Texas A&M women’s basketball will look for its first conference victory against No. 14 Colorado tonight in Boulder, Colo.
Tera Bjorklund, Colorado’s 6-foot-5-inch center, is the tallest obstacle the Aggies must overcome to grasp their first conference win in five tries. Bjorklund ranks second in the Big 12 scoring, with 19.6 points a game.
“(Bjorklund) will be a WNBAfirst-round draft choice,” said A&M Head Coach Gary Blair. “They run the triangle offense…it’s just very hard because they are completely isolating that 6-5 center.”
Blair said his Aggies will try to spread out the Colorado offense to overcome thier shortcomings in the paint.
“I will be guarding Bjorklund with a 6-footer. You don’t win a whole lot of battles that way,” Blair said, “Unless you are able to force turnovers by pressuring in the ball all over the court and not allowing (Colorado) to get into their sets.”
Colorado has two outside threats: guards Kate Fagan and Emily Waner, whose three point shooting ability could overcome an Aggie defense compensating for Bjorklund.
The Aggies have lost their last four games and have yet to beat a top 25 team this season. Seven of the team’s eight losses were deficits of less than 10 points including an overtime loss to No. 15 Oklahoma and a last-minute loss to Oklahoma State.
Blair said the week three loss to Minnesota was the only game the Aggies could not have come back to win.
The Aggies’ schedule will only get more difficult after they return from Colorado when they face Texas on Sunday and Texas Tech next Wednesday, both ranked No. 3 by The Associated Press.

“We had (victories) in early games this year, but now that we got into the Big 12, who are we playing that is not in the top 25?”
– Gary Blair Head Women’s Basketball Coach

Blair said the Aggies’ early victories against teams such as University of Arkansas and Texas State are proof of his team’s potential.
“We had (victories) in early games this year, but now that we got into the Big 12, who are we playing that is not in the top 25?” Blair said. “This is a senior year for this league and the teams are absolutely loaded. I picked a heck of a year to come in.”
Blair said he hopes to get a conference victory soon to prove to his team that they are able to play in the hardest conference.
“I want our kids to be rewarded for all the hard work they have put in this year,” Blair said. “Everyone keeps telling us how hard we play, but I want somebody to tell us how good we play. Good generally means a victory.”
Senior guard Toccarra Williams recently became the fifth player in NCAA history to post 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 350 steals in a career.
Blair hopes that Williams continues to lead the team, but said her success is coming at the expense of senior post Lynn Classen.
“They are playing dead behind on our post player and not letting Lynn get to the basket,” Blair said. “It is like in football…are you going to give up the long pass or the little short stuff.”