No. 13 Texas A&,M 80, Gonzaga 76
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LAS VEGAS (AP)
Texas A&M coach Gary Blair knew his team learned something from its lone loss of the season.
Tanisha Smith scored 20 points, and Tyra White added 18 to help No. 13 Texas A&M beat Gonzaga 80-76 on Sunday night in the Las Vegas Hoops Classic. The Aggies (9-1) built a 20-point lead before surviving a late rally by the Bulldogs (9-4) in the final 10 minutes.
It was nearly the second time in eight days that they coughed up a double-digit lead in the final 5 minutes. Texas A&M fell to TCU 56-54 after holding an 11-point advantage late.
``It was a teaching moment and it will help us down the road,'' Blair said. ``We're going to be in a lot more of these battles once conference play begins.''
Trailing 68-48 with 11 minutes left, Gonzaga went on a 28-10 run to close to 78-76 on Tiffanie Shives' 3-pointer with 30.4 seconds left. After White made one of two free throws with 25.4 seconds left, Courtney Vandersloot turned the ball over and Damitra Buchanan hit a free throw to seal the win.
``We made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on,'' Blair said. ``White was the MVP for us.''
White had set her career high in Saturday's 72-62 win over Arizona State. She matched it again on Sunday.
Vandersloot scored 16 points, and Heather Bowman added 15 for the Zags.
Texas A&M built a huge first half lead behind 60 percent shooting from the field.
Leading by six midway through the first half, Texas A&M went on an 18-7 run to make it 38-21 with 4:21 left. White hit two 3-pointers during the spurt. The Zags were able to close to 14, but Smith hit back-to-back baskets to extend the margin back up to 51-32 at the break.
She finished the first half with 15 points and White had 12, going 4 for 4 from behind the arc.
It was the second straight game that the Bulldogs found themselves with a double-digit deficit at the half. They trailed by 17 against Baylor on Saturday night before falling 70-49.
``We can't keep spotting really good teams big leads,'' Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves said. ``I was pleasantly surprised how we were able to battle back.''
Gonzaga was able to cut into its deficit and was down 55-42 after a nifty backdoor layup by Katelan Redmon. But the Aggies then used an 11-4 burst to restore the 20-point margin.
The Zags wouldn't go away, mounting a furious rally behind Vandersloot and Bowman. Trailing 68-48 with 11:10 left, the Zags got going offensively.
``After last nights game, we were all disappointed in our performance,'' Vandersloot said. ``We wanted to prove we could compete with teams of this caliber.''
Vandersloot had an off-game against Baylor and she was determined not to have consecutive bad performances.
``It was disappointing to let my team down,'' she said. ``I know I can compete with teams at this level. I pulled it out from inside myself.
The Aggies beat Arizona State on Saturday night 72-62.
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