Rapid Reaction: Texas A&M-Stanford

By Charlie Creme Special to ESPN.com Archive

INDIANAPOLIS -- A look at the first half of Sunday's first national semifinal between Texas A&M and Stanford at the women's Final Four at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Stanford 27, Texas A&M 23
PLAYER OF THE HALF: Stanford's Nneka Ogwumike. Stanford's entire game plan seemed to be to get the ball in to Ogwumike or get the ball on the rim and let her go get it. She was all Stanford had early and for most of the half. She was the single weapon to offset the tremendous Texas A&M defensive pressure. Ogwumike finished with 16 points and six rebounds while playing the entire half with no fouls.

PLAYER OF THE HALF II: Texas A&M's Sydney Colson. She grabs this honor without scoring a single point. The senior's contribution was all about defense, but she spearheaded the A&M pressure and completely took Stanford's Jeanette Pohlen out of her game. Pohlen was uncomfortable the entire half, committing five turnovers. Thank Colson for that.


BEST SUPPORTING ROLE: Stanford's Kayla Pedersen. She didn't get off to a quick start, but in typical Pedersen style, she wore down whoever was guarding her, scoring while facing up in the lane, in the post and on dribble drives. She finished with nine points and five rebounds.

TURNING POINT: Texas A&M went on an 11-1 run that ended with a Kelsey Assarian layup with 8:13 left for a 19-12 Aggies lead. During that 5 minute, 10 second period, Stanford turned over the ball six times in seven possessions.

TURNING POINT II: Immediately after that A&M spurt, Stanford answered to finish the half on a 13-4 run for the lead. The Cardinal settled down a bit and it was during that stretch that Pohlen made her only 3-pointer of the half. It came with 3:08 left and gave Stanford a 23-21 lead.

KEY STAT: Senior Melanie Murphy, who played a total of three minutes in the Spokane Regional, played 11 in the first half. She didn't play particularly well at first, but Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer clearly had more confidence in Murphy than either Lindy La Rocque or Toni Kokenis, who combined to play just 10 minutes.

KEY STAT II: Stanford outrebounded Texas A&M 23-15, and that includes grabbing 11 of the game's first 12 rebounds.

THREE THINGS TEXAS A&M HAS TO DO TO WIN:
1. Shoot it better. The Aggies were just 10-of-33 from the field. Colson was 0-for-4. Adaora Elonu was 1-for-5.
2. Get more out of Danielle Adams. Whether it was the early fast pace or the ball she took to the face midway through the half, her body language was not good for most of the first 20 minutes. She made an early 3, but did little else after that and has two fouls.
3. Keep the pressure on. A&M's biggest weapon was its pressure defense and the Aggies were able to maintain it most of the half. Without being able to rebound or make jump shots, forcing Stanford mistakes might be all they have.

THREE THINGS STANFORD HAS TO DO TO WIN:
1. Settle down. Texas A&M hasn't made it easy and won't in the second half, but it will be tough to win if the Cardinal keep this pace of 11 turnovers per 20 minutes.
2. Get more from Chiney Ogwumike. While Nneka was outstanding, the younger Ogwumike sister struggled after scoring the game's first basket. She picked up her second foul at the 9:10 mark and played just nine minutes. Her line was two points, 1-of-5 from the field and two rebounds.
3. Keep rebounding. The dominance on the glass is what kept Stanford from getting blown out by the A&M defensive onslaught early. It's the Cardinal's biggest advantage and it needs to stay that way.