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Friday, January 19, 2001
Sports
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THE BATTALION
Aggies prepare for offensive showdown with Baylor
By Brian Ruff
The Battalion
Reed Arena will explode Saturday af
ternoon when the top three scorers in the
Big 12 conference do battle.
Senior forward Jaynetta Saunders and
the rest of the Texas A&M women’s bas
ketball team will take on the No. 25 Bay
lor University Bears and the conference’s
top offensive player, Sheila Lambert, at 1
p.m. at Reed Arena.
The Aggies (11-4, 1 -3 Big 12) are com
ing off a 97-84 defeat at the hands of the
University of Oklahoma Sooners on
Wednesday night. A&M sent the Sooners
to the free-throw line a record 44 times.
Saunders led the Aggies with 35 points,
her career high. She is second in the Big
12 Conference in scoring, averaging 22.2
points per game.
The Aggies have been plagued by not
getting crucial offensive rebounds for
much of the season. A&M had a much im
proved 17 offensive boards on the night
against the Sooners, a giant leap from their
12.81 conference average.
“Rebounding has been the Achilles’
heel for us, but against Oklahoma, we had
more offensive rebounds than they [OU]
did,” said A&M women’s basketball Peg
gie Gillom.
Last year, the Aggies swept the season
series with the Bears, a team that won only
two games in conference play. This year’s
Baylor squad, with new coach Kim
Mulkey-Robertson, sits at 2-2 in confer
ence play with losses to Big 12 frontrun-
s Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
“They [Baylor] are a totally different
team than last year,” Gillom said. “They
have a guard on their team that is probably
one of the top five guards in’the country in
Sheila Lambert.”
Ajunior-college transfer for the Bears
this season, Lambert is ranked third in
the nation in scoring and is just ahead of
A&M’s Saunders in the Big 12 scoring
charts.
Lambert, a 5-7 junior from Seattle, was
a two-time winner of NJCAA first-team
All-American honors.
She heads up a powerful Baylor offense
that is seventh in scoring offense in the na
tion. The Beafs also possess the Big 12
conference’s third leading scorer in 6-2
forward Danielle Crockrom.
The Bears broke into the top 25 for the
first time in Baylor women’s basketball
history earlier this month.
The Baylor matchup will mark the
.fourth straight game that the Aggies have
faced a nationally ranked opponent.
“1 told the kids that if you are going to
get down, then you are not on the right
team. We are not going to spiral down like
we did sometimes last year when we lost
games,” Gillom said.
The Aggies also suffered another tough
loss Wednesday night when Meg Banahan
left the game early in the first half with a
torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left
knee. Banahan saw action in all 16 games
for the Aggies this season.
“She [Banahan] was our spark off the
bench. Meg was also a great offensive
rebounder and a defensive player,”
Gillom said.
BERNARDO GARZA/The Battalion
Texas A&M forward Jaynetta Saunders (32) goes up for a shot against Texas Tech University on Saturday at Reed Arena.
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STUART VILLANUEVA/The Battalion
[exas A&M freshman forward Jesse King throws down a dunk in the
Aggies' 76-58 loss to the University of Texas on Wednesday night.
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he Battalion
The Bataan Death March portion
of the Texas A&M men’s basketball
Jam’s conference schedule contin
ues Saturday as the Aggies travel to
Allen Fieldhouse to take on the fifth-
ranked Kansas Jayhawks at 3 p.m.
I The game against the Jayhawks
■arts a stretch of five games in which
A&M plays four ranked teams.
I The Aggies (6-10, 0-4 in Big 12)
are limping into this rough stretch of
games having lost four straight games.
1 Their latest setback was a 76-58
defeat at the hands of the University
of Texas Longhorns Wednesday.
I A&M controlled the first half of
the game against Texas, holding the
Horns without a field goal for the fi
nal 11 minutes, 54 seconds of the half
en route to a 34-28 lead at the half.
I In the second half, A&M’s lack of
depth and Texas’ inside game proved
to be too great an obstacle for the Ag
gies to overcome.
I The Longhorns shot 59.3 percent
in the second half, while holding
A&M to 38.1 percent.
