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ildcats claim 66-61 win over A&M Hornets
THE BATTALION
Thursday, January 17, 2002
Kansas State holds off late Aggie rally
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JOHN LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Te as A&M guard LaToya Rose tries to drive past Kansas
emns Bate's Nicole Ohlde during KSU’s 66-61 win Wednesday night.
By Kevin Espenlaub
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M women’s
basketball team (10-6, 2-2)
proved something to itself and
the Big 12 Conference during
Wednesday’s game against No. 9
Kansas State University (17-1,5-
0). It was not that it could finally
beat two consecutive conference
opponents, something the Aggies
have not done since entering the
league in 1997.
But A&M did show that it could
play with the best as they fell in a
hard-fought battle, 66-61, in front of
1,721 people at Reed Arena.
“Kansas State is a great team,’’
said A&M head coach Peggie
Gillom. “But I think we were good
enough to beat them tonight. This
is a game we let slip away from us
by not doing what we were able to
do against Iowa State Saturday.”
Junior forward Meg Banahan
began the game by scoring the
first nine points for the Aggies,
keeping them within striking
range in a half when the lead
changed hands nine times before
halftime. The Aggies went into the
locker room trailing 26-24.
Banahan had not practiced
since the Iowa State game on
Saturday due to soreness in her
knee, but finished the contest with
a game-high 26 points, including
66 percent shooting from the field.
“I thought Meg really stepped
up and had a tremendous game for
Texas A&M,” said Kansas State
head coach Deb Patterson. “She
was enough of a threat from the
outside that her short game was
able to work pretty well for her.”
The second half was dominated
by guard Laurie Koehn and the
Kansas State Wildcats. KSU nailed
six 3-pointers in the second half to
finish with a Reed Arena visiting
team record of 10 for the game.
Koehn had three of the second half
3-pointers and five for the game to
help her finish with 16 points.
Also dominant throughout the
game was Wildcats center Nicole
Ohlde, who finished the game
with 17 points, six assists, four
blocks and four steals, team highs
in all categories.
“I just don’t think we had
enough help in the post today,”
Banahan said. “[Ohlde] is much
bigger than we were, and we just
needed to get the help down there
a little quicker to stop her.”
Despite the performance of
Koehn and Ohlde, the Aggies
received a spark in the second
half from freshman guard Mindy
Garrison, who nailed two 3-
pointers on her way to eight
points and a steal during a 12-2
A&M run. Garrison finished the
game with 10 points.
“Mindy is a great shooter,”
Gillom said. “That’s why we put her
in there when we did and tonight
she added some pretty good defense
as well while she was out there.”
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SPORTS IN BRIEF
No. 19 Missouri
rips A&M, 74-50
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -
i/esley Stokes, out of the
tatting lineup for the second
straight game, scored 13
?oints to lead No. 21 Missouri
jlo a 74-50 victory over Texas
IM on Wednesday night.
Stokes was one of four
lissouri players to score in
iouble figures as Kareem
Rush had 15 points and
lArthur Johnson and Clarence
Gilbert each had 12.
Back forces Mahan out of football
By True Brown
THE BATTALION
Michael Mahan, a three-
year starter for the Texas A&M
football team at offensive tack
le, announced his retirement
from football Tuesday.
Mahan developed four
bulging disks in his back in the
latter part of the season, and
decided to quit instead of
undergoing surgery.
“I had a little bit of a gut
feeling about it,” said Mahan, a
senior from Homer, La. “I
talked with some doctors and
coaches, and we kind of made a
group decision that it would be
best that I not play so [the disks]
wouldn’t have
a chance to
rupture.”
Mahan was
plagued the
previous two
seasons with a
heart arrhyth
mia that
required two
surgeries last
season. After spring drills,
Mahan was given a clean bill of
health to start the 2001 season.
MAHAN
The heart condition flared
up before the Aggies played
Kansas State on Oct. 20, forc
ing Mahan out of the contest.
After playing in pain
against Oklahoma on Nov. 10,
Mahan took just one snap in
the Texas game on Nov. 23
before having to leave the
game after his back locked up.
As a freshman in 1999,
Mahan earned second-team
All-America honors from The
Sporting News, after playing
at both left and right tackle for
six games.
“It hasn't really set in yet,”
Mahan said. “I’m sure it will hit
me in a few months. When two-
a-days roll around in August. I
may be a little miserable for a
while. This is the first time in
my life I’ve been told that I
physically couldn’t do some
thing, and that is the hardest
part to cope with.”
Mahan is on track to gradu
ate in August and will be get
ting married in March.
“Between school and plan
ning the wedding, hopefully
that will keep my mind off of
having to stop playing foot
ball,” Mahan said.
apply for
transfer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)
— The Charlotte Hornets,
who tried unsuccessfully last
spring to relocate to
Memphis, want to move to
New Orleans, Mayor Pat
McCrory said Wednesday.
McCrory said he had not
spoken directly with the
team, but was told by Mike
Crum, director of operations
management at the Charlotte
Coliseum, that the team plans
to apply to the NBA for per
mission to move. Any move
would have to be approved by
NBA owners.
“This comes as no sur
prise. We anticipated it for
several weeks,” McCrory said.
Charlotte management
refused to comment
Wednesday. Crum could not
be reached, and NBA offi
cials did not immediately
return phone calls.
A spokeswoman for
Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster,
Marsanne Golsby, said Foster
and team co-owner Ray
Wooldridge would meet later
Wednesday in Baton Rouge.
“It’s not ever a done deal
until it’s signed,” she said.
“We’ve been very cautious
about expressing our opti
mism because Charlotte
could make an offer and they
would change their minds.”
Hornets co-owner George
Shinn refused to comment as
he left practice Wednesday
morning after meeting with
players.
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