The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, December 02, 2002, Image 7

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Sports
The Battalion
Page 7 • Monday, December 2.
Regular season ends with lopsided loss at UT
\ggies waiting for word on bowl game
By Kevin Espenlaub
THE BATTALION
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The Texas A&M football 1 team stumbled
hrough a lopsided loss to the University of
exas on Friday, ending its regular season with
6-6 mark and putting its chances of a bowl
ame invitation into question.
Texas dominated the Aggies for much of the
ame, scoring not only on offense, but on
jefense and special teams as well before the 50-
contest came to a close from Darrell K.
foyal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin.
UT senior quarterback Chris Simms completed
6 of 24 pass attempts on the game for 278 yards
ind three touchdowns to help bury the Aggies.
“I almost started crying before the game,”
imms said. “The game was a good way to end
the regular season. I was happy with the way we
played: the team responded well.”
The game came less than a week after A&M
Teshman defensive lineman Brandon Fails died
nhis dorm room after a blood clot spread from
lis leg to his lungs, according to the Travis
bounty coroner’s office.
A&M head coach R.C. Slocum has had to
onsole his team while also preparing his play-
rs to take on their rivals from UT.
“I can't think of another week that was as
hard as this one has been ” Slocum said. “But we
had our chances to practice and we had our
chance to play today, and it would be unfair to
blame our performance on that.”
The Aggies started the game on a shaky note,
aiming the ball over on each of their first three
cossessions, including an interception by sopho-
nore quarterback Dustin Long and two fumbles.
The biggest difference in the game was the
six turnovers,” said UT head coach Mack
Brown. “To have that many turnovers converted
into points takes a team out of the game. It took
them out of their game plan early, but you have
to give A&M credit for not giving up.”
However, Simms failed to lead the Longhorns
into the end zone and Texas had to settle with
three field goals by sophomore kicker Dusty
Mangum, giving the Longhorns an early 9-0
lead. UT stretched the lead to two possessions
despite only gaining 48 yards of total offense in
the first quarter.
“I was really proud of how our defense
responded after those early turnovers,” said
A&M linebacker Brian Gamble.
With time running down in the opening peri
od, Long led the Aggies on a six play, 82-yard
drive, highlighted by a deep pass down the left
sideline to junior wide receiver Jamaar Taylor
for 39 yards.
The Aggies capped off the drive with a short
pass over the middle to sophomore Terrence
Thomas, who stretched the reception for 12
yards and the touchdown, closing the gap to 9-7.
The Longhorns came alive in the second
quarter, however, with two touchdown strikes of
44 and 75 yards to pull away from the Aggies,
23-7 with just more than six minutes remaining
in the half.
While UT was rolling in the second quarter.
Long and the Aggies were plagued with not only
missed coverages by the defense, but a poor
offensive line performance that led to a hurried
offense and two sacks for a loss of 17 yards in
the 15 minute period.
The Aggies best chance to score before the
end of the half was squandered with just more
than 30 seconds remaining when Long threw an
interception in the endzone from the 10-yard
line on a pass intended for senior wide receiver
Bethel Johnson.
“I was really sure that we were going to score
when we got the ball down there,” Long said. “I
don’t know exactly what happened on the pass, but
they made a good play and got the interception.”
Long completed 10 of his 13 pass attempts in
the first half for 131 yards and a touchdown to
go with his two interceptions.
ALISSA HOLLIMON • THE BATTALION
UT sophomore running back Cedric Benson runs through A&M’s redshirt freshman Jaxson Appel and senior
Terrence Kiel in Friday’s game in Austin. Benson ran for 88 yards and a touchdown in the Longhorns’ 50-20 win.
After the Wrecking Crew forced Texas to a
three and out possession to start the second half,
the Aggies drove the field for 57 yards and Long
completed a two-yard touchdown pass to senior
Terrence Murphy to pull the score closer, 23-14.
The Longhorns fired back with a 54-yard
drive before setting up for a 43-yard field goal
attempt by Mangum. However, the kick was
blocked by freshman Johnny Jolly and after the
ball rolled back towards midfield, the Aggies
recovered at their own 46 yard line.
The Aggie offense failed to score and Texas
would take its 30-14 lead into the fourth quarter,
and as the Aggies were driving, senior Cory
Redding sacked Long, causing and recovering a
fumble at the A&M 38-yard line.
On the next play, Simms completed a touch
down pass to Williams and after failing to con
vert on the two-point attempt, took a 36-14 lead.
See UT on page 9
Aggies host tournament, claim title Soccer season ends at NCAA’s
By Gary Livingston
THE BATTALION
i The Texas A&M women’s basketball team Won’ the
' Whataburger Aggie Women’s Basketball Classic by defeating
the Santa Clara Broncos, 73-51, at Reed Arena Sunday.
