COLUMBIA, Mo. – Danielle Adams wasn't deterred when she missed her first eight shots. The Texas A&M senior just kept firing, focused on exploiting Missouri's lack of depth in the paint.
It paid off.
She finished with 19 points and six rebounds to lead No. 7 Texas A&M to its ninth straight win, an 85-40 victory over Missouri on Saturday.
"I thought she was forcing some shots early," Aggies coach Gary Blair said. "She came back and showed that she's one of the best offensive players in the country today."
The Aggies missed their first five field-goal attempts before going on a 25-4 run over a seven-minute span to pull away early and take a 40-17 lead at halftime.
Texas A&M leads the nation in turnover margin and forced 18 turnovers in the first half while holding the Tigers to just 17 points.
"The difference was in the first half forcing 18 turnovers and taking care of the ball pretty well," Blair said.
Tyra White added 16 points for the Aggies (15-1, 3-0 Big 12), who are off to the best start in school history. The win was the seventh consecutive against Missouri.
Both Adams and White got a chance to play in their home state Saturday and the two Kansas City natives were on the court long after the game talking with family and friends.
"It's kind of a home game for us because our family doesn't get to College Station much," White said. "But like coach says, we don't want to go out there and play for them, we play for who is on the front of our jersey."
The Tigers were without starting center Christine Flores, who broke the middle finger on her right hand in the team's 63-56 loss at Texas Tech on Wednesday. She is listed as day to day.
Flores is Missouri's second leading scorer at 15.4 points a game and ranks third in the Big 12 with 2.4 blocks. Reserve BreAnna Brock got the start in her place and finished with five points and nine rebounds.
"I feel like A&M's pressure on defense would have been the same with Christine in there," Brown said. "But we missed her presence tonight and she probably would have relieved some of that pressure."
RaeShara Brown had 14 points and six rebounds for the Tigers (9-8, 1-2), who have lost four of five. Missouri shot 34 percent from the floor and turned the ball over a season-high 27 times.
"We know A&M is known for their defense, if nothing else they're going to play aggressive," Brown said. "They came out and did it, we couldn't find a flow on offense."
Adams, who leads the team in scoring at 21.7 points a game, got off to a rough start misfiring on her first eight shot attempts and going scoreless the first 15 minutes of the game.
She rattled off six straight points to close out the first half and connected on six of her next eight shots en route to 13 second-half points. She finished 8 of 20 from the field.
"They were sagging in so I was just forcing shots and trying to get my points," Adams said. "I wasn't getting them and my teammates backed me up and that's just what we do, pick up the slack."
The Aggies led by as many as 50 points in the second half.
Sydney Carter chipped in 14 for the Aggies, who shot 49 percent from the floor while committing just six turnovers on the day.
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