BATON ROUGE, La. -- Finally, there's no reason to look behind.

The Texas A&M women's basketball program took its biggest step in school history Monday night in a 63-39 victory over Hartford.

The Aggies played the kind of in-your-face defense that wins championships. A&M forced 25 turnovers, constantly keeping the pressure on.

Midway through the second half, A&M guard Takia Starks came up with a steal and sped down court with Danielle Gant and Morenike Atunrase flanking her.

Starks passed to Atunrase, who was moving so fast she couldn't shoot before going out of bounds. She alertly tossed the ball back to a speeding Gant, who scored but was also almost too far underneath the basket for a good shot.

A&M had a comfortable lead, 44-27, yet the Aggies pressed on, showing an unbelievable passion for the game.

"Just give them a lot of credit for how hard they played," said Hartford head coach Jennifer Rizzotti, who was an All-America guard at Connecticut. "[The fact] they were able to maintain their intensity for 40 minutes was really impressive."

Actually, they've been able to maintain it for two months.

This was the team most of college basketball thought they'd see this season. Texas A&M expected to build on last season's co-Big 12 regular season championship -- the first in school history -- with its top players returning.

A&M would be just as good on defense, and much better on offense with more weapons.

There were whispers of the Final Four for a preseason Top 10 team picked to repeat as league champion. Season ticket sales jumped 33 percent as everyone braced for success.

Blair and the players even were featured in a video entitled "Here Comes the Champs" that played on the jumbotron or scoreboard at Reed Arena. It was of high quality, but like some things imitating Hollywood, it was a little too much.

Before A&M's first conference game, the Kansas State players giggled and laughed while they watched the video. They then went out and showed why they would be this year's champs with a 67-54 victory over the Aggies.

The Oklahoma State Cowgirls also seemed unimpressed, then made their own highlight video with a 61-58 victory, winning on an Angela Riley 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left.

Those losses were part of a 1-4 start that cost the defending champs any realistic chance of repeating. A&M soon dropped the "Here Comes the Champs" video for home games.

Funny, but that's when A&M started playing like a champ.

A&M has won 15 of its last 16, including 11 straight.

"I think the four losses we got early in the season got us going," Gant said.

And no one had to remind the Aggies they'd struggled in the last two NCAA Tournaments. The Aggies played hard for 80 minutes in Baton Rouge, looking like a No. 2 seed while winning by an average of 31.5 points per game.

A&M was so dominant Monday night against a good Hartford team that ESPN2 probably lost casual viewers to Nick at Nite, or they just plain called it a night.

But it was a beautiful 40 minutes because of A&M's defensive pressure, which was applied in a business-like fashion. Everyone did their part.

Starks, the team's leading scorer, didn't score until 2 minutes, 57 seconds were left in the first half.

But by then, the Aggies had a 14-point lead.

This is not a team built around one player. It's been built by many players and a coaching staff that refused to accept mediocrity.

"We've grown over the years," Atunrase said.

Indeed they have.

• Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.