Texas A&M-Hartford Preview

3/24/2008 3:09 PM

By DAN PIERINGER
STATS Writer

Texas A&M prides itself on its defense, which has helped the Aggies advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season. To stay alive, however, Texas A&M will have to survive a taste of its own medicine.

The second-seeded Aggies look to advance to the round of 16 for the second time in program history on Monday, when they meet 10th-seeded Hartford and the best defense in the America East.

The Aggies (27-7) held opponents to 55.7 points per game in the regular season, ranking second in the Big 12 and 20th in the nation. Their defensive focus was on display Saturday, when they held Texas-San Antonio to 36.2 percent shooting in a 91-52 first-round rout.

"This is the way we like to play in the Big 12 where we play aggressive defense, and that's what we wanted to bring to this tournament today," junior forward Danielle Gant said.

Texas A&M's point total Saturday exceeded its previous season high by seven, but the Aggies know their success in the tournament will depend on their ability to limit their opponents.

"Really, we are just trying to stay humble and take each game as each game and not really looking forward to the next game," sophomore guard Takia Starks said. "Just handing out our business game by game and just staying focused in our game plans and just staying with our principles on defense.

"When we play defense, how we did (Saturday), we're going to win a lot more games, and hopefully we'll make it far in the tournament this year. That's our goal."

That seems like a reasonable goal for an experienced A&M squad that was ousted in the first round in 2006, and lost in the second round last season. The Aggies are hoping to make it to the round of 16 for the first time since their only other appearance in 1994.

"The main thing is that two years ago we were just excited to be there," senior guard Morenike Atunrase said. "This year we came out with a lot of experience. We've been there. We've been through the wars."

They could be involved in another war on Saturday, when they meet a Hartford team that has limited opponents to 54.7 points - 14th-fewest in the country. The Hawks (28-5) held seventh-seeded Syracuse to a dismal 27.1 field-goal percentage in their 59-55 upset victory Saturday.

Despite the stifling defense, Hartford still needed a strong finish from MaryLynne Schaefer. The junior guard made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining and added two free throws to give the Hawks the win.

"It was plays we have drawn up in practice a lot, situations," said Schaefer, who had a career-best 19 points. "And I was supposed to come off and see the post players. When I came I felt like they were guarded, so I just didn't really think about it and I shot it. I thought I had an open look and the thing went in."

The Hawks will likely need another big performance from Schaefer to advance to the round of 16 for the first time in program history. They've been to the second round just once before, losing to Georgia two seasons ago.

The Hawks have never faced the Aggies, but are 0-2 all-time against Big 12 teams.