Sports
The Battalion
Page 1B • Thursday, November 21, 2002
ggies end exhibition season with 87-59 win
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By Gary Livingston
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M women’s basket-
team, led by junior Janae
■rrick, won its second straight
^ exhibition game over Houston Flight
the NWBL Elite 87-59 on
lidnesday night.
^Derrick led the Aggies in scoring
for the second consecutive game
1th 21 points. She also came within
Jo assists and two rebounds of a
irfcle double.
‘Janae has really matured and
en over for us,” said head coach
gie Gillom. “She has really
irked on her game and has taken
lead.”
I “in addition to Derrick, three other
gies scored in double digits,
hiding Toccara Williams, with 12,
llm Moore with 14, and Sabrina
Btchell with 13.
“It’s always good to have lots of
pltuers in double figures,” Gillom
said, “It’s good for upcoming games.
and we’ve got to have that.”
For the game, the Aggies shot
45.5 percent, which includes
Derrick's 8-12 performance.
Mitchell also had the shooters touch,
going six for seven.
The Aggies looked better on
defense, limiting Houston Flight to a
40.3 percent shooting night, and out
rebounding their opponent 56-31.
A&M held Houston Flight scoreless
for nearly eight minutes late in the
second half.
“Rebounds are something we’ve
been trying to work on,” Gillom said.
“We were first in offensive rebounds
last year, and we’ve been working on
boxing out so far this season.”
The Aggies began the game trail
ing 4-2, but after that they controlled
the game sprinting out to a 9-4 lead,
then going on an 1 1-point run, the
largest run of the first half, to
increase their lead to 20-6. By the
10-minute mark, the Aggies had built
a 28-14 point lead, their largest lead
of the first half. Flight got within 10
points before the Aggies built a 40-
27 halftime lead.
In the second half. Flight came
out of the locker room strong getting
within nine points of A&M on two
separate occasions.
The Aggies stayed sharp and
built their lead back up to 66-54
before going on their best scoring
run of the night. With just less than
10 minutes to play, the Aggies went
on a 13-point scoring run to
increase their lead to 79-54.
A&M held Flight scoreless from
9:28 until just 1:36 remained on the
clock, and had a 29-point lead during
that span, their largest of the night.
“Exhibition is over with, it’s
always good to win,” Gillom said.
“It’s a good confidence builder, and
prepares us for more games.”
After winning both of their exhi
bition contests, the Aggies will set
their sights on the regular season
which will begin Monday night
against Northwestern State at Reed
Arena at 7 p.m.
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Aggie senior forward Kim Moore makes a move towards the basket in Wednesday’s game.
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ig 12 deserves more representation in NCAA tourney
HIKING
Trov
Miller
With Aggie fans preoccupied with the weird and
icky season at Kyle Field, they are missing the
cial season being put together by the Texas A&M
men’s soccer team across Wellborn Road at the
;gie Soccer Complex.
After dropping three games early in the season,
the Aggies went on a tear by going unbeaten in the
next 16 games, a school record, and winning the
nt has hill'-■>ular season Big 12 Championship.
nciscoteflNow, in the NCAA tournament, the Aggies are
emiauiiilltf still hot as they are in the Sweet Sixteen for the
fourth consecutive season after beating Southern
Methodist University and Northwestern State.
The only problem is the Aggies are not hosting
their third round game despite being ranked as high
as No. 4 in the nation in two polls. Instead, they will
travel to Los Angeles, Calif, to face the seventh-
seeded UCLA Lady Bruins on Saturday.
The Big 12 Conference gets no respect when it
comes to NCAA bids in soccer. Despite the
University of Texas and A&M being in the top 10 in
the country, most of the season in the top five, nei
ther team secured a seed in the tournament bracket.
The NCAA seeds the top eight teams, which host
the first three rounds as long as they win. The top
four remaining seeds host quarterfinal matches to
detennine who goes to the Final Four in Austin.
Only three teams out of the Big 12 made the
NCAA tournament; A&M, Texas, and Nebraska
,after upsetting Texas and A&M to win the Big 12
Tournament and earn an automatic bid.
“For there only to be three teams from the Big 12
doesn’t make any sense,” said Aggie senior defend
er Jessica Martin. “We have one of the best confer
ences in the nation.”
Not only did none of the three teams out of the
Big 12 get seeds, but Texas and A&M were placed
in the same regional. That means one of the top ten
teams in the nation is going to get knocked out in the
first two rounds.
The NCAA did this because in non-revenue
sports, such as soccer, it brackets based on region.
Therefore A&M, Texas, SMU and Northwestern
State all were bracketed together because of their
close proximity.
“You take the WAC champion (SMU), you take
the Big 12 champion, you take their biggest rival,
then throw in the Southland Conference champion
(Northwestern State),” said Aggie head coach G.
Guerrieri. “Then you move on from there and the
survivor of this bracket goes on to play a great PAC-
10 team, probably.”
Now, after surviving a region with the No. 8 team
in the nation, A&M must move on to face No. 3
UCLA. The winner will most likely have to travel to
Chapel Hill, N.C. to face No. 2 North Carolina in
the Elite Eight.
These three teams should not face one another
until the Final Four, based on the seasons they had.
“It was a tough bracket,” said SMU head coach
George Van Linder. “All the coaches were kind of
joking among each other that if any of us were to get
to the Final Four, that was going to be the easiest of
the games.”
With only 16 teams out of the original 64 left,
two are from the Big 12. Nebraska beat Hartford 2-
0 and Yale 1 -0 to earn the right to face sixth-seeded,
and defending national champion, Santa Clara.
If A&M and Nebraska can knock off their seed
ed counterparts, maybe the Big 12 will finally get
the respect it deserves.
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CLASS OF 2004
JR. E-WALK 2002
NOVEMBER 26
Law-Puryear Field
Schedule of Events:
10:30 - 2:00 Pictures with elephants, games, and music
11:30 -1:00 Lunch catered by Chicken Express ($5 in advance)
Class of 2003
1:00 Speaker at Kyle Field
2:03 Elephant Walk
Step-off from Kyle Field
Keynote Address
Speakers:
Elephant Walk - Bobby Tucker
Jr. E-Walk - Frank Cox
Merchandise on sale now
at the MSC
Class of 2004
2:04 Jr. E-Walk Step-off from
Law-Puryear Field
(followed by speaker in Kyle Field)
Tee Shirts: $10, Long-sleeved Tees
and Sweatshirts: $15,
Lunch Tickets: $5
I
<<v
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Texas ACM University
Fait Activities
Councii presents
Fight F esf
V
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A FRCC event fo
event for aft
Aggies, former Students
C Aggie Supporters
Mommy,
NovtmtR 25
Cory
&.R. S/mpson Prill Fhlb Morrow
0:00 ,,. m .
Free Food,
Games
G Local Bands
8:00 p.m.
Yell Practice
featuring the
Texas Aggie Footbati Team,
Veit leaders & Aggie Band
STROKE 9 & CORY MORROW
FOLLOWING mi PRACVCt
In the event of inclement weather, Yell Practice & Concert will be held in Rudder Auditorium.