LINCOLN, Neb. – The greenest green light in America came halting to a stop at the worst possible time.

Making their third appearance ever in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament, DePaul’s high-powered offense was shutdown Saturday as the third-seeded Texas A&M came away with a 84-65 victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena, using an effective man-to-man defense.

DePaul, who often pride themselves with a “green-light” to shoot deep 3-pointers if they are open, shot just 28 percent in the first half and only 20 percent (4-20) from 3-point range in the game. Texas A&M also forced 18 turnovers, which translated to 20 points.

“(Texas A&M) was really ready to play us defensively tonight,” DePaul coach Doug Bruno said. “This was a classic example where I probably way overthought the game. Instead of just coming out and playing like we did all year to get after them, I thought we should have played it like we did St. John’s. We wanted to respect their speed and ability in the open-court and because we respected that, we didn’t really have any real ‘oomph.’ The rhythm just wasn’t there and we paid a price for that.”

As impressive as Texas A&M (27-8) was on the defensive end, the Aggies were dominant on offense. The Aggies shot 60 percent and guard Courtney Walker led the team with 25 points.

Texas A&M forward Courtney Williams added 15 points and seven rebounds. Guard Jordan Jones and center Karla Gilbert each had 11.

“We did a great job of what the offense needed,” Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said. “That was the best we shot all year and the best Texas A&M has shot in an NCAA game.”

The Aggies’ man-to-man approach was apparent early. DePaul (29-8) committed three turnovers on their first four possessions and opened the game 1-6 from the field.

“They took away our jump shots,” DePaul forward Megan Rogowski said. “We needed to drive the ball more, post feed it and then kick it out. They did a great job on defense.”

A turnover by Jessica January transitioned into two easy points from forward Tori Scott and put the Aggies ahead 10-2 in the first five minutes. Scott finished with 10 points.

Foul trouble plagued DePaul in the first half. DePaul forward Jasmine Penny, forward Centreese McGee, forward Megan Rogowski and guard Chanise Jenkins all finished the half with two fouls. Penny and Jenkins, in particular, got called for fouls in the first ten minutes, forcing them to sit early.

Texas A&M led 38-24 at halftime.

“Coach just gave us a great game plan,” Jones said. “I felt like when teams run like that, taking away their transition is a big part of the game. We knew that DePaul is a team that likes to run-and-gun and it was just our job to slow them down.”

In the second half, DePaul was able to get their offense going. The team shot 51 percent, but couldn’t get Texas A&M’s lead lower than 10.

Jasmine Penny led the Blue Demons with 24 points. Penny, a senior who previously said that she has no desire to play professional basketball, finished the final game of her basketball career.  

Penny finished her DePaul career with 1,417 points and 17th all-time on DePaul’s scoring list.

“(DePaul has) meant a lot,” Penny said. “Coach Bruno is one of the best coaches that has ever coached me and he helped me get better throughout these four years. I’ve played with some amazing players these last four years. It was an amazing ride.”

Podkowa split a pair of free throws to cut the Aggies’ lead to 10, 66-56, with 6:01 remaining. Podkowa had 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Aggies would answer back and put the lead back up to 20, 82-62, with 2:09 left. Chanise Jenkins scored DePaul’s last points, nailing a corner 3-pointer.

It was DePaul’s fourth 3-pointer made. Rogowski made the other three 3’s. She finished with 14 points.

Texas A&M advances to face No. 1 Connecticut on Monday.  Connecticut advanced with a 70-51 win over BYU earlier in the day.

“My four-guard lineup will go out the window now,” Blair said. “We have to get ready for Connecticut’s trees now.”

Meanwhile, Bruno said that the players will get two weeks off and reflect on the team’s best year since the 2010-2011 year.

“We have done a lot as a program and these women did a lot this year,” Bruno said.”We’ll give them some rest and then be at it for chasing the 2014-2015 season.”