Issue date: 1/18/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: File - The Battalion [Click to enlarge]

A 1-2 start in conference a year after winning the Big 12 regular season title is not the beginning Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair was hoping for. But he said he has not given up, and he will not let his team give up.

"Right now, we are not playing like Big 12 Champs," Blair said. "But it's early and we are going to get it together."

After losing their first two conference games to Kansas State and No. 6 Baylor, the No. 16 Aggies went on the road Wednesday, picking up their first conference win in Colorado against the No. 25 Buffaloes. It was another difficult game in which the Aggies had to come from behind. Blair was out of breath after the game.

"You can't blame the altitude," Blair said. "You have to be ready to play all the time in this league, and we finally saw that in the second half. When you don't play your best and still win on the road, it's a beautiful thing."

A trademark of Blair's teams has been tough defense and a grind-it-out style of play. However, A&M has been getting into foul trouble, and Blair said he was concerned about the defense becoming too aggressive. The Aggies allowed the double bonus to the Buffaloes in both halves, committing 30 fouls with three players fouling out.

"We have got to learn to play better defense without fouling so much," Blair said. "We've been lucky that we only have two losses. I had to have my 5 (foot) 10 (inch) kid guarding their low post player."

But Blair said he is confident his team can gain control. They will have a chance Saturday against the highest scoring team in the Big 12, No. 18 Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls are scoring 82.6 points a game and also have the conference's No. 2 scoring defense, allowing 53.8 points to opponents.

"This conference is all about good point guards," Blair said. "And we've got to go face another good one in Andrea Riley at Oklahoma State."

Riley, at 5-foot-5-inches, is making a case for All-American. She leads the Big 12 in scoring with 22.3 points a game and is shooting 41.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. She had 45 points against rival Oklahoma, which keyed the Cowgirls upset win over the No. 6 Sooners. The 45 points would have outscored the total points by Missouri in the Cowgirls next victory, a 76-41 margin. Blair said the matchup between Riley and A&M's 5-foot-3-inch A'Quonesia Franklin, a showcase of the two shortest starters in the Big 12, will be the determining factor.

"When you have that much scoring coming from the shortest player on the floor and surround her with people who can score the basketball like they have, it makes it that much harder to defend," Blair said.

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