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Aggies beat Missouri 65-55

Feb 4, 2010 - 3:06 AM By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer

COLLEGE STATION, Texas(AP) -- Danielle Adams was supposed to play for Missouri.

Instead she led Texas A&M to a win over the Tigers on Wednesday night.

Adams and Tanisha Smith, who are both from Kansas City, scored 19 points each and No. 12 Texas A&M got a 65-55 victory over Missouri.

The win ended a two-game skid for the Aggies and was their sixth straight win over Missouri.

Adams signed with Missouri out of high school but did not qualify academically and played at a junior college before coming to A&M.

"There was a lot of emotion there for me, knowing (Missouri) coach (Cindy) Stein for so long and now playing against them was emotional," Adams said.

The Tigers (11-10, 1-7 Big 12) never led in the second half, but got within one point several times.

The last time Missouri had a chance to take the lead, Texas A&M (16-4, 4-3) scored 10 straight points, including four in a row by Tyra White to extend the lead to 61-50 with a minute remaining.

The Aggies made four free throws after that to secure the win.

Stein talked to Adams for a few minutes after the game. She said her former recruit has improved greatly since high school.

"I think she's playing extremely well," Stein said. "She plays smart. She's playing defense. I don't think I've ever seen her play defense before."

Jessra Johnson had 15 points for the Tigers who have dropped three in a row.

Smith had seven steals and White added eight points and had six rebounds for A&M.

Adams had to sit for large portions of the game after getting two quick fouls in the first half and getting her fourth with about 13 1/2 minutes left. She returned for the last 6 minutes of the game in her first meeting against Missouri.

"When we were running our stuff when we had Danielle in we were as good offensively as we have been all year," Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.

A little excitement came when the 6-foot Smith tried a dunk on a fast break with about 30 seconds remaining. She sailed toward the basket and grabbed the rim, but the ball slipped out of her hand before she could put it in.

Smith, who said she has been able to dunk for about two years, was also excited to play her hometown team.

"I think there was a lot of emotion for all the Kansas City kids," she said of herself, Adams and White. "We all three were recruited to Missouri and not to (criticize) our home state, but I think we made a good choice by coming here. It's our style of play out here. We get after it."

The Aggies led by seven before Missouri scored six straight points to cut the lead to 43-42 with 12 minutes remaining. Texas A&M answered with five straight points by Kelsey Assarian to push the lead to 48-42 midway through the half.

Stein said it was hard to keep getting so close, only to see A&M pull away repeatedly.

"Their defense makes it tough," she said. "Nothing is easy. The one thing I love about our team is our kids are really competitive and they're fighting and scrapping and we're trying to get one. Every one is hard but we're going to show up every game and do the best we can."

Texas A&M went on a 5-0 run, all on points by Adams, to open the second half and push its lead to 33-27.

Adams scored 10 of Texas A&M's first 12 points but got her second foul soon after and went to the bench with about 13 minutes left in the first half and didn't return until after halftime.

The Aggies led by five for most of the first half and were up by that margin after a layup by Tanisha Smith with 1 1/2 left in the first half. The Tigers scored four straight points after that to trail 28-27 at halftime.

Christine Flores added 11 points for Missouri.

Texas A&M was without starting point guard Sydney Colson who is out with a left leg injury. Blair said he isn't sure how long she'll be out, but that she could play Saturday at Nebraska.