I “We played one good half and
five good minutes in the second,”
said A&M men’s basketball coach
Melvin Watkins. “I’m not going to lie
to you: Fatigue was a factor. They
had a good game plan, and it was to
run and wear us down.”
The Aggies can expect much of
the same from Kansas; the Jayhawks
have held 14 straight opponents un
der 50 percent shooting. They have
also out-rebounded 14 of 15 teams
this season.
Kansas is third in the conference
in scoring average, putting up 83.9
points per game.
“Obviously when you play
Kansas, it’s a big challenge,” Watkins
said. “The only thing we can do is
work hard and try to come up with a
game plan. We will find some posi
tives from the Texas game, and we
will not quit.”
The Jayhawks returned home af
ter a four-game road trip with a bang
on Wednesday.
Kansas (14-1, 3-0) smothered the
Nebraska Cornhuskers, 84-62, hold
ing Nebraska to 41 percent shooting
and forcing 23 turnovers.
The victory was the seventh in a
row for the Jayhawks, who have not
lost since an 84-53 loss to 11th-
ranked Wake Forest on Dec. 7.
Kansas remains the only unbeaten
team in Big 12 play after Missouri’s
loss to Kansas State Tuesday.
The Aggies will be without Tomas
Ress and Andy Slocum, who are both
out for the season, along with senior
forward Aaron Jack, whose status is
in question after suffering a concus
sion against Colorado a week ago..
Women’s swimming hosts dual meets
By Jeremy Brown
The Battalion
After losing three straight meets, the Texas
A&M women’s swimming team will attempt to
regain some momentum when it hosts the Uni
versity of Houston and the University of Nebras
ka in dual meets this weekend.
The women held a 5-0'record in dual meet
competition in the fall and finished the semester
by winning the Texas A&M Invitational. How
ever, the team’s luck took a turn for the worse af
ter the holiday break.
A number of swimmers returned from the
break with ailments ranging from sprained ankles
to pneumonia. Others have missed recent meets
because of season-ending injuries.
Since returning, the team has posted a 0-3
record in dual meets with losses to No. 15 South
ern Methodist University, Louisiana State Uni
versity and No. 24 University of Kentucky. The
last win the women posted was against Ohio State
University on Dec. 21.
Sharisse Blau, Clara Ho and Michele Riggins
all missed the SMU meet, and several others
swam despite being sick. Blau and Riggins were
able to compete against LSU and Kentucky, but
the results were the same.
A&M women’s swimming coach Steve Bult-
man said it has been a tough year because of the
ailments.
“Hopefully, we woh’t have another year like
this in a long, long while,” Bultman said.
Bultman said that the team should be healthier
this weekend than it has been the past couple of
weeks and that Ho may be able to compete.
In the first meet this weekend, the Aggie
women will face Houston at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Coached by a former A&M swimmer, Ginger
Hurley, the unranked Cougars are 1 -4. Bultman
called Houston a developing program and said
he felt fairly confident that A&M will do well in
the meet.
Bultman said Nebraska should provide a
tougher challenge for A&M.
“Hopefully, we will have everybody back
healthy,” Bultman said. “We will need them be
cause it could go down right to the wire.”
Bultman said that the 4-2 Cornhuskers have
Some very good swimmers, but the team’s num
bers are not great partly because of the recent re
tirement of Nebraska’s head swimming coach,
Cal Bentz.
Bentz coached the men’s swimming team for
24 years, and for the last eight years has also
coached the women’s teams before he retired on.
Dec. 11. Paul Nelson was hired as Nebraska’s in
terim head coach.
The Nebraska meet will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.
After the meets this weekend, the women
will have a dual meet against Rice University
before they travel to Austin for the Big 12
Championships on Feb. 15-17.
Bultman said the reason the meets were sched
uled back to back this weekend was to help pre
pare the team for the three straight days of com
petition in the conference championship.
Men’s tennis set for spring slate
By True Brown
The Battalion
Following its most successful season, expecta
tions are at an all-time high for the Texas A&M
men’s tennis team.
