Tuesday, December 10, 2002
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The Texas A&M women’s
basketball team will head to
layton, Ohio for its first road
game of the season Tuesday
when they take on the Wright
Suite Raiders in a game sched-
iled for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
V The Aggies have rolled off
four consecutive wins after
Hropping the season opener to
Northwestern State and used a
■9-2 run to open the second
[half Saturday against Arkansas-
fine Bluff before cruising to a
19-51 victory at Reed Arena.
I “We tried to come out with
ks much intensity as possible
in the second half),” said A&M
lunior Janae Derrick.
A&M head coach Peggie
illom recognizes that while
the teams the Aggies (4-1) have
been playing are not as solid as
the Big 12 competition they
will face later this year, they
could still present problems.
“We have to come out ready
to play these teams because
they come ready to play you,”
Gillom said. "We missed a lot
of open shots (against
Arkansas-Pine Bluff), but we
got back and played defense
and that was the difference in
the game.”
The Raiders (1-4) have
struggled early this season and
are coming off of a 110-69
defeat at the hands of the
Miami (OH) Red Hawks on
Saturday.
Raider sophomore Tiffany
Webb scored a career-high 36
points in the game, but the team
still came up short and allowed
the most points in a game since
the 1992-1993 season.
A&M was missing its lead
ing scorer on Saturday, junior
guard Toccara Williams, forcing
the Aggies to rely heavily on the
services of Derrick and senior
Kim Moore, who both tallied a
season-high 15 points.
Derrick is the leading
rebounder this season for the
Aggies and is averaging 7.6
rebounds per game.
Freshman Rhianna Reed
took over for Williams at point
guard and scored five points
while recording five assists for
the game.
Williams, who signed with
A&M out of Hollywood, Fla.,
had started in 61 consecutive
games before injuring her ankle
early last week in practice. She
is expected to play against
Wright State.
She is currently moving up
the ladder for career totals and
ranks second in school history
in steals and fifth in assists. She
led the Big 12 in both cate
gories last season.
The two teams have squared
off once before with A&M tak
ing the 89-65 victory last
November at Reed Arena.
Williams recorded the first
triple-double in school history
in the game with 13 points, 1 1
assists and 10 rebounds.
The performance was the
fourth all-time in the Big 12.
The Aggies will return to
Reed Saturday for a matchup
against the University of
Texas-Arlington.
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
A&M freshman Rhianna Reed makes a move around Pine Bluff’s Thuretta
Arnold Saturday. Reed was playing for injured guard Toccara Williams.
hio State, Miami ready to party at the Fiesta Bowl
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Before
ie season, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel
ok his staff on a road trip to watch other
ams’ spring workouts. One of the stops
as Miami.
Why there, Tressel was asked.
“They're Miami. They’re the national
Jhampions,” he said.
Now Ohio State will get another look
/N.C. (AF-j nthe Hurricanes in the Jan. 3 Fiesta
Jowl. And this time, Tressel hopes the
luckeyes come away with that coveted
itle. Miami is a 13-point favorite, but
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“1 don’t think we get too involved in
an icest - ” broa d type of things, like who’s the
tnderdog or who’s not,” Tressel said. “I
™hink our guys are just excited to have a
hance to play in the Fiesta Bowl and to
W. % against the national champions.’
The game matches two undefeated
.earns who used similar weapons but dif-
jdeitdesj'i" ferent routes to the same destination.
om the Sr I
Top-ranked Miami (12-0), seeking to
become the first repeat champion since
Nebraska in 1994-95, scored sometimes
at will, averaging 41.9 points. But it also
gave up more points (18 per game) than
it might have liked.
No. 2 Ohio State (13-0), going for its
first championship since 1968, played
defense more diligently, allowing just
12.2 points per game. It also scored less,
averaging 29.
Miami never scored fewer than 26
points in a game and pounded most
opponents. Still, there were close calls. A
missed field-goal attempt by Florida
State saved that victory for the
Hunicanes. They trailed hapless Rutgers
in the fourth quarter before recovering.
Pitt had a chance to tie the Canes on the
game’s final play.
Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl-trip clincher,
a 56-45 shootout against Virginia Tech,
stretched Miami’s winning streak to 34
straight, sixth longest in NCAA Division
I-A history.
Ohio State had its own narrow games,
beating Purdue 10-6, Penn State 13-7,
Wisconsin 19-14, and Michigan 14-9.
The teams share common denomina
tors at running back and quarterback.
Miami’s Willis McGahee rushed for
1,686 yards and 27 touchdowns. Ohio
State freshman Maurice Clarett gained
1,190 yards and scored 16 TDs.
Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey, like
McGahee, is a Heisman Trophy candi
date and has a career record of 38-1. He
threw for 3,073 yards and 26 TDs this
season.
Those numbers had him eighth in the
Division I-A quarterback rankings. Right
above him at No. 7 is Ohio State quarter
back Craig Krenzel, who passed for
1,988 yards and 12 TDs, but edged
Dorsey in efficiency ratings, 148.1 to 148.
“I know there are going to be a lot of
people around the country saying, ‘Ohio
State does not belong in this game. Ohio
State can’t win this game,’” Krenzel said.
“I don’t think that’s true, and none of
the guys on our team believe that’s true.
We believe we deserve to be playing on
Jan. 3. We respect Miami and we know
they’re a great team, but there’s not a guy
on this team who doesn’t think we can
compete, who doesn’t think we can’t go
out and win.”
Miami has not seen much of Ohio
State and will get its first look at the
Buckeyes on film on Tuesday. Miami
knows Clarett can be explosive.
“From what I’ve seen, he’s a good
back, and he’s going to get his yards,”
defensive back Sean Taylor said.
Both coaches are familiar with the
opposing program — and it goes back
further than spring practice.
Miami coach Larry Coker spent two
seasons as an assistant to Ohio State head
coach John Cooper in 1993-94. He
served as an assistant at Miami before
taking over the head coaching position
two years ago — and hasn’t lost.
“I have great memories of Columbus,
Ohio, and the Ohio" State University,”
Coker said. “It was just a great experi
ence for my wife and myself. We loved
every moment of it. It’s very intense.
Football is very important to Ohio State.
Tressel was a candidate for the Miami
job when current Cleveland Browns
coach Butch Davis was hired to take over
the program in 1995.
Tressel denied that he was offered the
job. He said he interviewed for it, but
said the timing wasn’t right for all the
parties involved.
“It’s interesting in life: usually things
work out,” Tressel said. “Things worked
out for all of us and here we have a
chance to be at Ohio State. Things
always work out.”
A Reminder...
Sell your books
back at
LOUPOT’S
BOOKSTORES
"A Tradition of Friendly Service Since 1932
and reserve books early for spring
semester.
www.loupots.coni
NORTHGATE
WOLF PEN PLAZA SOUTHGATE
335 University Dr. 1907 Texas Ave. S. 308 Geor 9® B ^ h i’ r [ ; /(n
.VCollege Station, TX 77840 College Station, TX77840 College Station, IX 77840,
"fe (979)846-6312 n ooc /qtq-i fiQ3.??78 h
FAX: (979) 846-0748
K #-
Warn
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Block Party
Ued-n Dec- Ifi S:3D-7:3D PM
The Clayton U- Williams Jr-
Alumni Center
get your sticker!
win door prizes!
visit with your friends!
free fajitas!
get your sticker!
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