Texas A&M Aggies Pull off Upset Against One Seed Stanford Cardinal

Of course, the UConn Lady Huskies are not putting the fear into teams like they used to.  Two of their stars graduated and the load has almost completely fallen on Maya Moore. The margin for error for these ladies is not very wide, but the only team to maneuver their way into UConn’s heads this season has been the Stanford Cardinal.

The Cardinals were the overwhelming favorites to win the entire championship and stop the Huskies in their tracks before achieving their third straight NCAA title.

Texas A&M had other plans in mind.

From the start of the game, the Aggies came out of the huddle with such a defensive pressure on Stanford that Jeanette Pohlen was virtually a non-factor. Pohlen plays upright, so being guarded by Texas A&M’s smaller players was a problem, forcing her to turn her back to defend the ball and use her court vision to get it out.

Danielle Adams was out of the game in the first half early because of two fouls, but the team is so used to her absence in those first minutes due to foul trouble, that they were still able to keep the speed and the defense that held Stanford from gaining a huge lead.

Texas A&M knew they were smaller in size, but they made up for the mismatch in perimeter jumpers and the ability to get to the foul line.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike was going to get her points because of how agile and strong she is in the paint. Her athleticism is always hard to defend without fouling and the Aggies realized this ahead of time. Their mindset was that Ogwumike was going to get her points and boards, but shutting out the rest of the team erased their options and allowed them to focus on the offensive side of the game.

Both Sydney Carter and Sydney Colson were the most important factors of the Aggies’ defense in my eyes. Now, they head forward to the Championship game and will need to stop pulling the trigger on those long range shots so quickly. It turned out in their favor this time, but bad shot choices are only going to lead to easy buckets on the other in end of the floor ultimately.

A one point win was all that one could ask for in the battle of the best, but who truly knew that Stanford would not be the team coming out of this fight on top?