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Page IB • Monday, January 26, 2004
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o. 18 Texas Tech escapes Reed Arena 80-78
Sports
The Battalion
ontroversial no-call in final seconds leave Aggies winless in Big 12 conference
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
No. 18 Texas Tech escaped Reed Arena
urday night with an 80-78 victory over Texas
M, but not without a little bit of controversy.
With just more than 10 seconds remaining and
scored tied at 78. Red Raider senior guard/for-
rd Andre Emmett spun on three Aggie defend-
eri. hopped into the lane and laid up a 10-foot shot
th it banked in off the glass to give Texas Tech (16-
4-0 Big 12) the win.
Emmett did all that after picking up his dribble,
(the traveling violation was never called.
“I can't say what 1 want to say” said A&M
ad coach Melvin Watkins. "Yes (1 thought
imett traveled). I'm not going to let that one
pi . get us down.”
After A&M senior forward Jesse King put back
shot by senior guanl Leandro Garcia-
rales to tie the game with 20.4 seconds remain-
jink, ail 12.124 fans in attendance knew Red
|R ider head coach Bobby Knight u anted the ball
Emmett’s hands.
But even with three defenders on Emmett, the
xas Tech star was able to score.
did see an opening towards the end.”
nmett said. “I dribbled into (A&M senior center
idy) Slocum and then went towards the middle,
law a little crease so I took the shot.”
Emmett led all scorers with 23 points, hitting
mi cof 13 in the game.
bel3 With 6.6 seconds remaining, the Aggies had
lUjle chance left.
■fe JSophomore guard/forward Antoine Wright
ini aunded the ball to Garcia-Morales, who drib-
bk I the length of the court and put up a three-
’ ^Bint shot from the top of the key that bounced off
tlw front of the rim as time expired.
■ Watkins said the play was drawn up to go to
freshman point guard Acie Law IV. but he was
bl; nketed by the Red Raider defense. The second
opltion was Garcia-Morales.
anjJ ''They denied me the ball," Law said. “We got it
^Bto Leandro. Unfortunately it fell a little bit short.”
’raj jBoth teams shot more than 50 percent in the
game, but Texas Tech shot a season-high 61.5 per
cent from the door.
artffll " H:kI we i° st '' W(,u * c i have been a really tough
n loss for us,” Knight said. "No doubt it's a really
)Llt | le fough loss for A&M. It was obviously a real battle
j is iw 111 t0 en( T’
lent J After A&M took the early lead. Texas Tech
NAS# 11 lia i° u( i n fr° nt by as many as 12 points with
:r andN? left in the first half. At times it looked as
team Pugh the Red Raiders were ready to blow out
, 0 n the Aggies, but A&M fought back to within three
of sMints by halftime.
are.B<P The second half was a much closer battle.
menH‘« er y time one team seemed to gain momentum,
jtrotaJbe other would answer right back with neither
e shui-P" 1 gening a lead of more than five,
ear as With 3:04 left to play, the Raiders began to
manaj in control, leading 73-68 after a pair of free
ows from senior guard Mikey Marshall, but
iy, thfw answered with a three-pointer 34 seconds
aceciii
d Mai
^ salt
mi
John C. Livas • 1HI BATTALION
TOP: A&M freshman point guard Acie Law IV drives to the basket on Texas Tech
junior guard Devonne Giles during the Aggies loss to the Red Raiders on Saturday.
Law scored 14 points in 20 minutes of play.
LEFT: A&M sophomore guard/forward Antoine Wright buries his head in his jersey fol
lowing the Aggies 80-78 loss to No. 18 Texas Tech. Wright had 10 points.and three
rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
Sharon Aesmbacm • THE BATTALION
later to pull the Aggies within two.
After Marshall converted on a three-point
play to put the Raiders up 76-73 with 1:30 left, it
was Law again who answered back by driving
the length of the court to hit a basket while draw
ing a foul. He converted the free throw to tie the
game at 76.
Law led the Aggies with 14 points in 20 min
utes of playing time.
“That was a huge basket,” Knight said of
Law's three-pointer. “1 thought that was the
biggest basket of the game next to the bucket
Emmett got at the end.”
