Aggies Handle Lady Bulldogs To Reach Regional Final

DALLAS (AP) - Texas A&M easily handled Georgia in the regional semifinal.

Next up, the Baylor Bears, a team that handed the Aggies three of their five losses this season with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

Danielle Adams had 23 points and a career-high 14 rebounds and Texas A&M built a 31-point halftime lead on the way to a 79-38 win over Georgia on Sunday and a spot in the Dallas Regional final.

Top-seeded Baylor beat Wisconsin-Green Bay 86-76 in the other semifinal.

"They beat us three times, so this will be the fourth time, but for higher stakes," Texas A&M's Adaora Elonu said. "Definitely, we'll be prepared."

The 41-point victory was the most lopsided NCAA tournament win in school history for A&M, and Georgia's 38 points were the second-fewest in regional history.

"I kept looking up at halftime and I was telling (people): 'I can't believe it,"' Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said. "I was telling the officials: 'I don't know what happened.' I've never had an NCAA game like this against this quality of a team."

Texas A&M (30-5) led 13-0 and was up 27-2 with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half. The Aggies raced to the lead thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers and stifling defense that limited the Lady Bulldogs to a 1-for-14 start from the field.

"It wasn't pretty," Georgia coach Andy Landers said. "And if you're Georgia, it wasn't any fun."

The win gives Texas A&M its first 30-win season and puts the Aggies in the regional final for the second time and first since 2008.

Texas A&M's Tyra White is excited to play in the round of eight with Adams, a junior college transfer, who wasn't on that team.

"When we went there last time I think the only thing that really stopped us was not having an inside presence like we have in Danielle," White said.

Jasmine James scored 10 points to lead Georgia (23-11).

The Aggies are the only team in the tournament to have held each of their first three tournament opponents to below 50 points and their average margin of victory in those games has been more than 34 points.

"They're certainly good enough to play for a national championship," Landers said of the Aggies. "I felt that before we played them and I feel it now ... I think they're one of the five best teams in the country."

White added 14 points for A&M and Sydney Colson chipped in 11.

Landers, who was in the regional semifinals for the 19th time, called a pair of timeouts in the first 10 minutes to try and get his team on track, but it didn't help. Porsha Phillips missed an uncontested layup on Georgia's first possession, setting the tone for a tough first half.

Texas A&M hit more 3-pointers (eight) than Georgia did field goals (six) in the opening half. The Aggies got 3s from five different players before halftime, including three from Colson. The Aggies were shooting better than 57 percent from 3-point range by the break, while Georgia shot under 21 percent overall in the first 20 minutes.

"They did a really good job of pressuring us and disrupting us on the defensive end and not letting us knock down or be able to get the shots we're typically able to get," James said.

The Aggies' last 3 of the first half came when Adrienne Pratcher hit one just before the shot clock expired to stretch the lead to 46-15 with just under 3 minutes left, and Texas A&M was up 48-17 at the break.

Texas A&M beat McNeese State and Rutgers before the win over Georgia to set up its last shot at Baylor this season.

"That's been in the back of our minds," Sydney Carter said. "We've played them so close and we've never been able to finish."

The Lady Bulldogs are headed home again after reaching the regional final last season before losing 73-36 to Stanford.

Georgia looked as though it may have put its cold-shooting first half behind when Khaalidah Miller hit a 3-pointer early in the second half. Problem was, the Aggies hadn't cooled off and they answered with back-to-back 3s by Carter and Adams for a 54-20 lead. Those were the last 3s for A&M, which finished with 10, their most in an NCAA tournament game.

Georgia's shooting improved a bit in the second half, but the Lady Bulldogs still managed to shoot only 25 percent for the game. It was their lowest shooting percentage of the season and the second-worst in regional history.

The Aggies made 13 of 17 free throws, and Adams missed her first free throw of the tournament with about 11 minutes left after hitting her first 20 attempts this postseason.

Texas A&M used its reserves heavily after the first 10 minutes, often having three on the floor at a time. But regardless of who was on the court, the Aggies kept scoring. The Aggies were up 34 points with 14 1/2 minutes remaining before using a 10-4 run, fueled by four points by Pratcher, to push the lead to 72-32 with 8 minutes left.

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