COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Danielle Gant asked her brother, Ricky, for a little advice over the holidays.

His primary recommendation? "Score," Gant said.

Ricky would be proud.

Gant scored 27 points and Takia Starks added 24 to lead No. 3 Texas A&M to an 83-51 win over No. 25 New Mexico on Tuesday night.

The Aggies won by their largest margin against a ranked opponent in school history, besting a 19-point victory over Baylor in March.

"This was as good a game as we've had all season," A&M coach Gary Blair said. "It was against a quality team and before a great crowd."

Gant also had six rebounds, while La Toya Micheaux had a game-high seven.

New Mexico (11-2) led 7-6 before the Aggies (11-0) scored the next 16 points. Gant and Starks combined to score 25 points in the first half as Texas A&M took a 36-30 lead at halftime.

The Aggies then outscored New Mexico 22-8 over the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Together, Gant and Starks combined to score as many points as the entire New Mexico team.

"I just tried to play hard," said Starks, who has scored 45 points over her last two games. "I really think I played off of my defense tonight. If I do everything else my shot will come."

Junior guard Tanisha Smith added a career-high 15 points for the Aggies.

"I had to prove that I could play defense," Smith said of her added playing time on Tuesday. "After defense, offense falls into place."

Guard Amy Beggin led New Mexico with 19 points, but made only five of 15 shots.

"I thought our spacing in the second half was atrocious, and that was due to them," New Mexico coach Don Flanagan said. "They get in your passing lanes, and they're fast and quick. If you make a mistake, they've got two points with their speed."

A&M, continuing the best start in school history, shot 65 percent in the second half to put away the Lobos.

"We're not accustomed to the speed and quickness of a team like that," said Flanagan, whose only other loss this season was at No. 11 Stanford. "I knew going in that would be a problem -- and then they were hitting their shots. The score indicated how much better they were than us tonight."