
43
Bambi Ferguson
G
Junior
Jayton, Texas
50
Angel Spinks
C
Junior
League City, Texas
51
Marianne Miller
F
Sophomore
Stratford, Okla.
54
Martha McClelland
C
Junior
Duncanville, Texas
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