Wednesday, April 6, 2011

gig this: aggies are champions!


The national championships are continuing to pile up at Texas A&M University.

Since 2009, the school from College Station has won six national titles, including one in women's basketball on Tuesday.

The Aggies' women's basketball team captured its first national crown in program history with a 76-70 victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Texas A&M closed out the game with a 10-4 run.

With Tuesday's win, Texas A&M now has a total of 11 national titles. The women's basketball team joins the men's and women's track and field, softball, football, men's golf and equestrian teams as the only Texas A&M programs to win national titles. The men's and women's outdoor track and field teams won back-to-back national titles in 2009 and 2010 and the men's golf team captured a crown in 2009. The football team, which is Texas A&M's most popular sport, won its only title in 1939. Texas A&M's softball squad won titles in 1982, 1983 and 1987 and the equestrian team won it all in 2002.

Texas A&M became the first Big 12 school to win the national title since Baylor in 2005. Ironically, the Bears won their first and only national championship in Indianapolis. The Aggies also became the fourth Texas school to win a women's basketball national title, joining Baylor (2005), Texas Tech (1993) and Texas (1986).

"We were not going to lose this game," Texas A&M senior Danielle Adams told the Texas A&M Battalion on Wednesday. "We've fought hard from day one at 6 a.m. to practice and worked hard through this whole season to prepare for this point."

The Aggies also prevented Notre Dame from becoming the first school in 19 years to win a national title in its home state. The Irish, who beat powerhouses Tennessee and UConn to reach the national championship game, finished 31-7.

The win on Tuesday was a good ending for Texas A&M seniors Adams, Sydney Colson, Maryann Baker and Catherine Snow.

Adams played at Jefferson College (Mo.) for two years before joining Texas A&M last year. When she was a sophomore, Adams helped Jefferson reach the JUCO national championship game. On Tuesday, she scored 22 of her game-high 30 points in the second half and earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honors.

Colson bounced back from foul trouble in the first half to finish with 10 points and five assists. Colson played for Texas A&M all four years and was named team captain in her sophomore and junior seasons.

Two years ago, Baker suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Now, she's part of a championship team. The Dallas native played 10 minutes and scored two points. Baker earned first-team all-Big 12 Academic honors.

Snow played in her second and final season with the Aggies. She played in nine games this year. While attending Troy High School in Temple, Texas, Snow lettered in five sports -- basketball, volleyball, softball, cross country and track.

Texas A&M beat McNeese State and Rutgers in the first and second round at Shreveport, La. Then, the Aggies beat Georgia and Baylor in the Dallas Regional to advance to the Final Four for the first time. Texas A&M advanced to the title game by upsetting Stanford in the national semifinals.

With the win over Notre Dame on Tuesday, the Aggies finished 3-0 against Big East opponents this season.

The third win turned out to be an historic one for Texas A&M.

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