Starks scores 14 of 21 in first half as Aggies open 43-18 halftime lead

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Takia Starks won't mind going back to study hall after the kind of game she had against SMU on Sunday.

Starks scored 21 points to lead Texas A&M (No. 4 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP) to an 80-48 victory, nearly outscoring the Mustangs by herself in the first half with 14 points.

"I just wanted to be patient with my shot selection," Starks said. "I also wanted to drive to the basket more instead of just shooting 3-pointers."

A&M's first home game in nearly a month came in the midst of final exams.

"I've been going to study hall for five hours straight in preparing for finals," Starks said. "The game was kind of a break from that. Your mind can get kind of tired. We'll definitely be hitting study hall up again."

If the Aggies were tired from taking tests, it wasn't evident.

A&M (8-0) outscored SMU 19-4 in points off turnovers in the first half, with the Mustangs (2-5) committing 14 miscues in that span.

"They took it to us from beginning," SMU coach Rhonda Rompola said.

A&M wound up outscoring the Mustangs 41-11 in points off turnovers, as SMU finished with 26 turnovers.

Danielle Gant added 13 points for Texas A&M, while Adaora Elonu had 12.

Brittany Gilliam led SMU with 18 points.

The Aggies shot 47 percent, while SMU shot 30 percent from the field.

"I've seen a lot of Gary Blair teams going back to his early days," Rompola said, referring to the Texas A&M coach. "And this is by far the best team I've seen him put on the floor. I feel like we played against the best pressure in the country."

Blair said Starks played like "her old self."

He also liked the play of point guard Sydney Colson, who had offseason knee surgery and is steadily rounding into form. She had eight points, five steals, three assists and three rebounds.

"That's the type of line I want to see out of my point guard," Blair said.