r
Sports
Thefi,
Battalion
Page 7 • Wednesday, March 3, 1999
ew coaches,
Iwlden’s Basketball Team makes
t-gamejump under Watkins
BY SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
The Battalion
■it has been a season of ups and
downs for the Texas A&M Men’s
■sketball Team in coach Melvin
^^^fttkins’ inaugural season.
IjVlThc Aggies finished 12-14 and
5|1 in Big 12 play, an improve-
■nt from last year’s records of 7-
- ■and 1-15.
■After roaring out to a 7-1 start,
h&W dropped seven straight, in-
■■ding their first five Big 12 con-
:es::s. The Aggies
■overed, how-
?vt r, to finish
tht year by win-
nii g five out of
11 games.
^^■Some would
yatt ibute the Ag-
JHfts quick start to
■(■■ soft non-con-
RMence schedule
111 together by
foi ner coach
|bm Barone.
A&M easily
n games
linst the Uni-
sity of North
|T4\as, Lamar Uni
versity, Centenary College and Sam
Hbuston State University.
■ Included in the 7-1 stretch,
■wever, was a 65-58 victory
oyer Southeastern Conference
■wer University of Alabama on
■c. 1.
■ A&M began conference play
with a loss at the University of
Kansas on Jan. 2. Subsequent de
feats to Texas Tech University and
Iowa State University followed.
■ However, Jan. 23, on the
game’s final play, senior Chris
Clayton’s three-pointer at the
buzzer off freshman Joe White’s
full-court inbound pass defeated
A&M Men's
Season Leaders
Points:
Clifton Cook (15.6)
Rebound:
Shanne Jones (6.1)
Assists:
Clifton Cook (5.8)
Baylor University, 57-56, and gave
the Ags their first Big 12 victory.
The play, in which Jerald
Brown assisted, was featured in
the March 1st issue of The Sport
ing News.
A&M would go on to alternate
home wins with road losses for
the rest of the season as the Ags
soundly defeated Tech at home,
defeated Baylor again in a re
match and subdued Kansas State
University.
One of A&M’s most noteworthy
victories came in
their final home
game against the
University of Ok
lahoma.
OU had
crushed A&M
only 11 days earli
er by 27 points in
Norman. But in
the rematch, the
Aggies rallied
from an 11-point
deficit and won
the game on ju
nior Jerald
Brown’s short
jumper at the
buzzer.
There were positives to be seen
for A&M this season. The two vic
tories at the buzzer stand out for
most as the year’s most exciting
moments.
The emergence of Cook as a
solid floor leader was a key to the
Aggies’ success. Cook served as
the catalyst for the team. For his
efforts. Cook was named to the
All-Big 12 third team and received
Rookie of the Week honors a
record five times.
Senior forward Shanne Jones
was once again a steady force in
see Aggies on Page 10.
arena mark 1998-99 season
GUY ROGERS/Thk Battalion
MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion
TOP: Senior guard Kerrie
Patterson averaged 4.8
points, 4.1 assist and
1.1 steals per game for
the Texas A&M Women’s
Basketball Team this
season.
LEFT: Freshman center
Joe White contributed
6.0 points, 3.4 re
bounds and 0.92 blocks
per game in his first
year with the Texas A&M
Men’s Basketball Team.
Last-second finishes big story
in Gillom’s first year at A&M
BY TRAVIS HARSCH
The Battalion
Close only counts in horseshoes
and hand grenades, and the Texas
A&M Women’s Basketball Team
was not playing either in its first
season at Reed Arena and under a
new coach.
A&M ended its season with a
82-71 loss to Nebraska Tuesday at
the Big 12 Tournament. The Aggies
finished their first season under
coach Peggie Gillom with a 7-20
mark overall and a 2-12 record in
conference play.
Nine times the
Aggies lost by five
points or fewer,
and 13 of the 20
losses came by a
ten-point margin
or less.
Gillom, who
was an assistant
for the two-time
defending WNBA
champion Hous
ton Comets, took
the job that was
vacated by Candi
Harvey, who left
to take a head
coaching position in the American
Basketball League.
The Aggies got off to a less-than-
auspicious start, losing their first
game in Reed Arena to North
Texas. A&M won its next two
games at home before splitting two
games in Dallas at the SMU Clas
sic. The Ags then traveled to New
York City for the Big Apple Classic,
where they defeated both then Uni
versity of Massachusetts and Man
hattan University.
The Aggies then lost to both
Rice University and TUlane Univer
sity before closing out nonconfer
ence play with a 72-45 win over
Prairie View A&M.
The Aggies opened conference
play at home with a loss to the Uni
versity of Kansas, but won their
next game on the road against Ok
lahoma State University.
The Aggies would then go on to
lose four consecutive close games
to the University of Missouri, Texas
Tech University, which was ranked
seventh at the time, Iowa State Uni
versity and Oklahoma State Uni
versity by a total of 12 points.
A&M would get its second con
ference win of
the year against
Kansas State
University before
closing its season
with 10 consecu
tive losses.
A&M failed to
win a conference
game at home
and ended the
year with a 2-11
mark at Reed
Arena, compared
to a 3-7 road
record.
The Aggies,
with only two
players over six
feet who saw serious playing time,
had trouble against teams with size,
as demonstrated by a 604-518 re
bounding edge for opponents in
conference play, and were often
their own worst enemy, turning the
ball over 285 times in Big 12 play.
Despite these difficulties, the
Aggies look for next year to be a
bright one, as they will return 11
players from this year’s squad, in
cluding junior All-Big 12 selection
Prissy Sharpe, who averaged 18.3
points and 8.5 rebounds per game
this season, and junior Kera
see Hoops on Page 10.
A&M Women's
Season Leaders
Points:
Prissy Sharpe (18.3)
Rebound:
Prissy Sharpe (9.0)
A QQt q4*Q #
Kim Tarkington (4.7)
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