The Battalion
Sports
ulesday • January 20, 1998
Cyclones hold off Aggies for 68-52 victory
|i By Philip W. Peter
W Staff Writer
Confidence is what lets a big-time player
ake big-time plays under pressure. So when
e Texas A&M University Women’s Basketball
am applied the pressure to Iowa State Univer-
y Sa i urday, Cyclone forward Jayme Olsen con
tent ly stepped up and sank two clutch three-
linters to lead ISU to a 68-52 victory in front of
)87 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
I Traili ng by 14 points at halftime, the Aggies came
4 in the second half with all they had, cutting the
id to as little as five. A&M sophomore forward
issy Shaipe provided a spark for the Aggies with
$htpoints, four rebounds and a block in the first
nelninotes of the second half, finishing with 18
lints and 12 boards for the game. But every time
e momentum began to swing in the Aggies’ di-
:tion, Olsen was there to silence the crowd.
“We executed on offense. We boxed out on de-
ise. We made a few key stops and everything
irted going in a positive direction,” Sharpe said,
nd then they hit those big couple of threes, and
>eemed like we kind of lost our focus.”
Ma intaining focus was never a problem for Iowa
ite. Helped by A&M’s 25-percent shooting in the
sthuli. ISU took the lead seven minutes into the
me and kept the Aggies down for the duration.
“Good teams really drop the hammer,”
Olsen said.
Olsen ought to know, as she was the one drop
ping hammers all day. She finished with 26 points
and 12 rebounds for the game and went 3-for-4
from behind the three-point line, including a shot-
clock buzzer-beater with 9:23 remaining to make
the score 50-42.
“They were scrapping and hitting the shots
and getting the ball to the right people. We
calmed it down and made smart decisions with
the ball,” Olsen said. “It’s a lot easier to hit shots
when you’re wide open.”
“Jayme Olsen is a very confident player,” A&M
Coach Candi Harvey said. “She believes in her
ability. She wants the ball in her hands when the
game is on the line.
“She is shocked when she misses. She expects
to make it every time she shoots.”
The Cyclones improved to 15-2 overall and 4-
0 in the Big 12 Conference while handing A&M
its sixth consecutive loss, dropping the Aggies to
4-10 overall and 0-4 in conference play.
“There’s no getting around the fact that the
confidence is shaky right now,” Harvey said.
“We’ve just got to believe that we can shoot the
ball better than we did. We got good looks all day
long. I thought our execution was good, espe
cially in the second half. Those are shots that
need to fall for us. When we shoot them with
more confidence, they will.”
RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion
A&M junior guard Kim Tarkington goes for the shot
in the second half of A&M’s loss to ISU Saturday..
Iggie Basketball Teams have not-so-happy holidays
RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion
ishman guard Michael Schmidt and the rest
the Aggies are a combined 0-11 in Big 12 play.
By Jeff Webb
Staff Writer
The holiday season is a time of giving, and Big
12 opponents of Texas A&M basketball found out
how generous Aggies can be during the break. Both
the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams regis
tered only one win each over the unkind break.
The men have floundered to a 6-9 overall
record and have dropped all five of their Big 12
Conference games this season. On Dec. 19, the
losing began with a heartbreaking 83-81 loss on
the home court of Arizona State University. The
Aggies then registered their lone victory, a
blowout 105-60 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore.
After a loss at Washington State, the team began
their Big 12 Conference schedule by losing 100-65
to Oklahoma State in College Station. That foretold
of a long, hard conference road ahead. The Aggies
then lost at Baylor and to Oklahoma at home to
bring their conference mark to 0-3. Coach Tony
Barone and his players then faced the third-ranked
Kansas Jayhawks in front of a packed G. Rollie
White-House. The 6,548 fans provided deafening
support, but could not will the Aggies to overcome
tine odds as the Ags went down valiantly in an 18-
point defeat. Saturday, the Aggies continued their
hapless ways by losing to Iowa State in Ames, with
out key frontcourt member Calvin Davis, who
missed the game with back trouble.
The Women’s Basketball Team fared no bet
ter over the break, notching a 1-6 record over the
holidays. The Northern Lights Invitational held
in Anchorage, Alaska, began their schedule. The
Aggies opened with a win over the hometown
Alaska-Anchorage squad only to find their semi
final prize was a date with first-ranked Ten
nessee. The Aggies dropped that game along
with the consolation game versus Mississippi
before heading into conference play.
The team lost an eight-point game to Okla
homa in Norman and from there the games just
got uglier. They lost a home contest against Ok
lahoma State and then traveled to Lincoln, Neb.,
for a game with the No. 21 Cornhuskers. The Ag
gies fell 88-74 and came back home to lose one
68-52 to Iowa State.
While the semester break was not kind to the
Texas A&M basketball program, the support of
returning students at home games figures to be
instrumental in turning around the dismal con
ference records of both teams.
What we missed
but did not forget
Compiled by Jeremy Furtick
Sports Editor
The 1997-98 holiday break had its share of big stories in the world
of sports, especially in Texas. There was a whirlwind of emotions
caused by the tear-jerking, the awe-inspiring and the simply excit
ing things that transpired while we relaxed at home. This is a small
compilation of the news-making events The Battalion was not
around to cover.
Reggie Brown’s near-fatal injury
In a Dec. 21 game between the Detroit Lions and New York Jets in
Pontiac, Mich., former Texas A&M standout and current Lions line
backer Reggie Brown suffered a severe injury to the upper portion of
his cervical spine, rendering him unconscious and severely limiting his
breathing. Team doctors stabilized Brown on the field, administering
CPR until the ambulance arrived. Doctors later said the actions and
care of the team physicians probably saved Brown’s life.
Switzer pulls the trigger on himself
Following the Cowboys’ first losing season and first trip home before
the playoffs since 1990, Dallas head coach Barry Switzer resigned. Spec
ulation had been high that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would have re
lieved Switzer of his responsibilities regardless.
Former A&M quarterback and quarterbacks coach Gary Kubiak, who
is currently preparing for the Super Bowl as the Denver Broncos offen
sive coordinator, and former San Francisco 49ers head coach and two-
time Super Bowl champion George Seifert reportedly top Jones’ list of
candidates to become the Cowboys’ fourth field general.
Cotton Bowl woes continue for Aggies
In a game in which no one really gave the Aggies a chance, A&M
showed its pride, battling UCLA down to the wire before falling to the
fifth-ranked Bruins 29-23. Aggie junior linebacker Dat Nguyen played
masterfully, earning defensive MVP honors. Nguyen set the all-time
Cotton Bowl record for tackles with 20 while also intercepting a pass
and combining with Brandon Jennings en route to an 83-yard return
for the Aggies’ first touchdown.
This would mark the fourth consecutive Cotton Bowl loss for A&M and
would drop its 1997 record to 9-4, still a good season for R.C. Slocum’s 20th-
ranked team, which was projected to finish third in the Big 12 South.
Television deals equal big bucks for the NFL
CBS shocked the sports broadcasting world with its agreement to
pay the NFL $4 billion over eight years for the rights to televise AFC
games, making NBC the only network without an NFL deal.
After losing its AFC renewal deal, NBC also lost in its bid to win the
rights to Monday Night Football, which will be retained by ABC for the
next eight years. The FOX Network kept its NFC deal with an eight-year,
$4.4 billion contract. FOX also retained the services of Emmy Award
winning broadcaster John Madden, who was being offered a spot on
the Monday Night Football crew.
ESPN outbid its cable-channel challenger TNT to win the rights to
eight full seasons of Sunday night games. The two networks previous
ly had split the 16-game schedule.
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