Credit to Brandon Collins | Associate Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Texas A&M women’s basketball team bludgeoned Wake Forest on the boards en route to an 81-57 victory over the Demon Deacons at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.
Texas A&M (6-1) owned a 51-30 rebounding margin, including 18-6 on the offensive glass. The Maroon & White boasted a 15-5 advantage in second chance points, as well as 44-28 points in the paint.
Five Aggies scored in double figures in a well-balanced attack.
Lauren Ware recorded her fourth double-double of the season and the seventh of her career. She logged 10 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Janiah Barker paced the Aggies with 14 points on 7-of-11 (63.6%) shooting and added nine rebounds. Endyia Rogers tallied 13 points and three assists. Aicha Coulibaly logged 12 points and eight rebounds. Solè Williams tacked on 10 points, including hitting 3-of-6 from 3-point range.
The Aggies won consecutive true road non-conference games against Power Five schools for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign when the Maroon & White toppled Texas Tech (Nov. 26) and USC (Dec. 15). Ol’ Sarge’s charges also won back-to-back road games for the first time since the 2020-21 season when A&M won at Ole Miss (Feb. 21) and Alabama (Feb. 25).
The Maroon & White regrouped from a 1-of-12 shooting start to escape the first quarter with an 18-16 advantage. Ware led the way with seven points and five rebounds in the period.
Texas A&M’s second quarter started with 7-of-9 made baskets. Aicha Coulibaly scored five consecutive points, sparking a surge that helped the Aggies stretch the advantage to 27-20 at the 7:03 mark. Later in the period a 7-0 run, including five straight points by Sahara Jones, inflated the cushion to 40-26 with 2:28 remaining in the half and Texas A&M led 42-29 at halftime.
The Aggies hit 9-of-17 (52.9%) from the field in the third quarter while limiting Wake Forest (2-5) to 5-of-17 (29.4). The disparity allowed A&M to mount a 62-41 lead heading into the last period.
The Demon Deacons briefly closed the gap to 19 points on two occasions, but the Aggies stretched it to 75-47 with two Rogers free throws at the 4:13 mark and coasted to the victory.
Up Next
The Aggies return home for their first home game since Nov. 20 when they play Kansas on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. inside Reed Arena.
POSTGAME NOTES
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
Joni Taylor’s career record advances to 155-96 all-time and to 15-21 in her two seasons with the Aggies.
The Aggies are 1-1 versus Wake Forest all-time. This marks the first win over an ACC opponent for A&M since defeating Duke on Nov. 10, 2019.
The Aggies secured a tie for the SEC in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge with the victory. The challenge ended 7-7.
TEAM NOTES
The Aggies shot 62.5% from the field in the second quarter, going 10-of-16 from the field. The shooting percentage was the second highest for a quarter for A&M this season. The highest was 75% (9-12) in the third quarter of the HCU game.
A&M had five players score double figures for the first time this year and the first time since last year when it defeated SMU on Dec. 18, 2022.
Scored 80-or-more points for the third time in four games.
The Maroon & White secured its first set of back-to-back road wins since winning at Ole Miss (Feb. 21, 2021) and Alabama (Feb. 25, 2021) during the 2020-21 campaign.
The Aggies outrebounded Wake Forest by 21. The second-biggest margin this season.
Texas A&M began with a starting lineup of Endyia Rogers, Aicha Coulibaly, Sahara Jones, Janiah Barker and Lauren Ware (6-1).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Lauren Ware
Registered her team-best fourth double-double of the season, locking in 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Made a season-high six free throws, draining 6-of-8 from the charity stripe.
Posted at least three blocked shots for the fifth time this year. A&M is 4-1 this year when she swats 3-or-more shots in a game.
Janiah Barker
Led the Aggies in scoring for the fourth time this season, pouring in 14 points on 7-of-11 from the field. A&M is 3-1 this year when Barker leads the team in points.
Solè Williams
Made two-or-more 3-pointers for the third time this season. The Aggies are 3-0 when she nails at least two deep bombs.
Led the A&M bench with 10 points, the third time this year she has led the second unit in scoring.
Kylie Marshall
Scored the first two points of her career.