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CHICAGO (AP) – Kayla Wells scored 22 points, N’dea Jones had a double-double and No. 13 Texas A&M edged No. 19 DePaul 93-91 on Saturday.
Wells made two free throws with 4.9 seconds left to put the Aggies up 93-90 and then Aaliyah Wilson fouled DePaul’s Lexi Held with 0.9 seconds to go. Held missed the first free throw, negating a chance for an intentional miss and putback on the second attempt so she made it.
With less than a second, there wasn’t enough time for an intentional miss, tip-back and 3-point attempt.
Jones scored 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. Wilson, Jordan Nixon and Destiny Pitts scored 12 points apiece.
The Aggies (2-0) shot 61%, making all three of their 3-pointers and, with Ciera Johnson grabbing 12 rebounds, dominated the boards 44-27. They scored 54points in the pain.
DePaul (0-1), which played the game with masks on, got 24 points from Dee Bekelja, who was 10 of 15 with four 3-pointers. Deja Church added 23 , Sonya Morris 22 and Held had 17. The Blue Demons only made 9 of 33 3-pointers but forced A&M into 27 turnovers.
Texas A&M used an 11-0 run in the middle of the second quarter to take the lead, going up 49-41 at the half. A 13-2 run in the middle of the third quarter pushed the lead to 14. A Bekelja 3-pointer tied the game at 80 with 3:12 left and the Aggies made 8 of 8 free throws in the final two minutes to hold on.
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RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
- Texas A&M moves to 2-0, while DePaul starts its season 0-1.
- The Aggies now lead the all-time series 4-2 over the Blue Demons.
- A&M advanced its record to 3-7 all-time versus No. 19 ranked teams in the Associated Press Poll.
TEAM NOTES
- First ranked victory for the Aggies since they defeated No. 25 Tennessee last season (2/16/20).
- First time A&M has scored over 90 points since Nov. 23, 2018 versus Arkansas State.
- The Aggies scored 49 points in the first half, the most since their game against Central Arkansas last season (12/4/19)
- Aggies held the lead for 35:40 of the ballgame, compared to DePaul’s 1:44 with the lead.
- The Maroon & White significantly outrebounded the Blue Demons by a margin of 44-27.
- The Texas A&M bench outscored DePaul’s 22-5, behind Destiny Pitts’ 12 points and McKinzie Green’s eight.
- N’dea Jones, Ciera Johnson and Kayla Wells started their 66th consecutive game for the Aggies.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Kayla Wells scored the first bucket of the game for the first time this season, and led all Aggie scorers with 22.
- N’dea Jones started her 66th consecutive game for the Aggies, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
- Jones notched her 28th career double-double and second of the year.
- Ciera Johnson led the team with 12 rebounds for the second-straight game, and also poured in eight points.
- Destiny Pitts led the Aggie bench in scoring with 12 points and a clutch three in the fourth quarter.
- Jordan Nixon earned the second start of her career at Texas A&M, logging 12 points and two assists.
- McKinzie Green posted career-highs in points (eight) and minutes played (21)
- Head Coach Gary Blair now moves to 5-2 all-time against DePaul head coach Doug Bruno. His career record after Saturday’s game rises to 815-330.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics