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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1996)
Sports The Battalion Tuesday january 16, 1996 Page 9 sports GLANCE Packers' coach still in intensive care after hit DALLAS, Texas (AP) — Green Bay Packers wide receivers coach Gif Haskell, who was slammed to the ground in a sideline accident, remained in intensive care Monday with a fractured skull. Team trainer Pepper Burruss said Haskell's injury was not life threatening, but brain injury was a concern. Burruss said Haskell was not in a coma, but described him as in "some form of a stupor." "You are dealing with the brain and it is very hard to predict what will or will not happen," Burruss said at a news conference in Green Bay.' Baylor officials declined to re lease any information about Haskell except his condition, which was list ed as serious. Haskell's head struck the artifi cial turf at Texas Stadium when Dal las Cowboys safety Darren Wood- son blocked flanker Robert Brooks out of bounds and into the Packers' 51-year-old assistant late in the sec ond quarter of the NFC champi onship game Sunday. UMass stays No.1, Tech enters Top 25 The top 25 teams in The Associ ated Press college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through )an. 15, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th- place vote, and previous ranking: Record Prv 1. Mssachsetts 14-0 1 2. Kentucky 13-1 2 3. Cincinnati 11-0 4 4. Kansas 12-1 3 5. Connecticut 14-1 6 6. WakeForest 10-1 8 7. Villanova 13-2 7 8. Georgetown 14-2 5 9. Memphis 11-2 9 10.UNC 12-3 10 11.Va.Tech 9-1 15 12,Syracuse 13-2 14 13.UCLA 11-3 17 M.PennSt. 13-0 20 15.Utah 11-3 13 16,Iowa 13-3 11 //.Purdue 13-2 22 18. Arizona 11-3 18 19,Clemson 11-1 16 20,Michigan 13-4 23 21.MSU 10-3 12 22,Georgia 10-3 19 23.Auburn 14-3 — 24.BC 11-3 — 25,TexasTech 12-1 — Packers confident of Super finish in 1997 GREEN BAY (AP) — Riding the coattails of the Packers best season in nearly 30 years, players cleaned out their lockers Monday confident the team has enough talent and unity to reach the Super Bowl next year. Holmgren said he was proud of his team of overachievers. "We have some talented players, but it was way more than tnat this year. I sensed it early on. We came one game short. The team should hold their heads up high." By 10 a.m., when the news me dia was admitted to the dressing room, quarterback Brett Favre's locker already had been emptied along with several others. Players moved slowly, filling brown garbage bags with their be longings. A large cardboard box of used, dirty shoes sat near one end of the room, almost full. SCORES ROUNDUP NBA Rockets 107, Jazz 99 Mavericks 119, Magic 104 UPCOMING EVENTS Men's Basketball The Aggie Basketball Team hosts its Southwest Conference rival Texas longhorns tonight at 7:30 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The team travels hosts the Rice Owls Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in a game on ESPN2. Women's Basketball The Lady Aggies will travel to Austin Wednesday night to face off with the Lady Longhorns of Texas. Women's Swimming The Texas A&M Women's Swim ming Team will host the Houston Cougars in a meet at the Student Recreational Center Track and Field The Texas A&M Track and Field Teams will travel to Oklahoma to take part in the Oklahoma Invita tional this weekend. Barone calls for full house against Texas □ The 0-2 Aggies host the 1 -1 Longhorns tonight at 7:30 at G. Rollie White. By David Winder The Battalion Over the winter break, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team played in front of several large opposing crowds and had trou ble winning. Texas A&M Head Coach Tony Barone would like nothing better for the University of Texas to face the same prob lem tonight at G. Rollie White Coliseum. “We need the students and the faculty to come out to this game and give us the homecourt advantage that we need,” Barone said. “We have seen it at every place that we’ve played. “Tech had 8,000 (fans), and it was a tough place to play. Baylor had the biggest crowd they've had all year, 6,500, for our game. It makes a difference. I would be disappointed if we didn’t have a full house.” Barone said the key for the Aggies tonight’s 7:30 game will be their ability to control the ball against the Longhorns’ aggressive defense. “Anytime you play Texas you have to handle the ball,” Barone said. “I think Tracey Anderson, (Kyle) Kessel and (Der rick) Hart will do very well against them. But you have to handle the ball well, you have to make the right pass, you have to make the right decisions and you have to be very aggressive inside.” Texas is currently 1-1 in conference play with a loss to Rice and