Junior guard Toccara Williams led the way for the Aggies
as she tied a career best with 22 points. She also led the Aggies
with nine rebounds. Sophomore Sabrina Mitchell also had a
career best 15 points for the Aggies.
“Toccara is a very smart defender,” said head coach Peggie
Gillom. “She’s always there at the right time. I’m very happy
she was able to score more today.”
The Aggies started the game fast going up by five after two
quick steals. The Broncos recovered from the early deficit and
went on a 10-point run; their largest run of the game. It was
also the only time the Broncos led during the game. The
Aggies kept their composure, however, and went on a 13-
point run to go up 20-12.
Both teams traded baskets during the next few minutes and
the Broncos pulled within one point as the Aggies led 26-25
with about six minutes remaining. The Aggies then went on one
of the greatest runs in their history by scoring 22 unanswered
points. The Broncos went the rest of the first half without scor
ing and didn’t score until five minutes into the second half.
“(Santa Clara) are a good three-point shooting team and I
knew they were capable of coming back,” Gillom said. “(The
run) was hard to believe, we tried to keep our composure and
play our game. That had to be the slowest clock ever.”
The Broncos did everything they could to catch up, firing
threes at will. For the game, the Broncos fired 26 bombs from
three-point range connecting on eight of them. While they
shot more than 30 percent from the three point line, the
Broncos shot a poor 27 percent from everywhere else.
The Aggies fared better, shooting 41 percent and 46 per
cent from the three point line as they went 6-13. Sophomore
guard Mindy Garrison was 3-5 from the three-point line.
Juniors Janae Derrick and Lynn Classen also scored nine
points each for the Aggies.
“During the run the intensity level kept us going” said
Williams. “Everyone was into it, my teammates were open
and I just tried to get the ball to them.”
After the 22-point run ended, the Broncos got as close as
16 points a couple of times, but never posed a serious threat.
Strong play from Williams and freshman Natasha
Summerville gave A&M a 25-point lead, the Aggies’ largest
of the night. The two teams then traded baskets and A&M
went on to win 73-51.
Summerville led the Aggies with 22-points in the Aggie
victory over IUPL Fort Wayne on Saturday. As a freshman,
she is already making a name for herself, according to Gillom.
“She is a very good shooter, who feels very comfortable
shooting ” Gillom said . “She’s gonna take her shots. It doesn’t
matter to me that she’s a freshmen, we are going to put our
best players out there.”
Staff and Wire
THE BATTALION
The No. 2 University of North
Carolina women’s soccer team got
two goals and an assist from junior
forward Alyssa Ramsey to defeat No.
4 Texas A&M 3-0 Friday afternoon
and earn a spot in the NCAA
Women’s College Cup semifinals for
the 21st successive year. The game
was played before a crowd of 1,375
fans at Fetzer Field.
With the win, UNC improved to
21-1-4 on the season. UNC has now
advanced to every NCAA Women’s
Soccer Final Four ever played. Texas
A&M saw its season end at 20-5-1.
The quarterfinal berth equalled the
farthest the Aggies have advanced in
NCAA play in their nine-year history.
Carolina scored its earliest goal
ever in its 79 NCAA Tournament
games and it proved to be the game
winner. Ramsey tallied the goal, her
16th of the season, just 22 seconds
into the match. Susan Bush took a ball
into the right corner and fed Lindsay
Tarpley just steps inside the right side
of the A&M penalty box. Tarpley cen
tered the ball to Annie Morrell who
held off her defender with her back to
the goal and she sent the ball back to
the onrushing Ramsey who finished
into the lower right corner from about
eight yards out.
“Getting a goal that early was a bit
of a relief, but as the half went on we
played worse and worse,” said UNC
head coach Anson Dorrance. “It was
a mixed blessing. You can really see
though that our leadership on the
field has been extraordinary. There is
no question that the team is playing
for their leaders.”
Neither team would score again in
the first half as the Tar Heels outshot
the Aggies 10-4 in the opening 45
minutes. UNC had eight corner kicks
in the first half but was unable to con
vert on those opportunities.
“First and foremost, the best team
on that field won today,” said A&M
head coach G. Guerrieri. “Carolina
came out strong and scored some typ
ical Carolina goals with a strong
attack. After the goal and the first
three minutes, our players did a good
job in the first half of adjusting, play
ing good defense and creating some
scoring chances up front.”
UNC came out in the second half
of play and scored two goals in the
first nine minutes of play to put the
game away. At 51:57, Ramsey
hooked up with Maggie Tomecka on
a corner kick to make the score 2-0.
Tomecka’s header into the left side
provided her with her third goal of
the season.
Just 2:46 later the Heels made it 3-0
as Ramsey scored her second goal of
See Soccer on page 9
DOUGLAS JEWELERS
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