After four Big 12 conference games, the
Aggies are still winless, but they have had a
chance to win all of them. Just like Garcia-
Morales' last second shot Saturday, the Aggies
have fallen a little bit short.
A&M will travel to Ames, Iowa, Wednesday
night to face Iowa State.
"I'm not down,” Watkins said. “I'm disappoint
ed. but not down. 1 can feel good about what we
are doing in practice and the fact that we are being
competitive. We are not down.”
Aggie women fall short, lose to No. 3 Texas, 64-62
Senior Toccara Williams moves to second in steals in Big 12 conference all-time
er Tfe
vhybli
iration
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M head coach Gary
lair came close to leading a stu-
•ofess^dent parade to the Dixie Chicken
:nts inpn Sunday, a reward he promised
to at! 1 his women's basketball team
i the’ll eat No. 3 University of Texas.
I The lead changed hands six
livingl mes during a game that was hotly
‘It walontested into the final minute. In
I le end though, it was the
I onghorns (17-2, 5-1 Big 12) who
revailed, 64-62.
I “Sometimes you just survive,”
I lid Longhorn coach Jody
I 'onradt.
I The Aggies (7-10, 0-6) led as
Di late as 4:15 in the second, but
■^lauld never recover after Texas
I uard Heather Schrieber hit a
I iree-point shot to put Texas up by
JJ^pnir with 2:08 to play.
I “(Schrieber) hit some key shots
I'hen she was open,” said A&M sen-
I ir point guard Toccara Williams.
L I Williams, whose 40 minutes of
flaying time dominated the Aggie
111 ffense, set career highs in scoring
l^liid steals with 24 points and nine
J teals. Williams moved past the
jj'jpl 00 career steal mark (403), mak-
i ig her No. 12 all-time in steals in
jjiil lie NCAA and No. 2 all-time in
lie Big 12. She is only the fourth
CAA player to accumulate 1,000
pints, 500 rebounds, 600 assists
d 400 steals in her career.
The Aggies had 13 points off
22 Longhorn turnovers while
Texas only had three.
“We stayed in the game
because of our turnovers,” Blair
said. “We only had six in the
whole ball game, two or three at
the half. That says a lot for one of
the best point guards in the country
(Texas junior Jamie Carey).”
Even though the Aggies took 26
more shots than the Longhorns,
Texas scoring percentage was 48.9
percent compared with the Aggies
31.5 percent.
It was Texas freshman forward
Tiffany Jackson, who came off the
bench to play 32 minutes, that led
Texas to victory.
Jackson had her second dou
ble-double of the year, ending the
night with 15 points, 11 rebounds
and four blocks - the team high in
each category.
Jackson’s block of A&M sen
ior forward Janae Derrick with 19
seconds left took away hope of
the Aggies making up the four
point margin.
Jackson said she was able to
maximize on A&M covering
Schrieber outside opening up the
paint.
“(A&M was) making it really
hard for our guards to get the ball in
the wings,” Jackson said. “It opened
up a lot of things down low.”
Schrieber also had a double
double on Sunday with 11 points
and 11 rebounds.
Texas out-rebounded A&M 46
to 32, including a pivotal 34-to-
15 margin on the Aggie half of
the court.
Aggie sophomore guard Erica
Roy fouled out at the 4:38 mark,
ending her successful coverage of
Schrieber, who leads Texas in scor
ing with 12.7 points a game, but was
held to only two in the first half.
Williams’ 31 attempted shots,
29 field goals and two three-point
ers, was almost one-half on the
teams 73 total. Blair said that he
would like to see other players tak
ing more shots, but supports
Williams taking so many because
the situation.
“She is having to put up more
shots because we can rebound off
her shots,” Blair said. “She knows
she shouldn’t be shooting that
many times, but right now that is
all we have.”
The Aggies have only won a
single game in their last nine
tries, dropping six straight con
ference games.
Blair said a win is coming, and
Williams said the team will be in
good spirits as it travels to Lubbock
to play No. 3 Texas Tech( 16-2, 3-2)
next Wednesday.
“We aren’t going to let this
game get us down, we played
extremely well from start to finish ”
Williams said.
A&M senior guard Toccara Williams shoots over two Texas defenders during the Aggies' 64-62 loss.
Williams became the fourth player in NCAA history to have 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 600 assists
and 400 steals in her career.