a win over Texas Christian. A&M is 0-2 with losses at Baylor and Texas Tech. “Texas beat North Carolina, so if they’re shooting the ball well and they’re causing turnovers, they can beat anybody,” Barone said. “They shot 28 percent from the field against Rice. They couldn’t beat St. Mary’s of the Little Church doing that. You have to play them a certain way. “You have to very aggres sive against them. You have to attack their presses and you have to have confidence that you are going to make the right pass.” A&M will have to shut down center Sonny Alvarado and Reggie Freeman, the Southwest Conference’s leading scorer, to beat Texas. Big individual performances have given the Aggies prob lems this year as Baylor’s Brian Skinner scored 25 points and Texas Tech’s Jason Sasser scored 27 points against A&M. “If we are going to win games in this league, we have got to shut but those good players,” Barone said. “The best player on the team should not get his best numbers against us. The biggest disappointment in the first two games that we’ve had is that we haven’t stopped the other teams’ best players.” Barone said the Aggies need to play with more enthusiasm, and a full G. Rol lie White Coliseum should help. “We have a lot of things that go on on the campus,” Barone said. “But tonight, this basketball game should be the biggest thing on this campus.” "We have a lot of things that go on on the campus. But tonight, this basketball game should be the biggest thing on this campus." — Tony Barone Head Basketball Coach Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion Texas A&M freshman forward Calvin Davis hauls down a rebound against the Mel bourne Magic in the A&M Basketball Team's exhibition opener Nov. 13. Lady Ags regroup after rout Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion Texas A&M senior post Angel Spinks puts back a rebound while ju nior forward Melissa Rollerson looks on during Sunday's loss. □ The 90-70 defeat by the Lady Red Raiders dropped A&M to 1-1 in the SWC and out of the NCAA Top 25. By Nick Georgandis The Battalion Although separated by a few hundred miles, the Green Bay Packers could find someone to sympathize with Sunday — the Texas A&M Women’s Basket ball Team. Both teams faced their old nemesis with high hopes, and both faced a very familiar result. For the Packers, a chance at the Super Bowl was lost. For the Lady Aggies, a chance to jump out to a quick start in the South west Conference was wasted. Despite the support of a sea son-high crowd of 3,103 at G. Rol lie White Coliseum, the No. 9 Lady Red Raiders blew out A&M 90-70, dropping the Lady Aggies to 10-5 on the year and 1-1 in the final SWC season. The Lady Aggies’ downfall was their inability to stop Lady Red Raider post Michi Atkins. TTie se nior dominated A&M throughout the game, shooting 14-of-20 from the field and finishing the game with a season-high 37 points. “It was Michi Atkins to the left, Michi Atkins to the right and then Michi Atkins down the middle,” Texas A&M Head Women’s Basketball Coach Candi Harvey said. “I don’t think Atkins ever expects to miss. I don’t know if anybody can defend Michi — the key is you can’t let her get the ball.” In addition to her dominance in the paint, Atkins crashed the boards for 10 rebounds and dished out eight assists. Although Harvey said the team expected a big game from Atkins, A&M did not expect a scoring explosion from a sec ond player. “We were not consistent in our play, not as aggressive as we need to be,” Harvey said. “It was crucial to not let someone else score like (forward Alicia) Thompson did.” Thompson scored just six points in the first half, which end ed with the Lady Red Raiders leading 42-33. But she hit 7-of-10 shots in the second half and fin ished with 24 points and 10 re bounds. The Lady Aggies hung close throughout the first half, spear headed by the play of seniors lisa Branch and Angel Spinks. Spinks scored 11 points and collected three steals while Branch twice brought the Lady Aggies back with clutch three-pointers. Texas Tech threatened to make the game a blowout early in the second half when it jumped out to a 50-36 lead. But the Lady Aggies changed their strategy. Using an amazingly effective trapping defense, A&M went on a 19-4 run and took a 55-54 lead at the 12:37 mark in the second half. Branch said the run got the Lady Aggies back in the game but also cost them in the long run. “Basketball is a 94-foot game, and when you’re going up and down and up and down, it takes a lot out of you,” Branch said. “Then when you get pumped up, it takes even more energy out of you.” The key to the A&M run was junior guard Lana Tucker. In a 59-second span, Tucker con tributed seven points