Just eight months from a Sweet 16 appearance
and a Big 12 championship, the Aggies will begin
the spring season ranked fifth, their highest pre
season ranking ever. That ranking will be tested
today when the team begins play at the Rice In
door Invitational in Houston.
The individual tournament, which drew five of
the top 15 teams in the nation last year, will pro
vide a good litmus test for the Aggies before team
play begins later this month.
“The strong field there will give us a good in
dication of where we are standing for this
spring,” said A&M coach Tim Cass. “The guys
are all ready to go. We are very excited about
getting started.”
The defending Big 12 champions will be get
ting some solid conference competition from No.
20 University of Texas and No. 15 Baylor Uni
versity, which still have a bitter taste in their
mouths after losing to A&M in the Big 12 final.
Six starters are returning this spring from last
year’s squad. The Aggies are looking forward to
play from freshman Tres Davis, one of the top-
ranked junior players in the country.
Several A&M players competed in the Mil
waukee Tennis Classic last week at Marquette
University. Davis and junior Jarin Skube reached
the quarterfinals of the 128-player draw, while
sophomore Ryan Newport advanced as far as the
semifinals before losing to the eventual tourna
ment runner-up Travis Parrot from the University
of Georgia.
Senior team leader Shuon Madden will also
play for the Aggies. Madden, the only four-time
All-American in school history, is currently un
ranked in the singles polls after sitting out the fall
season to be eligible for the spring team season.
A&M will also feature a highly ranked dou
bles team. The tandem of Skube and senior Cody
Hubbell, currently the lOth-ranked doubles team
in the nation, highlighted the fall season with a
win in the doubles portion of the ITA Regionals
in November.
The duo also competed together in the doubles
draw of the Milwaukee Classic, advancing to the
semifinals before being knocked out by the even
tual tournament champions Brandon Currie and
Jimmy Borendame from Butler University.
FILE PHOTO/The Battalion
Texas A&M senior Cody Hubbell will be a
part of this season's talented team.
Cass said, that while the team is talented, he
knows the tournament will be difficult.
“Nothing is guaranteed. I’d be lying if I said we ;
didn’t have high expectations. We know we still •
have to perform,” he said. !
Tracksters begin indoor season with two meets
By Thomas Campbell
The Battalion
The Texas A&M track team is
looking for a good
start to its season
this weekend at the
OU Classic in Nor
man, Okla. and the
Pole Vaulting Sum
mit in Reno, Nev.
The men’s
track team, ranked
11th in the nation,
according to the
Trackwire 25 Preseason Poll, is
looking to improve upon last year’s
RAMZY
34th place finish in the indoor track
season.
Leading the Aggies into the sea
son will be All-Americans Bashir
Ramzy, Travis Ashton and Brandon
Evans.
The Aggie men look to capitalize
on last year’s success at the OU
Classic, when they brought home
four gold medals. Evans brought
home the gold in the triple jump,
edging out Ramzy.
Ramzy also struck gold, winning'
the long jump, and senior Mike
Hummel chipped in with a first-place
finish in the 1,000-meter run.
The 1,600-meter relay team look’s’
to finish atop of the OU Classic after
finishing fourth in the nation last year.
The women are not ranked na
tionally, but they look to prove them
selves in Oklahoma after an injury
plagued 2000 season.
All-American senior Meshell
Trotter looks to have another strong
season, and sophomore high jumper
Robyn Burkhardt is looking to make
a run at the NCAA Championships
and All-American honors.
Seniors Christina Ohaeri and
Chimika Carter hope to continue to
place well in the hurdling events.
Also on Saturday, the pole
vaulters will travel to Reno, Nev. for
the annual pole vaulting summit. - *
All-American senior Jon Nance
and senior NCAA qualifier Richard
McDonald are considered one of the
top pole-vnulting tandems in the
country this year, and they hope to
show this early in Reno.
McDonald is returning from a
shoulder injury that kept him out of
the 2000 track season, but he hopes
to pick up where he left off in 1999
when he finished 13th at the NCAA
championships.
A&M women’s record holder Er
ica Boren will be traveling to Reno to
represent the Aggie women in the
Pole Vault Summit.