Texas A&M's Sydney Colson has been doing many things much better in recent games.
She's shooting better than 50 percent from the floor in Big 12 play with an assist-to-turnover ratio more than 2-1. She's also avoiding the silly reaching fouls that had sent her to the bench just minutes into the game.
"She's one of the best I've had at running the offense," said A&M head coach Gary Blair, who is in his 25th year as a head coach.
Colson is directing a team that's averaging a league-leading 81.7 points per game, the most in Blair's seven seasons at A&M. Colson has chipped with more offense in Big 12 play, scoring 32 points by hitting 13 of 25 shots.
"I think I've been slowing down and not rushing so much," said the 5-foot-8 junior. "I'm kinda thinking through Coach Blair's offense and executing it the way he wants us to."
She's made so much improvement, yet last time out she didn't do the most important thing Blair expects from his starting point guard -- lead the team to victory.
Oklahoma grabbed a 74-65 victory to end the Aggies' seven-game winning streak. Colson and the Aggies allowed OU to build a 16-point lead and A&M never caught up. The Sooners shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, which is unacceptable for a program that was built on defense.
"I want her to be a complete point guard," Blair said. "I want her to be as good on the defensive end as she is on the offensive end, so I don't have to bring in other players to guard her position and slough her off."
Colson scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting and came up with five steals. But often she was helpless in trying to deny OU's Danielle Stevenson or Nyeshia Robinson, which frustrated associate head coach Vic Schaefer.
"When you've got the best defensive coach in the nation in Schaefer, we ought to be able to teach her to play a little bit better on the defensive end besides stealing the ball, which she is very good at," Blair said.
Stevenson and Robinson, who combined for 44 points, were 14 of 33 from the field thanks to too many open looks.
Colson and the ninth-ranked Aggies (14-2, 2-1 Big 12) will try to get back to playing solid defense at 3 p.m. Saturday at Reed Arena against Texas Tech (13-4, 1-2). The Lady Raiders haven't played since a 95-90 double-overtime loss at home last Saturday against Texas.
Tech is led by senior guard Jordan Murphree, who is coming off a career-high 29 points. She hit 12 of 26 field goals against the Longhorns and added 13 rebounds and eight assists -- both game-high efforts. She committed only one turnover in 44 minutes.
One thing that's hampered Colson's defensive play is the brace she wears to protect her right knee, which was surgically repaired before her sophomore season.
"Whether or not I'm slower after coming back -- it's a mental thing with me," she said. "I try not to focus as much on it, but it's more of mental thing for me on the defensive end."
It's hard for her not to think about the injury when she has so many reminders. She took a bad fall after hitting a 3-pointer against North Texas on Dec. 8. She buckled to the floor and her screams quieted the crowd as support personnel rushed to help.
Despite suffering a tear in the lateral meniscus on the play Colson was back at the next day's practice, where she's often the center of attention for her play and her personality.
Colson often draws Blair's ire with a bonehead play, but when he looks eye-to-eye at the team's most enthusiastic player, his anger usually vanishes.
"Our kids just love playing with her," Blair said. "If I owned Disney World, I'd hire her in a minute to run the park. Because if anyone could be one of their characters -- Minnie Mouse or someone else -- Sydney Colson has that type of personality to do it. Everybody loves her -- the fans, the students on campus, her teammates, the recruits."
He loves her most when she's leading the break.
"She's great in transition," Blair said. "She makes the right pass the majority of the time. She can stop and shoot the jumper, and she can shoot the 3 under pressure. And she doesn't let a miss effect her next shot."
Her offensive-minded teammates also like to see the ball in Colson's hands, because she averages less than seven shots a game.
"I really want to be the kind of player who goes out and gets a lot of assists," Colson said. "If they need me to step up and get more points, then I'm able to do that, but I'd rather be a distributor."
That's what Blair likes to hear, but he's working with her to make sure she recognizes who should have the ball at what time.
"She really needs to be an extension of me," Blair said. "She needs to be a play ahead, like me."
Defensively, she's at times been a step slow, but Colson is making steady progress.
"She's the type of kid who takes criticism well," Blair said. "She wants to get better."
*
NOTES -- Tech senior starting guard Tilmila Martin starred at Bryan High. ... Tech beat A&M in Lubbock last season, 60-53, ending A&M's six-game winning streak in the series. ... Blair is 6-6 against Tech, his alma mater. .. Tech head coach Kristy Curry was an assistant coach at A&M under Candi Harvey (1994-96). Her husband, Kelly Curry, is on Tech's staff and graduated from A&M in 1990.
TEXAS A&M WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
* Saturday's game: Texas Tech (13-4, 1-2 Big 12) at No. 9 Texas A&M (14-2, 2-1), 3 p.m.
* TV/radio: None/KZNE, 1150 AM
* Tickets: $5, $11
LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M (14-2, 2-1)
NAME POS. HT. CL. PPG RPG
Sydney Colson G 5-8 Jr. 7.9 5.2*
Tanisha Smith F 6-0 Sr. 16.8 4.6
Tyra White G 6-0 So. 10.6 3.2
Adaora Elonu F 6-1 So. 9.4 3.8
Damitria Buchanan F 6-2 Sr. 3.3 4.7
TEXAS TECH (13-4, 1-2)
NAME POS. HT. CL. PPG RPG
Monique Smalls G 5-6 Fr. 5.8 4.2*
Jordan Murphree G 6-0 Sr. 13.0 4.9
Tilmila Martin G 6-1 Sr. 8.6 2.0
Ashlee Roberson F 5-11 Sr. 11.9 9.2
Kierra Mallard C 6-3 So. 14.2 7.5
*assists per game