A&M defense comes up big against ISU

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Adaora Elonu scored 14 points and No. 12/10 Texas A&M kept Iowa State winless in the Big 12 with a 59-33 victory on Saturday night.

The defending national champions harassed the Cyclones with a physical, aggressive defense in bouncing back from Wednesday night’s home loss to unranked Texas. The 33 points matched the fewest Iowa State has scored in a game in coach Bill Fennelly’s 17 seasons.

A&M (11-4, 2-2) closed the first half with a 15-1 run to open a 33-15 lead and Iowa State never seriously threatened through the final 20 minutes. 

Iowa State (9-6, 0-4) trailed 18-14 after Chelsea Poppens made a reverse layup with 9:05 left in the first half. But the Cyclones didn’t hit another field goal until Poppens threw in an off-balance putback as the shot clock buzzer sounded a little more than a minute into the second half.

Skylar Collins added 12 points for the Aggies. Poppens led Iowa State with 10. 

POSTGAME NOTES

TEAM NOTES

• For the third time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Alexia Standish, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Kelsey Bone… It marked the third career start for Standish, the 13th of Bone’s Aggie career, the 86th for White and 89th for Elonu.

• Texas A&M improves to 7-14 in the all-time series against Iowa State and has won five of the last six meetings. The Aggies now have two straight wins at Hilton Coliseum.

• Thirty-three points was the lowest A&M has held a conference opponent to (by 6 points) in the Gary Blair Era. It was also the second-lowest opponent point total in the Gary Blair Era, next to 26 points for McNeese State on Nov. 21, 2006.

• A&M held an 18-point lead at the half, its largest halftime lead at Hilton Coliseum all-time. In addition, A&M led by as many as 27 points in the second half, its largest lead all-time in Ames.

• A&M defeated Iowa State by 26 points, its largest margin of victory all-time in the series.

• The Aggies held the Cyclones to a season-low 28.9 shooting percentage.

• A&M made a season-high seven 3-pointers.

• For the first time this season, the Aggies were perfect from the free-throw line.

• The Aggie bench outscored the ISU bench, 21-3. A&M also held the advantage in points off turnovers, 21-10, and second-chance points, 19-9.

 

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• White has now started in 73 straight games, a streak that started on Jan. 4, 2010 against Lamar.

• Collins hit a career-best four 3-pointers and was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. She also added two assists and two steals and matched a career-high 23 minutes of action.

• White swiped a career-best four steals.

• Elonu was one rebound shy of her third-straight double-double.

• With nine rebounds, Elonu moved into eight place on A&M’s career rebounds list (619).

• For the second straight game, Karla Gilbert had a season-high three blocked shots.

 

POSTGAME QUOTES

A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR

Opening Statement

What won the ball game was our half-court defense. That looked like last year’s team. We have not played that well on defense the whole year. Our kids did a great job of helping and we stopped the lob the majority of the time. Tyra (White) hit the shot before the half that drained any momentum that they had. It was a tough shot, but that was the shot she hit to win the national championship for us. We’re getting everyone’s best games, but this was not Iowa State’s best game. They’re coming off a tough double-overtime loss and I feel for Bill with what he’s going through. The crowd was great, but for the first time we were able to silence the crowd. Our job as players and coaches is to get better during the season, not just get wins. We made a step in the right direction here.

 

On the key to the game

The key to the game was exactly how we lost to Texas. When we got their two bigs into foul trouble the last eight minutes of the first half, we did not take advantage. ISU didn’t take advantage of us when we were in foul trouble. I thought that was key, that ISU didn’t hurt us inside during that time. We weren’t able to hurt Texas, same scenario.

 

On this being A&M’s last trip to Iowa State

This is the last time I get to come to Iowa State. I love coming here because this is a classy program. ISU has a great staff.

 

SENIOR GUARD TYRA WHITE

On what the difference was in this game

I think our defense was the big key for us. We were getting in help side and we took away the lob that they wanted to get early. That led to our offense, which was pretty good momentum for us.            

 

On having the momentum at the half

We felt a lot of momentum just knowing that our defense was paying off to lead to offense. The shot at the half kind of sealed it for me and the rest of our team. Our defense was the main talk at halftime.

 

On A&M’s goals coming into this game

To make them shoot through our chin and not let them get too comfortable. We wanted to get good ball pressure and I think (Sydney) Carter did a great job with that today.

 

SENIOR FORWARD ADAORA ELONU

On what worked for her tonight

I was just trying to get comfortable and shoot when I was open; not force the issue. My teammates did a good job of moving the ball; we read what was given to us and shot the shot. That’s exactly what I tried to do.

 

On A&M’s defensive performance

We definitely came out intense and with a helping attitude tonight. We had everyone in the right spots, helping, trying to get up the line and sealing. It’s something that we need to continue for the rest of our conference games.