and three steals, bringing the Lady Aggies from nine down to within 54-52. The Lady Red Raiders called a timeout after A&M took the 55-54 lead, then proceeded to score nine straight points to take a 63-55 lead. The Lady Aggies would nev er get closer than eight points again. Branch led the Lady Aggies with 20 points, seven assists and five steals. With a free throw in the first quarter, she became the Lady Aggies’ career scoring leader, bypassing Lisa Langston’s (1982-86) total of 1,615. Branch finished the game with 1,633 points and counting. When asked about the record, Branch compared her situation to another record-breaking athlete. “I’m not here to set records,” Branch said. “Tonight, I feel like (Miami Dolphins quarterback) Dan Marino. Every time he sets a record, he loses a game. ’ You picked a fine time to leave me, Leeland L eeland loves me ... Lee land loves me not. Lee land never loved me at all. Leeland never even really liked me a little bit. In the words of Tina Turner, “Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?” Sure, I’ve been dumped be fore. Kara Williams dropped me in the fourth grade, Amy Salas let me go in junior high, and who could forget my well-publicized break-up with Madonna last semester. Nothing, however, could prepare me for the woe that ravaged my tender soul over the Christmas break when I heard Leeland McElroy was leaving me here at Redneck U. for NFL fame and fortune. The pain was nearly too much to bear. I was enraged at Leeland. No phone call. No “Dear Phil” letter. No “We can still be friends.” No nothing from the fella I’ve been sweet on for three beautiful seasons except a power sweep right over my heart. After all the cookies I’ve baked, after all the socks I’ve darned, after all the work I put into my relationship with Leeland ... well, you can just imagine how I felt getting the news via the ESPN grapevine. How could the scoundrel do this to me? Used, abused and loaded with misery, I gathered up my Bar bara Streisand albums and barricaded myself in a room at the Heartbreak Hotel to figure out where it all went wrong. I let the black clouds roll in and the teardrops flow. Uncle Jesse’s moonshine washed down my diet of Cheetos and peanut butter, but it couldn’t keep Leeland from my thoughts. I let my mind wander back to the beginning, back to when life was worth living. I thought of that scorching hot September day at Kyle Field in 1993.1 was a bashful young country boy watching the Aggies play LSU in the first game of my freshman year. I can’t recall any of the first half action. In fact, that entire afternoon is sort of a blur. I can remember only a few glorious seconds in the second half when a dashing young tailback caught a screen pass near midfield and blazed his way through the Tiger defense and into the end zone. The vapor trail he left behind stretched all the way up to the third deck and burned a big ol’ No. 34 into my heart. My knees went weak. I swooned. I fell. I fell hard. I woke up in the first aid station with an IV in my arm and a warm, fuzzy feeling in my gut. I was nauseous. I was in love — sweet love. From then on, Leeland and I were inseparable. We had a date every Saturday during football season that year. I’d wear my best and cheer him on when he returned kickoffs and when he got the occasional chance to play tailback. We rejoiced together when he returned two kickoffs for touch downs against Rice, and we cried together when the Aggies lost the Cotton Bowl to those Notre Dame bastards. I reflected on the 1994 campaign and how that season brought Leeland and I closer together. Even though the Aggies were play ing well, probation and lack of playing time had him blue, and I became Leeland’s confidant, his sounding board. Our long walks in Research Park would cheer him up, and he soon recognized how devoted I was when I offered to call up my Uncle Rocco in Queens to put a hit out on starting tailback Rodney Thomas. I’d do anything for Leeland, anything for love. The more I thought of my life with Leeland, the more I thought of this past season. All couples quarrel, and our relationship defi nitely hit the rocks from time to time in 1995. The expectations on Leeland and the Aggies were high, and losses to Colorado and Texas Tech, plus his banged-up ankle made him moody and, quite frankly, hard to be around. With no hope of a Heisman Trophy or a national champi onship, I still stood by my man — even when he would grab me by the throat and say, “Please, for the love of God, stay away from me, you freak.” As I mulled over this past season, I began to see where I had failed. On more than a few occasions, Leeland mentioned his de sire to play in the NFL. See LEONE, page 10
