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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 2001)
-< February 5' Monday, February 5, 2001 lich El-Ha; now her of thegi me andoj 1 was la; and broi ray El-1 lerer wb iie him d SAUNDERS on a m onions Sports in Brief — Red Raiders beat gs in Lubbock The Texas A&M women’s bas- etball team suffered its third traight Big 12 loss Saturday io the No. 9 lexas Tech Lady iaiders, 92-79. Senior for ward Jaynetta launders once igain led the aggies (12-8, !-7) in scoring nth 23 points. Tech was led by sophomore forward Pienette Pierson who rad 25 points and 14 rebounds. ^Equestrians have ;ood show at LSU The Texas A&M women’s questrian team had another trong showing this past week- nd at the Louisiana State Uni versity show. Oklahoma State won the first how with 36 points and tied for first in the second show with host LSU. I The Aggies finished second in [he first show with a total of 35 points afid took third in the sec ond show with 22 points. The Aggies broke away from the pack and now stand alone in the lead in Zone 7 with 188 over- pit points. racksters finish rd, 6th at meet The Texas A&M men's and omen’s track and field teams look third and sixth place, re spectively, Saturday at the Hous ton Indoor Classic. The men finished ahead of top-ranked Arkansas with six second-place finishes. The women followed the strong finishes of All-American Meshell Trotter, as well as sophomores Robyn Burkhardt and Melissa Gulli. uesttoiM" Sports THE BATTALION Sooners shoot down Aggies OU excels from free-throw line in 72-63 victory overAgs By Jason Lincoln The Battalion The Texas A&M men’s basketball team’s marathon run is over. Facing the Big 12’s elite teams in the last eight games, the Aggies start ed the conference season on a down ward slide. Saturday’s 72-63 loss to No. 24 Oklahoma marked the turning point of the Aggies’ schedule and their performance. A&M (6-15, 0-9 in Big 12) outre- bounded and outshot Oklahoma (17- 4, 6-3), forcing the Sooners to post a perfect 16-of-16 performance from the free-throw line in the second half to outlast the Aggies. A&M shot 47 percent and grabbed 32 boards, including 15 on the offen sive glass that led to 16 second-chance points. Oklahoma shot 46 percent but post ed only 23 rebounds — 12 of which came on the Aggies’ side of the floor. “I look at the rebounding and our shooting percentage,” said A&M men’s basketball coach Melvin Watkins. “There’s not much more we can do with that. I can’t be too disap pointed in that. Every game is a tough game for us right now. We almost have to play perfect basketball, and that’s tough for us.” Oklahoma played a far-from-flaw- less game but survived its rebounding woes with its performance on the free- throw line. The team’s leading rebounder in its five-game winning streak, Nolan Johnson, failed to post a single board despite scoring 11 points. It was Aaron McGhee who stepped up big, leading the Sooners’ scoring charge for the first time since the last meeting against the Aggies. McGhee scored 22 points. J.R. Raymond scored 17 and Hollis Price posted 10. “I was just more aggressive tonight and I made some shots,” McGhee said. Sophomore guard Bernard King led the Aggies with 18 points while freshman forward Nick Anderson and sophomore forward Keith Bean post ed 10 each. Anderson fouled out with five min utes remaining. Bean came off the bench to post his 10 and team-leading six rebounds. Watkirts gave freshman center Nolan Butterfras his first start on Saturday, in a plan to try to keep Bean out of early foul trouble. The strategy worked as Bean played 22 minutes and had just two fouls. Butterfras scored six points. Oklahoma’s ball control kept the Aggies’ hot hands in check. The Soon ers turned the ball over just seven times. “I really liked the way we took care of the ball and made free throws,” said Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson. “If you can do those two things consistently, it makes it a lot easier.” A&M forced Oklahoma to play the perimeter. The Sooners took 24 of their 48 shots from 3-point range, making just eight. But it was not enough, as the Ag gies could not muster the offense to pull in front of the Sooners. “We fought back, but we just don’t have enough yet to overcome some of those things,” Watkins said. A&M will face Baylor on Tuesday. The Bears are the first team with a los ing record in league play the Aggies have faced in eight games. BERNARDO GARZA/The Battalio# A&M freshman forward Nick Anderson goes up for a shot against t the University of Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday at Reed Arena. * BERNARDO GARZA/Tm: Battalion The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team defeated the SMU Mustangs, 145-91, on Saturday. Ags swim past SMU in final home match By Jeremy Brown The Battalion High school swimmers from the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) were in attendance when the No. 4 Texas A&M men’s swim ming and diving team competed against No. 19 Southern Methodist University on Friday. Instead of the high schoolers learning something, it was SMU that was schooled. A&M won nine of 13 events to defeat SMU, 145-91. A&M jumped out to a 57- 17 lead by winning four straight events — the 400-yard medley relay, the 1,000-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle and the 50- yard freestyle — to start the meet. “I expected it to be a little closer,” said A&M men’s swimming coach Mel Nash. “They matched up against us very, very well, but the two races that totally turned it were the 1,000 and the 200 free.” In the 1,000 freestyle, A&M scored an upset as sophomore Patrick Dideum de feated SMU’s Steve Barnes by swimming a career-best time of 9:17.71 seconds. In the 200 freestyle, A&M was impres sive with senior Devin Howard, senior Al fred Mansour and junior Patrick Kennedy finishing first, second and third, respec tively. Howard’s winning time of 1:38.13 was an A&M record. “That shocked them [SMU] a little bit and then you come back in the 200 and go 1-2-3 in what is traditionally one of their strongest events and one of our weakef events,” Nash said. “I think that kind of set them back on their heels.” A&M junior Riley Janes swam thd fastest 100-yard backstroke time in the nation during his leg of the 400-yard med^ ley relay. Besides breaking the A&M record in the See Swim on Page 101 ;ntpjir involved!*- # if Jtk r mm m Liberal Arts Career Week Tonight: Resume Writing Workshop 7:00 p.m. Rudder 502 Tuesday, February 6th: Interviewing Workshop 7:00 p.m. Rudder 502 Wednesday, February 7th: Networking Workshop 7:00 p.m. Koldus 111 Thursday, February 8th: Alumni Forum 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Reed Arena Social 8:00 - ? p.m. Reed Arena Friday, February 9th: Career Fair 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Rudder Exhibit Hall www.lasctamu.com