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BATON ROUGE, La. -- Texas A&M has a pretty good scouting report on Texas-San Antonio freshman point guard Whitney York.
"[York] has been to our camps a number of times," A&M head coach Gary Blair said. "She would go in there and do an excellent job against us."
The former Bryan High School all-state guard did the same thing against the Southland Conference.
York became the first UTSA player to earn Southland Conference honors in consecutive weeks -- Nov. 13 and Nov. 20. She's made a team-high 32 starts, averaging 9.8 points and 24.6 minutes per game this season.
Blair couldn't offer the 5-foot-5 York a scholarship because he'd already decided to take Sydney Colson, the backup for senior A'Quonesia Franklin.
"And we didn't need an extra point guard," he said.
But A&M's loss was UTSA's gain. Roadrunner head coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair says she was glad the Aggies didn't have a spot for the hometown girl.
York is now one of UTSA's two left-handed guards, along with junior Monica Gibbs.
"Both are tremendous at getting to the hole," Rippetoe-Blair said. "I think they're capable of giving people a hard time guarding them."
Gibbs is averaging 11.1 ppg and 5.9 assists per game to complement York, and both might give the Aggies trouble with their southpaw games.
"We are going to have to get used to that because we can't simulate that in practice," Blair said of guarding the left-handed duo.
UTSA, which averages 69.5 ppg, uses a three-guard lineup, with 5-8 senior Terrie Davis the leading scorer (11.1 ppg) among the group.
The guards have helped UTSA take care of the ball. The Roadrunners average only 14 turnovers per game, which will be a key against A&M's aggressive defense.
"We've not been here before," Rippetoe-Blair said. "I think those first five minutes are going to be crucial. We've got to stay focused and stay under control and then immediately, we've got to handle their pressure.
"I anticipate a full-court press. We've not had problems with that all year, but that's kind of what [A&M] likes to do. We've got to have less than 10 turnovers, and we've got to rebound."
NOTES -- York was sixth in the Southland Conference in field-goal percentage at 43.7. ... She made the Tulane Doubletree All-Classic team and Wells Fargo/UTSA New Year's All-Classic team. ... Her season-high efforts are 22 points (vs. Wichita State), eight rebounds (vs. Belmont), six assists (vs. Southern Methodist) and five steals (vs. Wichita State). ... York helped Bryan to a 35-6 record in 2006-07, averaging 17.4 points and 5.4 assists per game.
• Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.
