Adams leads Aggies past Cowgirls

By KRISTIE RIEKEN

AP Sports Writer

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Texas A&M coach Gary Blair used his pregame speech to talk to his team about No. 1 Baylor's loss to unranked Texas Tech earlier in the day.

He wanted to make sure the same thing didn't happen to his fifth-ranked Aggies. For a while, though, it looked like they didn't get the message.

They finally got going late with Danielle Adams scoring 24 points as Texas A&M outlasted Oklahoma State 76-67 on Saturday night.

The score was tied 54-all with about 5 minutes remaining before Texas A&M (22-3, 10-2 Big 12) scored 11 straight points. Sydney Colson scored the first five points in that run and Adams capped it with a jump shot with about 2 minutes left.

The Aggies were up by 16 points in the first half before Oklahoma State (15-10, 3-9) took the lead midway through the second period. Texas A&M had trouble feeding Adams down low and was cold from outside for most of the second half to allow the Cowgirls to hang around until the late run.

"When you are not at your best and still be able to win, it's a beautiful win," Blair said. "You better learn to be humble and stumble. If we would have been on the road we probably would have lost today."

Texas A&M's Sydney Carter said they learned a lesson on Saturday.

"It's a wake-up call for us to see that people can do that," she said of Oklahoma State's comeback. "When we get a big lead we need to put our foot on them and keep our foot on them."

Oklahoma State was led by Toni Young's 23 points and 17 rebounds.

Cowgirls coach Kurt Budke was impressed with the Aggies despite their struggles against his squad.

"I told Gary, I think his team is no question in my mind a Final Four team," Budke said. "It's by far his best offensive team he's ever had. For us to come here ... and perform like we did tonight, I could not be more proud of these kids."

The win was Texas A&M's seventh in eight tries against Oklahoma State and got the Aggies back on track after Monday's 67-58 loss at Baylor. Adams, who turned 22 on Saturday, bounced back from Monday's performance against Baylor where she scored a season-low nine points.

Carter added a season-high 19 points for Texas A&M and Tyra White had 13.

Colson, who had been on the bench for big chunks in the second half after getting three fouls before halftime, came in and scored her five quick points to make it 59-54 in the run that sealed the game. She fouled out with about 3 minutes remaining when she got tangled up with Carolyn Blair-Mobley.

Aside from those points, Colson didn't do much else and finished with eight points, one assist and two turnovers.

"Those two shots were huge," Blair said. "We're struggling there. I don't throw kids under the bus (but) she knows she needs to be better."

The Cowgirls took their first lead since early in the game, 51-50, on a three-point play by Vicky McIntyre with just under 9 minutes remaining.

Adams had a tough time against Oklahoma State's defense despite leading the Aggies in scoring. The 6-foot-1 Adams went 8 of 21 while struggling to get shots over 6-6 freshman McIntyre.

"You have to consider that a good night against her," Budke said of holding Adams to 24 points. "She's a great teammate. She doesn't care about scoring. I love the kid. At the end of the night you just hope she doesn't go for 40."

Tiffany Bias scored 20 points and had five assists for Oklahoma State, who had 23 turnovers that led to 27 points by the Aggies. Nineteen of Young's points came after halftime when she asked Budke to get her the ball more.

"Second half I was more relaxed and determined to score," she said. "In the second half my team needed me to play."

Oklahoma State scored the first seven points of the second half to continue a run that started in the first half and tied it at 36-all with 18 minutes remaining.

The Aggies led by 1 early in the first half before using an 18-3 run to stretch the lead to 25-9 midway through the period. The Cowgirls responded with a 14-4 spurt to close the gap to 29-23 about 4 minutes before halftime.

Texas A&M went more than 5 minutes without scoring a basket in that span as they struggled to score against Oklahoma State's zone defense.

The Aggies led 36-29 at halftime.

Updated February 19, 2011