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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2000)
Fridil y-Febte iday. February 18, 2000 Capps. Care Team al Collegiate Advisei id the conference, nent major, looks rnou ing of non-Republii ush has held a slim k eat with McCain. :n, a CNN-USA Id Hush slightly alieadr hem essentially tied An American Res ‘ iroup poll of 600 k cided. TTie poll, also 40 percent non-Rep cans, was taken Stij through Tuesday andt an error margin ofplif minus 4 percentage pd on poll done for median >lina had the raceesseaa :h 45 percent and Mcf vith a 4 point error mass ndidale in the race, . 1 ; in single digits. SALLIE TURNER/Tm BattaUON senior forward Aaron Jack goes up for a shot against Colorado University last Saturday at Reed Arena. Ags host Texas Tech BY AL LAZARUS The Battalion Officially, the Texas A&M men’s eeh Univer sity, 88-86, Jan. 15 in Lubbock. Unofficially, the Aggies tied the Red \ oters gave Bush 4 ? ^sketball team beat Texas cent and McCain 4! j cent, w itli 7 percentiri Raiders. Sophomore guard Andy Leather- man’s layup appeared to come alter the final buzzer had sounded, but the basket was ruled good — igniting a storm of protest from the Red Raiders and a hasty departure from United Spirit Arena by the Aggies, who understandably did not want any part of what quickly turned into an ugly situation. A&M (7-15,3-8 Big 12) will look for I a season sweep of Tech (10-12, 1 -10 Big 1 \2) when the Red Raiders visit Reed Arena on Saturday. TipolT is set for 3 p.m. “They’re going to be breathing fire," A&M coach Melvin Watkins said. "Tech will come in here thinking we stole one up there, and they will have every intent to get it back.” The Aggies are coming off a 63-54 loss to Baylor Wednesday night in Waco. A&M rallied from 13 down to take a five-point lead with 4:00 remaining, but the Bears’ Tevis Strikes nailed two clutch 3-pointers to rally Baylor down the stretch. Freshman guard Bernard King led the Aggies with 21 points, upping his scoring average to 16.5. King, who is the Big 12’s seventh-leading scorer, was See Tech on Page 8. SPORTS THE BATTALION Page? Ags in second at Big 12 Championship BY BLAINE DIONNE The Battalion It was a smile four years in the making. Senior Monica Williams, one of five remaining seniors from an initial freshman class of 14, was grinning from ear to ear after she finished warming down from her most successful day at a Big 12 Championship as a Texas Aggie. Although the University of Texas is currently in first, Williams and her teammates managed to fin ish second, the best single-day team performance at the Big 12 Championships in A&M history, giving them the chance to make some serious noise over the next two days. Williams’ contributions came as a second-place finish in the 200- yard freestyle relay, her third place finish in the 200 individual medley and another third-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. According to Williams, what made her performance so special was the fact that she had never swam the 200 IM in a pressure sit uation before. ”1 was excited, it was my first time swimming it [the 200 IM] at a big meet because I basically sprint freestyle,” Williams said. “But my coach and I decided that this time we’d swim the 200 IM in stead of the 50 1'ree and I shocked myself.” Texas A&M women’s swim ming coach Steve Bultman said he was very pleased with the way his senior was able to respond to the challenge of the 200 IM. “Monica Williams had a nice time drop to get third in her race, so that’s real good,” Bultman said. “She just swam real well.” Williams was not the only highlight of the Aggies’ day, though. Bultman said he was hap py with his whole team after the meet. “We had a very good perfor mance today,” Bultman said. “We had a number of lifetime bests and a number of school records, so we were pleased.” As happy as the Aggies may be with their first-day results, they still have a long way to go against a powerful Texas team and an equally skilled University of Ne braska team. The Longhorns took all three See Second on Page 8. JP BEATO/The Battalion A&M swimmers (l-r) Monica Stroman, Monica Williams. Amy Osmun and Clara Ho came in third in the 400-yard medley relay. Women’s basketball travels to face Oklahoma State BY REECE FLOOD The Battalion The last time the Texas A&M women’s basketball team played Oklahoma State University, the Aggies lost 61-42 in Reed Arena. The loss put A&M in a freefall as they lost the next seven games. But the Aggies (11-11,3-9 Big 12) seem to have right ed the ship, winning two of their last three games, and will head to Stillwater, Okla. for a rematch game against the Cowgirls (12-12, 4-8 Big 12) Saturday at 2 p.m. In the first game, senior forward Kera Alexander lead the way for the Aggies with 11 points. But the Cowgirls had three players that shined. Toya Releford ended the game with 15 points for OSU, while team mates Chantoya Hawkins and Jennifer Crow each tal lied 13 points. Alexander thinks tomorrow’s game may be a little different than the last time the two teams met. “Hopefully, we’re starting to peak now alter the past couple of games,” Alexander said. “I think we’re play ing better as a team. I think we’re good enough to beat them. I think we were good enough to beat them the first time. Hopefully, the difference will be we decide to come out and play.” The Aggies feel confident about their chances for a victory in Stillwater. OSU is in the midst of a five- game losing streak, while the Aggies seem to be gain ing momentum. Alexander said if her team places pressure on OSU, they might be able to take advantage of the Cowgirls. “I think if we come out strong in the beginning, that we can (take advantage of them),” Alexander said. “The biggest thing is, if you let them in the game, they’re go ing to build confidence and build confidence. Cause when you’re down, you look for anything to build con fidence. If we keep them down, then we should win the game.” Junior guard Brandy Jones thinks the Aggies are ready for the challenge. “We’re coming olf two big wins at home,” Jones said. “We have the momentum, and we’re playing more together as a team.” See OSU on Page 8. i JMSa.
